Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, the Baltimore duo of Ed Schrader and Devlin Rice, have released a new single. ‘European Moons’ is lifted from the forthcoming album Nightclub Daydreaming, which includes the previously shared tracks ‘This Thirst’, ‘Berliner’, and ‘Echo Base’. Listen to it below.
In an accompanying personal statement, Ed Shrader wrote:
In the past few weeks, I’ve made a big decision. I’ve decided to give you the full me. I’ve decided to speak openly about something that I had never spoken to anyone about. The me that I’ve been repressing in hopes of not making other people feel uncomfortable. But that’s not a life—that’s an inhumane purgatory that I am done subjecting myself to.
That said, I have always felt like a woman and my pronouns are they/them.
The stage and the studio have always been a safe space for me, where I can share my deepest struggles, joys and laughs. In your art, you can’t lie. That’s why I have always chosen riddles and cryptic lyrics in my art. I could never lie, but I could disguise the truth.
With ‘Nightclub Daydreaming’ I continued this precedent, essentially telling my autobiography through fictional characters and surreal landscapes. But these are the stories of my fear, my neuroses, my ecstasy and my journey.
The first single off of the record, “This Thirst,” is about the thirst for my true self, and features the first time I ever referred to myself as a woman: “Who will rock you to the fire / Who’s the priestess to ordain?”
On “Black Pearl,” I sing of two lovers disconnected by an ocean, representing the personal dichotamy between my true self and who I was presenting to the world. In retrospect, you can hear the yearning as I sing “I want to see you really…a foreigner, even home now / I shut in vaults to heal you.” I was the foreigner whom no one had ever met, besides my bathroom mirror. When home alone, I would wear women’s clothing, put on makeup, blast M.I.A. and Yelle, and somehow this felt like a crime that no one would ever accept.
You can hear both my euphoria and trepidation on songs like “Berliner.” Deep down, I was beginning to feel my real self emerging in an undeniable way, and I was horrified by it. It felt as if others held the key to my own self worth through their acceptance, or lack thereof.
On “European Moons,” which we release today, I depict myself as a marionette, at the whims of a puppet master forcing me to present a distorted and untrue version of myself. “my posture’s at your strings / too much of coded sighs / I’d like to see you in the night.” It was my true self that I could only see at night.
I have always felt like a woman and, moving forward, I will begin following that path one day at a time. Only the future knows where exactly that path will lead me, but I’m doing it my way. I will no longer only see my true self at night.
Nightclub Daydreaming is due out on March 25 via Carpark.
More than once on her new album as the Weather Station, Tamara Lindeman lifts the creative curtain. Her songwriting has long been grounded in vulnerability, but the openness and intimacy of How Is ItThat I Should Look at the Stars almost has a way of demystifying the process that led to its predecessor, 2021’s critically lauded Ignorance. On ‘To Talk About’, we find the narrator laying in bed with a lover, grappling with how much there is to express: “I’m tired of working all night long, trying to fit this world into a song,” she sings. So much of the record feels like witnessing an intricate dance with and through music that’s both familiar and new – songs that have yet to take shape, that are being discovered or are just now taking on a new life, as is the case with the cover of John Southworth’s ‘Loving You’ that serves as its delicate closer. Recorded over three days in early March 2020, not long after completing Ignorance, it’s also in close conversation with that album, reflecting on a lot of the same themes of uncertainty and conflict through a more introspective lens.
It’s clear that the two collections emerged around the same period of collective anxiety, but there’s a strange pleasure in hearing the poetry of Lindeman’s music mostly detached from any external, or even identifiable, context. It might be reductive to call the writing on How Is ItThat I Should Look at the Stars diaristic, but not only are the songs laced with uniquely personal detail, they’re also presented in such a way that it’s hard not to ascribe them that quality. They often begin with the narrator waking up or acknowledging their tiredness, noting down a thought and letting it unfold without quite resolving itself. In contrast to Ignorance’s lush sophistipop, the songs here are mostly composed of piano and Lindeman’s voice, but the improvised arrangements that accompany her have a vivid way of mirroring their stream-of-consciousness flow. It’s this natural fluidity and airiness that makes the album distinct not only from its companion but also the spare folk of early Weather Station albums.
In this setting, words that would carry a specific weight against the environmental backdrop of Ignorance take on a new resonance amid the relationship sketches of this album, revealing how the same forces are always and inevitably at play: a difference in perspective, a struggle for understanding. “What good are words if not to try and get across, this river that ascends me every time we touch, and to obliterate all this distance I get so tired of?” she asks on ‘To Talk About’. On ‘Song’, she wonders what she might be able to capture in such a piece of art: “Would it explain to you this white moon, hanging high above the motel room?” In her Bandcamp bio, Lindeman says she writes “songs about things that exist,” but it’s the way she contends with seeing the beauty in them that often makes her music so devastating. And it’s why ‘Endless Time’ is the most complete and striking track on the album, as she reckons with the fact that we might not be able to fully appreciate the things in our lives until they’re no longer available or within reach – “roses from Spain, lemons and persimmons in December rain.”
On occasion, Lindeman will really lean into the kind of existential language that marked some of Ignorance’s most memorable lyrics, and the results are equally remarkable. “I felt dizzy, my chest clenched cold and tight/ It’ll be 2020 tomorrow night,” she sings on ‘Stars’, “From Salton City, I hear fireworks go off/ As though they’re celebrating all another year has cost.” But How Is ItThat I Should Look at the Stars doesn’t shy away from sentimentality in a way that previous Weather Station albums might have, highlighting just how fragile the human condition is; she ends ‘Stars’ with the line, “I swear to god this world will break my heart.” Yet the exhaustion that pervades the album, the failure to give things meaning or untangle “all their endless kinds of truth,” doesn’t necessarily make it a disheartening listen. At the end of ‘To Talk About’, when Lindeman declares that “nobody wants to drag themselves through the endless ruins of all there is in this world that is not love,” the fact that she stops herself feels less like an act of resignation than stumbling upon an inkling of hope. Throughout the album, the revelation becomes clear: How could there possibly be anything in the world worth holding that is not love?
British R&B singer Rex Orange County has teamed up with Tyler, the Creator for a new song called ‘Open a Window’. It marks the first time the two artists have collaborated since Rex Orange County guested on Tyler, the Creator’s 2017 record Flower Boy. Listen to it below.
‘Open a Window’ is taken from Rex Orange County’s forthcoming album WHO CARES?, which is out this Friday, March 11, via Sony Music. In an interview with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe, Rex discussed how speaking with Tyler affected his mindset around the new album:
I was kind of walking around being like, “But this album, it’s terrible.” He’s just like, “Bro, just chill. Stop worrying about what people are going to think.” He’s very carefree, but at the same time, he really, really does care about the long full album. This is the other thing we spoke about recently. He was like, we got to keep the LP alive. We’ve got to keep albums going.” That’s why it’s important that I, and he, and everybody just needs to keep making albums. Because it’s a lot of stuff that is working right now, is 10 seconds long, or like a hook, or it’s just the little part of the song. It doesn’t necessarily matter who it’s by, what the album was, this, that, and the other. The attention span’s going down and down, and we’re going to try to keep it alive with double albums.
WHO CARES?, the follow-up to Rex Orange County’s 2019 album Pony, includes the previously released singles ‘Amazing’ and ‘Keep It Up’. Tyler, the Creator dropped CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST last year.
Destroyer has released ‘June’, the latest advance single from his upcoming album LABYRINTHITIS. The track arrives with an accompanying video directed by David Galloway and Destroyer’s Dan Bejar, which follows a burrito on its journey to Bejar’s doorstep. Watch and listen below.
“Is it spring where you are? I think June is technically summer, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make,” Galloway said in a statement. “The flowers are starting to come out now, and the birds sure as hell are. There it was; the future just flew by. What’s the quorum on something like that?”
Companion – the duo of identical twin sisters Sophia and Jo Babb – have announced their debut LP. It’s titled Second Day of Spring, and it’s set for release on May 27. Along with the previously released ‘How Could I Have Known’, the album includes a new single called ’23rd Street’. Check it out below.
“I found myself experiencing something I can only describe as ‘pre-nostalgia’ — the realisation that things will never be the same as they are now,” Sophia Babb said of ’23rd Street’ in a statement. “Jo and I wrote this song to encapsulate the major life transformations — graduating from college, marriage, interstate moves — we experienced at that time. Eventually, they too would become part of the past, but the memory of those feelings still remains with us.”
Second Day of Spring Cover Artwork:
Second Day of Spring Tracklist:
1. How Could I Have Known
2. Forfeit
3. Arms Length
4. If I Were a Ghost
5. Snowbank
6. 23rd Street
7. Second Day of Spring
8. Newborn of Springtime
9. Sunday Morning
10. Waiting For You
Melody Prochet has shared a new single from the upcoming Melody’s Echo Chamber album, Emotional Eternal, following lead cut ‘Looking Backward’. ‘Personal Message’, once again recorded with Dungen’s Reine Fiske and the Amazing’s Fredrik Swahn, comes with a video from director David Corfield of 422 South. Check it out below
“I played violin with Gustav Esjtes of Dungen and Josefin Runsteen,” Prochet said in a statement. “Josefin has transcended the string section to another dimension with her warm virtuosity.”
She continued: “I think the music revealed itself so naturally, we didn’t change much from the original material. The story is inspired by a place I lived by the sea in the south of France. When something disenchanting happened, I would take refuge near my house on the peninsula under the pines, a natural sanctuary where I sent wishes to the shore, I was soothed by its beauty. The song has this washed out wooden and salty vibe like a marine bird.”
Commenting on the video, Corfield said: “On the surface a forest can seem like a collection of individuals but below ground they are united. A forest is a system that flourishes through sharing.”
Horsegirl – the Chicago trio of Penelope Lowenstein (guitar, vocals), Nora Cheng (guitar, vocals), and Gigi Reece (drums) – have announced their debut full-length. Versions of Modern Performance lands on June 3 via Matador. Today’s announcement comes with the release of the lead single ‘Anti-Glory’, which is accompanied by a video from director Erin Vassilopoulous. Check it out below and scroll down for the album’s cover artwork and tracklist (which differs between physical and digital versions).
“We wrote ‘Anti-glory’ almost by accident, while messing around with an old song during rehearsal. The song fell into place immediately, and looking back, we have no idea how we wrote it,” the band explained in a statement. “As always, this song and album are for Chicago, our friends, our friend’s bands, everyone who can play the guitar, and everyone who can’t play the guitar.”
Horsegirl recorded Versions of Modern Performance with John Agnello (Kurt Vile, The Breeders, Dinosaur Jr.) at Chicago’s Electrical Audio. “It’s our debut bare-bones album in a Chicago institution with a producer who we feel like really respected what we were trying to do,” the band said. The record includes the previously released single ‘Billy’.
Along with the album news, Horsegirl have also announced their first-ever UK and European shows, set to take place in June. Find the band’s tour schedule below, too.
Versions of Modern Performance Cover Artwork:
Versions of Modern Performance Tracklist:
Digital
1. Anti-glory
2. Beautiful Song
3. Live and Ski
4. Bog Bog 1
5. Dirtbag Transformation (Still Dirty)
6. The Fall of Horsegirl
7. Electrolocation 2
8. Option 8
9. World of Pots and Pans
10. The Guitar is Dead 3
11. Homage to Birdnoculars
12. Billy
Physical
1. Electrolocation 1
2. Anti-glory
3. Beautiful Song
4. Live and Ski
5. Bog Bog 2
6. Dirtbag Transformation (Still Dirty)
7. The Fall of Horsegirl
8. Option 8
9. World of Pots and Pans
10. The Guitar is Dead 3
11. Homage to Birdnoculars
12. Billy
Horsegirl 2022 Tour Dates:
Wed Mar 16 – Austin, TX – SXSW – Roskilde Festival @ Cheer Up Charlie’s
Thu Mar 17 – Austin, TX – SXSW – SX San Jose @ Hotel San Jose
Sat Mar 19 – Philadelphia, PA – PhilaMOCA
Sun Mar 20 – Washington, DC – DC9
Thu 16 Jun – Antwerp Trix Bar
Fri 17 Jun – Paris Pop Up Du Label
Sun 19 Jun – London Paper Dress Vintage – matinee show
Sun 19 Jun – London Paper Dress Vintage – evening show
Tue 21 Jun – Manchester YES (Basement)
Wed 22 Jun – London Bermondsey Social Club
Sun 26 Jun – Rough Trade Bristol
Tue 28 Jun – Cologne Bumann & Sohn
Fri 1 Jul – Roskilde Festival 2022
Sat 2 Jul – Hamburg Molotow Upstairs
Tue Mar 22 – Brooklyn, NY – Market Hotel
Sun May 29 – Allston, MA – Boston Calling Festival
Sun Jun 5 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall (RECORD RELEASE SHOW) #
Fri Jul 15 – Vancouver, BC – Wise Hall *
Sat Jul 16 – Seattle, WA – Neumos *
Sun Jul 17 – Portland, OR – Polaris Hall *
Tue Jul 19 – San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Stop
Thu Jul 21 – Los Angeles, CA – Zebulon *
Fri Jul 22 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo *
Sat Jul 23 – Santa Ana, CA – Constellation Room *
Tue Jul 26 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line *
Wed Jul 27 – Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon *
Fri Jul 30 – Sat. Jul. 31 – Detroit, MI – Mo Pop Festival
Tue Aug 2 – Columbus, OH – Rumba Cafe *
Wed Aug 3 – Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop *
Fri Aug 5 – Toronto, ON – Velvet Underground *
Sat Aug 6 – Montreal, QC – Petit Campus *
# with Lifeguard, Friko, Post Office Winter
* with Dummy
“It was January 2021, my first pandemic winter in New York, when I wrote this song,” Sarah Beth Tomberlin explained in a statement. “I was investigating the things that help in connecting me to myself. I was taking a lot of big 10, sometimes 14 mile walks through the city trying to find my center, while also trying to get ideas and inspiration flowing. It was quite a lonely, uninspiring time and lots of disconnection, so on my walks I tended to observe parts of city life that people were lacking in or sometimes risking for connection. This song shifts through scenes of what does connect and disconnect me from myself. It’s funny because I think releasing music to be consumed by the public does both very strongly for me.”
Tomberlin’s new album, the follow-up to her 2018 debut At Weddings and 2020’s Projections EP, is due out April 29 via Saddle Creek.
ME REX have announced their latest EP, Plesiosaur, which will be out on June 17 via Big Scary Monsters. To mark the announcement, they’ve shared a new single called ‘Jupiter Pluvius’, which is inspired by a 1819 painting by Joseph Gandy. Check it out below.
“Based on the painting of the same name by Joseph Gandy, this song is about images of God in the popular imagination — what that projection of strength and power onto a cold inanimate object says about our expectations and demands of a deity and of ourselves,” the band’s Myles McCabe said in a statement.
Last year, ME REX released their 54-track album Megabear, which they followed up with the Pterodactyl EP.
The royal guard pops the button of his black trousers and unzips his fly. His white-gloved hands thumb through the waistband of his white underwear. The silk-like material of his gloves caresses his skin just above the band, feeding the lust within him as he watches himself. He fishes out his phone from his front pocket and opens his camera. Still in his uniform and hat, the royal guard peeks through his underwear and takes a picture of his arousal, unabashed to whoever catches him at his voyeurism. Such intimacy laced with vulnerability in this artwork titled Your Royal Highness and His Prince may hint at the themes Ron Mariñas paints on his canvas, but the Filipino artist merely scratches the surface.
Mariñas tells Our Culture that his artworks reflect some personal stories that belong in a diary. “My concepts come from my experiences and perspectives in life, as well as from the people that I am acquainted well with,” he explains. Rather than letting the words remain inscribed on paper, he transforms these texts into vivid images, oftentimes underlined by the stark gold background. “My art style can be described as breaking the norms of what the old society has set. As an artist, I continue to free myself and others through combining different bold elements and breaking the old idea of how things should be,” he says.
Since childhood, Mariñas has always had a passion for arts and knew that he would not last long in an office or the corporate world. He took the artistic route and studied arts, a deviation from his family of engineers and architects. He toyed with the liberty the arts field offered him until he grounded his art style, which he deemed as a staple in the industry. “Having a signature style is an important element in the arts. I remember experiencing so much pressure early in my career. In this business, people will try hard to control and shape you to fit their standards, but I just rebelled and stood up for myself, choosing a style that fits my personality. I have always been so passionate about classical and modern arts and always combine both elements into my style while adding a touch of timelessness in the ideas that I infuse,” he shares.
A tinge of modern masculinity that winks at sensitivity, fragility, and fondness over fashion brands, luxury, and Greek statues philosophises his artworks. When asked about his view on masculinity, the artist pivots back to his experiences. “As an art student, I grew up in an environment where toxic masculinity was absent, and that made me realise, as a teenager back then, how society limits the definition of what masculinity is. All humans have a sense of sensitivity, fragility, femininity, and masculinity in them. For me, that is what masculinity is: being able to show real emotions without hesitations of what and how a man should be. It is about being able to express yourself in your truest form.”
No longer just spoken words, Mariñas showcases these beliefs through his paintings. In The False Reputation, the first man dies in the arms of the second man from the volley of paintbrushes that pierced his body. The second man bends his knees to receive the weight of the lifeless body and places his hand on the dead man’s chest, trying to stop the gush of blood. Sorrow and pain cross the second man’s face. “This work is a representation of a person holding his own body, a symbol of his reputation. It emphasises the whole story of being centered by undeserving hate and false accusations. Meanwhile, the brushes that impaled the man represent the made-up stories told by other artists. Then, in the study of arts and symbols, a key is the representation of truth. Three keys are shown being held by the second man which symbolises the people who know the real reputation and the story of the subject,” says Mariñas.
The marriage of sensitivity and fragility may overflow, so much that it translates into obsession, a feature that characterises The Circle of a Sightless Romance. The naked man and woman share their fondness over the single rose before them, a string that ties them both in their toxic relationship. The painting may not exude the subtle violence that explicitly comes up in the realm of obsession, but it brews beneath the surface, a takeaway even from the blindfold that covers the eyes – a symbol of consciousness – of the man.
“In every relationship, both people are in love, but there are times where they love each other differently,” Mariñas tells Our Culture. “And that difference does not mean it is ugly. It simply means that they are two different people who share the same thing which is the eternal love that ignites the fire between them. In this concept, the eyeball on his hand is a representation of ‘seeing things based on an action’ which, in this setting, is an after-sex scene. That means he is more likely to see love when they are being intimate. Holding a piece of her is a symbol of ownership to one another.”
Symbolisms mark the paintings of Mariñas. As he continues to narrate the backstory of the painting above: “The two subjects are obsessively in love judging by the symbols in them. A man holding a red rose stands as a portrayal of love and affection while the woman with ‘three words, eight letters, and one meaning’ tattoo on her back metaphorically describes the endless cycle of true love that knows no bounds.”
Mariñas’ attitude towards his art cleanses the texts in his diary to manifest them into tangible imagery, adding drops of sagacity, sensitivity, and sensuality to produce a cure-all body of work. “An artist’s job is to send a message through the form of art, and for me, it is a big responsibility. We were given a powerful opportunity to send a message and leave an impact that could possibly last a century. That is why it is important for me to produce an artwork that is timeless when it comes to its art movement. I believe that our paintings will be our biggest legacy, and that helps me to create not just beautiful pieces but to make every project meaningful even for generations to come. So, I treat every work in progress paintings like it’s my last.” Knowing the sources and influences, he draws from, every last panting of Ron Mariñas will surely not be his last.
