Lorde has shared another teaser for her upcoming third album Solar Power. Earlier this week, New Zealand pop star updated her website with a soundless clip titled ‘Every Perfect Summer’s Gotta Take Its Flight’ that featured a crop circle spelling out ‘SP’. The new 21-second clip, ‘Solstice’, sees Lorde sitting on the beach behind a bower of plants; the only audio in the clip is the sound of hissing plants. Solstice, the official beginning of summer, occurs tonight at 11:31 pm EST/4:31 am BST. Check out the visual below and at Lorde’s website.
Solar Power is the much-anticipated follow-up to Lorde’s 2017 album Melodrama. After teasing the title track with the single art, Lorde shared ‘Solar Power’, featuring vocals from Clairo and Phoebe Bridgers, alongside an accompanying video co-directed by Lorde and Joel Kefali.
The Queen’s Gambit is one of Netflix’s most popular releases to date. Adapted from the novel by Walter Tevis, which was published in 1983, the screen adaptation was a long time in the making. In 1992, screenwriter Allan Shiach (penname Allan Scott) optioned the rights to the book. Prior to his death in 2008, Heath Ledger had planned to direct and star in the film opposite Elliot Page. The book was finally brought to life with the 2020 miniseries, with Allan Scott contributing as an executive producer, writer, and creator.
Though it’s not without its differences, the series is quite a faithful adaptation of the book and has been praised for its realistic portrayal of chess. Both stories follow the life of Beth Harmon, an orphan who grows up to become an international chess sensation. Though the events of the story begin in the 1960s, in real life, women weren’t allowed to play chess until the 1980s. Even so, Beth is one of the only women playing a men’s game, but she doesn’t see why her gender should even enter into the discussion. Here are some of the differences between the book and the miniseries.
Townes isn’t explicitly queer. In the series, Beth meets Townes at her first local tournament in Lexington. Though she’s still a teenager and he’s a grown man, it’s clear she’s attracted to him. The two keep bumping into each other over the years, and Beth begins to think he reciprocates her feelings. However, when he invites her to his hotel room to photograph her for a newspaper, another man enters. The brief interaction is enough for Beth to deduce that Townes is probably gay. In the book, Townes doesn’t show any romantic feelings towards Beth because he thinks she’s too young for him. The pair doesn’t really get a resolution as they do in the series when Townes shows up in Moscow as a reporter. The two are able to talk over what happened between them, but in the book, Townes just disappears from Beth’s life and there’s no suggestion of a male lover.
Beth’s rock bottom. Anya Taylor-Joy’s Beth slips down quite a dramatic spiral in the show. While her arc in the book is similar, she doesn’t hit rock bottom quite so hard. In the miniseries, Beth comes to rely heavily on alcohol, cigarettes, and tranquillizer pills – so much so that she cuts all her ties to her friends and can barely muster the desire to play chess. She locks herself inside her house, occasionally humiliates herself in public, and almost throws her potential away. This part of the story isn’t so dramatic in the book. Beth isn’t as devastated about Alma’s death, and her distance from Harry Beltik isn’t so important. Thus, she doesn’t have as far to fall.
Alma. Beth doesn’t come crashing down so hard in the book because she and Alma aren’t as close. Her flaws are much more vivid and permanent, whereas in the show, Alma clearly goes through some change. She becomes much more loving, and the two appear to enjoy each other’s company.
The Paris game with Borgov. Since Beth doesn’t rely so heavily on alcohol in the book, she isn’t drunk during her game against Borgov in Paris. It’s an important tournament, but she isn’t completely disoriented the way she is in the show. In fact, so important is this moment that it’s the opening shot of the miniseries. In the book, Beth loses the game because Borgov is simply better than her. He’s more experienced and has a different, more logical way of playing the game, which Beth comes to see and lament.
Beth and Benny’s relationship. The miniseries leaves a lot about this relationship ambiguous. Because of the format of the story, the romantic aspect is drawn out and amplified. In the book, the most important relationship Beth has is with chess. This is true of the series to an extent, too, but almost always, there’s Beth’s underlying confusion about which romantic partner to choose. First, she believes Townes is the only person she’s ever been in love with, but Harry becomes the person to treat her the best, and Benny is the only one she truly understands and feels compatible with. In the book, Beth spends far more time with Benny in New York. He’s also a gambler, but in the show, Beth only mentions in passing that he must’ve gambled all his money away when she asks for travel funds. This seems to refer to the money he throws away on speed chess, but in the book, he goes to the casino and plays poker. On the page, their relationship has a lot more depth and complications, but it’s still clear that Beth loves him. This isn’t quite as obvious on the screen. The final episode seems to suggest that Beth and Benny still have a chance when he calls her in Moscow. In the book, Benny is with two other players on the phone, but the show also places Harry, Matt, and Mike there. Harry is a significant addition because it finally allows a fair comparison between him, Benny, and Townes, who is in the room with Beth as she takes the call. In the book, Benny is the only one of her romantic interests who still supports her (and is still in her life) at this point. After Harry’s stay at Beth’s house, he stays out of the book. With him and Townes long gone, the door is open for Beth and Benny as she returns home after the World Championships.
Cleo doesn’t exist in the book. Though Cleo isn’t a romantic interest, Beth has a brief fling with her in Paris. This interaction is part of the reason why Beth fails so miserably in her match-up with Borgov. Cleo sees something in Beth that no other men have, and her liberation and sensuality tempts Beth.
Matt and Mike don’t exist in the book. Like Cleo, the twins are fun additions to the show who help Beth feel less alone. Tevis’s Beth is on a solitary journey and must figure out a lot of things for herself. Many of Beth’s thoughts and choices can’t be translated to the screen, so it makes sense to introduce some more visible external forces. Matt and Mike are there at every step of Beth’s chess journey, ready to answer her questions and show her the ropes of professional chess.
Jolene. In the book, Jolene comes across as somewhat problematic. At the orphanage, she abuses Beth – verbally, physically, and even sexually. Beth is a lot younger and feels powerless against her, but also indebted to her – after all, Jolene is the one to supply Beth with extra pills, if not always directly. Still, the two become something like friends, but not in the way they are in the miniseries. Years later, Beth decides to call Jolene at the orphanage, and from there, the two go to the gym a lot (versus squash in the series). Jolene has clearly made something of herself, much like she has in the screen adaptation, but Beth’s transformation upon Jolene’s return is much more internalized. The series brings much of Beth’s thought process to the surface. Jolene returns to inform Beth of Mr. Shaibel’s passing, then offers to pay for her trip to Moscow. In the book, Beth is much more alone, and while Jolene is there, Beth must figure out for herself how to get to Moscow. She slowly makes herself stronger, both physically and mentally. She focuses on herself, on working out at the gym, eating better, and living without substances. When Beth leaves for Moscow, Jolene isn’t heard from again.
Annette Packer. Another character to help Beth navigate the world of chess, Annette is a friendly young woman and the only other female (in the show) Beth encounters at her early tournaments. When Beth gets her first period, Annette is there to offer her support. Beth still feels alienated because she hasn’t grown up around girls like her, but she isn’t entirely alone the way she is in the book. Annette shows up again when Beth returns to play a tournament in Lexington, hungover and under the influence. It’s an important moment for Beth to take stock of who she’s become and allows audiences to reflect on her journey so far. Annette doesn’t show up in the book beyond her appearance at Beth’s first-ever tournament.
Who is Beth Harmon? Walter Tevis describes Beth as plain and brown-haired. Beth thinks of herself as ugly and is often perceived as ugly by other characters, including Jolene. This is very different from Anya Taylor-Joy’s Beth, and this is mostly because of her appearance. However, it’s worth noting that in the miniseries, it would’ve as easy for Beth’s hair to be brown as it is red. Perhaps this is meant to make Beth more of an outsider, someone who stands out and looks different from most of the people around her. Taylor-Joy is much prettier than Beth is described in the books, and the character’s “ugliness” is an important part of who she is. Beth is constantly aware that she’s not desirable in looks or personality, and in the show, Beth tries to change her appearance by shopping for nice clothes and altering her hairstyle. She takes control of how she’s perceived and has a very clear goal of who she wants to make herself, as exhibited by her relationship with other women in the show, especially Cleo and Jolene. At the end of the last episode, Beth proves herself to be the autonomous woman she’s grown to be; albeit with a smile, she commands, “Let’s play.” The book ends with a question: “Would you like to play?” This alone leaves readers with a very different impression of who Beth is and who she’s evolved to become.
As summer bakes us in its glorious heat, dressing well may not seem a priority. However, maintaining a stylish appearance cannot be overlooked. To help you out, we have put together a list of some of our favourite summer accessories for men.
Ray-ban Aviator Total Black Sunglasses
Sunglasses are an essential part of any summer outfit, and some of my personal favourites are the Ray-ban’s aviator sunglasses — a timeless classic for any man. Besides black leather jackets and white T-shirts, these sunglasses also look great with casual Cuban shirts and dazzling polo shirts.
Christys’ panama hat for John Lewis & Partners is timeless and sophisticated. Made from toquilla palm woven in Ecuador and blocked in the brand’s Oxfordshire factory, it is finished with a contrast stripe ribbon band for a splash of colour. Your summer wardrobe simply won’t be complete without it.
Even a simple outfit can be enhanced with a stylish and striking watch. This Black Hoss by Thümm & Co is a must-have accessory this summer. Black enamel finish dial, black hammered leather hybrid strap, durable ceramic bezel, and scratch-resistant sapphire crystal are the features that make this watch one of the best affordable men’s watches around.
AMBUSH was created by Yoon Ahn and her husband, hip-hop artist Verbal, as an experimental jewellery line in 2008. Although it is today regarded as more of a streetwear brand, the label’s trinkets are the glue that holds its ensembles together. This feather necklace, constructed from gold-toned sterling silver, features a symbolic pendant suspended from its cable chain, setting the mood for a pleasant weekend.
An interchangeable buckle makes this soft leather belt a versatile addition to any outfit. From smart shorts to light chinos, it’s a great addition for summer and beyond.
It’s only been a year and a half since I Was Born Swimming introduced us to the world of Squirrel Flower, and Ella O’Connor Williams is already set to release her second full-length under the moniker, Planet (i), next week. Though the Boston singer-songwriter had been putting out records under her own name for a while – she began releasing folk-inspired EPs in high school – her music as Squirrel Flower is marked by greater sonic experimentation, channeling the cathartic power of guitar-based rock through the intimate spaces of those formative influences. Vulnerability always carries an electric charge in her music, whether incorporating heavier elements or leaning more on acoustic folk – and her latest LP does a bit of both.
Planet (i) burns with even more intensity than its predecessor, filled with poetic meditations on Williams’ personal growth while delving more into her relationship with the universe around her – the elements that terrify and excite her. Even when her lyrics work in metaphors, the feelings she relays are palpably real, and the album is structured in such a way where otherwise elusive dynamics come to life. Williams wrote most of the songs before the COVID-19 pandemic, building the record layer by layer with producer Ali Chant at his studio in Bristol, with help from drummer Matt Brown and Portishead’s Adrian Utley, as well as contributions from Jess Shoman (Tenci), Tomberlin, Katy J. Pearson, Jemima Coulter, Brooke Bentham, her brothers Nate and Jameson, and her father Jesse. Through it all, her presence as a vocalist and songwriter remains singularly electrifying.
We caught up with Ella Williams for this edition of our Artist Spotlight interview series to talk about her childhood moniker, the experiences that informed her new album Planet (i), family, and more.
I was going to ask you about the origins of your moniker, which comes from your childhood, but I read that you can’t quite remember when you came up with it. Do you think that’s partly why you’ve stuck with it to this day, like you want to preserve some part of your younger self?
I think at this point I’ve stuck with it because it’s just what I have. You know, I made music before I started calling myself Squirrel Flower, and it was pretty different from the music I made after I started calling myself Squirrel Flower. And it just feels like all of the music I’ve released under that name has been part of that same project, and to change it would feel wrong. I just wanted to not use my name, I thought that was boring, and I just liked the way that the words sound; when I think of Squirrel Flower, I kind of separate it from the meaning of the actual words, and I kind of hope other people do, too, at this point. Squirrel Flower is the music that I make, and it’s not about animals or flowers or even about my younger self anymore. It hasn’t really been a conscious effort to continue to preserve my younger self, although I do like that it still is a nod to my younger self, because I imagine my four-year-old self being like, “Squirrel flower!” And looking at me now as a 24-year-old and thinking that that’s pretty cool that I’m still doing it – you know, making music and also calling myself that, I feel like that’s pretty cute.
I do think aesthetically the name has a certain ring to it that’s not necessarily associated with the meaning of the actual words, but it’s interesting that it has this connection to childhood. And your previous album, I Was Born Swimming, was filled with reflections on those years growing up. Has the past year made you think differently about that time, or made you reflect on certain memories more strongly?
I really do think that the past year and a half has made me reflect on memories, generally, more strongly. And I think that’s a form of escapism, really. I’ve experienced that with recovering from the concussions I’ve had, like you can’t really have sensory stimulation and instead you’re kind of just there alone with your mind. And in a way being in quarantine was very similar to that; you don’t have much going on, you’re kind of just there with your brain, and I have found in times like that that diving really deep into the mind and allowing memories to lead you to other memories – sort of like reliving memories like a movie, almost. I’ve always had a really vivid, visual imagination. And the song ‘Pass’ on Planet (i) is kind of about that, just filtering through past seasons and memories and trying to find escapism in it, and tapping out from the current reality, but also using memories to think about how to live my life now and moving forward in the future and putting everything in context. Because I feel like sometimes – I don’t know, we’re all just so busy all the time, our brains are a million different places, and at least for me, it’s really easy to lose context of just who I have been for my whole life and who I am presently, and that being the same person, and allowing who I have been to inform who I will be and who I am now.
Do you mind sharing any of those memories that either informed the music or helped you reconnect with that sense of identity?
I could talk about one that is specifically in the album – so, ‘Iowa 146’, that whole thing is a really specific memory of a past relationship that I was diving into and finding escapism through reliving in my head during quarantine. I hadn’t thought about the person in a while, and sort of just completely put myself back into how lovely it was, and this specific memory of being in rural Iowa together at night, just like out in the cornfields, looking at the stars, and you could see the Milky Way. And regardless of what happened after that, just like that moment of tenderness and feeling so present and beautiful and electric in that moment.
Something I love about Planet (i) as a whole is how it evokes these electric moments, but also these different shades of loneliness. Like, on ‘To Be Forgotten’, solitude is almost like a euphoric and freeing feeling, but then on ‘Night’, there’s almost a punishing bitterness to it, especially with the line “To the moon I wail of solitude/ And she spits on my head.” I know you wrote the songs mostly before the pandemic, which makes sense because that tension has always been present in your music, but how did you want to approach those themes on this album?
It definitely was less of a focal point as in I Was Born Swimming, which is obviously all about the tensions of like, wanting to be alone versus wanting to be with someone else, or maybe not wanting to be alone. Just trying to work out all of those dynamics of being a person independently, and also relating to somebody else and being very close to someone else and being dependent… But, I mean, that’s just shit that I think about a lot [laughs] and is very present in my life all the time, so of course it just naturally made its way into the songs.
I think also, a lot of the talk of solitude, at least on ‘Night’ – like, that line, I remember I wrote it when I was healing from a concussion, and just literally couldn’t socialize, couldn’t do fucking anything, and had times of feeling beauty just in myself and from that solitude of doing nothing. But that was a moment of, like you said, bitterness, just like, “Fuck this!” But then on ‘To Be Forgotten’, I actually wrote half those lyrics when I was on tour alone one time, and then I wrote the other half when I was in Bristol alone, just walking around alone one day. And those are instances in my life of just of being alone and just feeling electric and feeling so full, not needing anything or anyone else, and being able to connect more with nature and my ancestors and just everything from being like a singular person in the world instead of a person with other people, if that makes sense.
In what way did you think about your ancestors?
I mean, family is and has always been really important to me. I think a big theme on this album, albeit maybe not explicit, but while I was writing and recording the album, I was thinking about my ancestors. Most of them have been artists and, you know, leftists and organizers, and they’ve lived these weird alternative lives making music and art and being like, politically offbeat. Thinking about them and thinking about that makes me feel very powerful in the trajectory of my life. My grandfather was a lute and recorder player and played early medieval music, like Renaissance music, and I used to listen to his lute recordings on a CD every night when I went to sleep as a kid. And I think just that sound finds its way into the way I play guitar, especially when I’m just playing acoustic guitar on my own – not recording or playing a show but just the way I play music when I’m not doing it as a job, if that makes sense. Just allowing myself to be informed by their music and art and lives.
Do you still have the CD of those recordings?
I don’t have the CD, they’re just floating around in emails. I think my dad has them and my great aunt has them as well, and I think my grandmother has them too. It’s like mp3s now I think.
Have you listened to any of them recently?
I haven’t, I really want to though. When my grandfather died and he left us a lot of his recorders, and my dad, who is also a musician – we would like, especially in quarantine, ‘cause me and my parents and my two brothers were quarantining together for a lot of it, and we would have these nights of just all of us playing recorder, or like, someone on recorder, someone on guitar, someone on piano or cello or bass – just so many different instruments. [laughs] And my mom doesn’t play music, but she would just be sitting there listening. Just these beautiful classical quartets that were pretty much just sight-read or improvised, and I also started learning Bach duets with my dad and with my brother, respectively, on guitar and acoustic bass. Doing that was really, really lovely – there’s something about just sitting down with a family member and sight-reading this music that is like two parts, and the whole point of the music is how the two lines interact with each other – they have their separate waves of motion, and they sometimes meet. I don’t know, it’s just a beautiful way of relating to a person.
You also brought back a lot of them to play on the record – I know your father played on the previous album and your brother Jameson did as well. I’m not sure if your brother Nate has played on a previous album, but I saw on the credits that he yells on one track?
Yeah. He hasn’t played on any other records, but he played couple trumpet notes on ‘Night’, and then he yelled the lyrics on ‘Hurt a Fly’. [laughs]
At which point does he do that?
It’s on the “broke your trust again” verse. You can kind of hear him, “broke your trust again!”
How did that come about?
Well, I wanted to yell. One day in the studio, I said to Ali, the producer, like, “I need to do a yelling track on this.” And I tried, and it just felt so embarrassing. I’m just not a very good yeller. And Ali was like, “I’m not a good yeller either.” [laughs] So I hit up Nate, my younger brother – he has a massive voice, he could be an opera singer. And I was like, “Do you want to yell the lyrics on this song?” And at the time he was living close to a college campus in Massachusetts, and he biked to the middle of the sports field and recorded it in the middle of the field just like on his phone. There weren’t really people around, but there were some people kind of far away that were like, “What is going on?”
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think about family?
Just like, warmth. I don’t know, it feels like the most important thing to me, and even now, like, I’m currently living with my older brother, and our younger brother lives a five-minute walk away. We’re just all so close and important to each other. And you know, we fight a lot, but also like, my family just brings me so much joy.
Is the idea of family something that extends beyond biological family for you? I’m thinking of this also in the context of, you know, there are quite a few other collaborators on the album, and backing vocalists in particular that you brought on for this record. I was wondering if could talk a little bit about those collaborations as well.
To start, I feel like, yeah, the whole idea of chosen family has been really hot lately, like everyone’s talking about chosen family. And I identify with that. It’s an amazing thing to have people in your life that you have come across and decided to care for. But yeah, in terms of the collaborators on the record, throughout quarantine friends were hitting me up and asking me to sing backing vocals on their stuff a lot, and I had a really nice time doing it and it allowed me to feel like there’s this musical community, despite not being able to actually have like a physical musical community and go to shows and be with each other. And it was just a way to feel connection, for me, was singing on other people’s music. And I’d never really had backing vocalists before on my stuff other than my own voice, but Ali had the idea, and at first I was kind of wary because I was like, “I haven’t done this before, I feel like my singular voice is so important to my music.” But then I ended up just hitting up some friends, and yeah, it’s really nice to have all these like different friends’ voices on the record.
Talking about the themes of the album, water is once again a recurring presence on Planet (i), but in different ways than on I Was Born Swimming. In an interview around that album, you had talked about going into the next album wanting to explore this fear of water as a natural force. But on ‘Desert Wildflowers’, there’s this proclamation, “I’m not scared of the flood.” Was there a moment where something shifted?
Nothing shifted – I feel like a lot of my songs that have statements like that, they’re really acting as me trying to tell myself an affirmation, if that makes sense. Like, I am scared of the flood and I’m trying to in the song be like, I’m not scared of the flood. I’m not scared of the flood.I’m not afraid. Trying to face it, but not saying it as a true statement. So yeah, nothing has changed. I’m still terrified of the power of water and how powerless we are to it. And we also need it, we cannot live without it. And its absence is terrifying, and it being too present is terrifying.
Could you talk a bit about the idea behind the title, specifically the (i)?
It’s honestly not that deep. I just couldn’t really think of a title, and it was kind of just like a silly thing. The (i), it just looked like a – you know when they find any planet and they put like a placeholder name for it, or they name it like, Planet X or something? There are all these scientific, weird names for the new planets, and so I thought it was sort of like a nod to that a little bit, kind of a joke. But it’s also Planet (i), because it’s my record. [laughs] It’s also really about my internal worlds, as well as the planet, planet Earth, and also the other planets in the universe. The album is ultimately about relating other external planets to my internal worlds.
Given that it’s very much about your internal world, how do you feel about sharing it with other people?
I was talking to a friend about this the other night, because he was like, “I can’t believe that you do this, you do the scariest thing ever, just getting in front of people and sharing these things and singing these songs.” And I realized, like, yeah, it’s terrifying, but it’s kind of like an adrenaline junkie thing – I really like the feeling of being on stage, or sharing recorded music that is so fucking insanely vulnerable and intimate, and being like, “Yeah, here it is.” You know? There’s such immense power in sharing things that are so not necessarily personal but personally important and delicate and fragile to me.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
Marina Diamandis’ Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land marks the second album the Welsh-Greek artist released after dropping ‘and the Diamonds’ from her stage name. If 2019’s Love + Fear centered on emotional attachment and universal insecurities, Ancient Dreams serves as an exploration of society’s most pressing issues through an ecofeminist lens. Fusing her rich, angelic mezzo-soprano voice with the trademark electro-pop that made MARINA’s music widely acclaimed, her stirring commentary on recent turbulent years reveals how, in many ways, humanity has made little real progress. The artist’s unrelenting refusal to censor herself is what makes the project so melodically and lyrically memorable.
Kicking things off with the track that gives the album its name, ‘Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land’ is infused with disco beats and infectious, almost robotic harmonies. Gliding from throaty low notes to breezy highs in the chorus, Diamandis plants the central message that continues to unfold steadfastly in later songs: “We’re now living in a seminal age/ The walls are being broken and we’re ready for change.” The funk-driven, sassy ‘Venus Fly Trap’ builds on this momentum, packed with striking piano chords, punchy drums and a resentment towards patriarchal standards. Echoing the harsh sentiments expressed in her 2010 album The Family Jewels, MARINA calls out Hollywood for its unattainable ideals, this time celebrating the self-love that comes with distancing yourself from the entertainment industry. “Why be a wallflower when you can be a Venus fly trap?” she asks in a cold, snappy tone.
The sonically more mellow ‘Man’s World’ might just be the summit of the LP, exhibiting dramatically sharp lyricism, most notable in MARINA’s tongue-in-cheek reference to the Sultan of Brunei’s anti-gay penal code: “I guess that’s why he bought the campest hotel in LA then,” the artist mocks against a backdrop of animated guitar strums. Channeling a similar anger-turned-motivation, ‘Purge the Poison’ is a rapidly paced anthem bursting with intentionally frenetic energy. The track is not faultless: it’s hard not to be irritated by the incorrectly stressed syllables in the pre-chorus, and the overwhelming amount of social issues tackled makes each one, ironically, seem more trivial. Diamandis makes up for this with contagious sonic elements, though, as she creatively sings from the perspective of a damaged, wrathful planet Earth, chanting: “Need to purge the poison from our system/ Until human beings listen/ Tell me, who’d you think you are?”
The second half of the LP welcomes a reshuffling from political fury to personal heartbreak, but rather pales in comparison to the adventurous, vibrant introduction. The far sparser production on ‘Highly Emotional People’ creates swaying, soft melodies as Diamandis’ vocals dance with the piano and impart a heartfelt commentary on toxic masculinity, using poignant if rather unoriginal phrases: “People say men don’t cry/ It’s so much easier to just lie.” ‘I Love You But I Love Me More’ is further testament to the album’s impressive vocals and production rather than its lyrics, which unfortunately skate into clichés about doubting an ex-lover who claims to have changed. All the same, the final few vulnerable, euphonious piano ballads – largely inspired by the end of Diamandis’ longest romantic relationship – offer more facets to the project and neatly balance the sweeping intensity of theinceptivesocio-political pieces.
‘Goodbye’, in particular, allows the listener to sit back and watch Diamandis’ sweet candour unfurl in what is simultaneously a breakup song and a shedding of old skin, as she bids her past self farewell. “Somewhere between new and old/ Another life waits to unfold,” she hums in the first verse; the charming conclusion to MARINA’s most daring work to date cements her place as an ever-changing, refreshingly innovative creator.
Taylor Swift has announced that her next re-recorded album will be Red. The aptly titled Red (Taylor’s Version) is set for release on November 19. The pop singer also revealed that the new version will contain 30 songs, including a 10-minute track – presumably the long-rumored extended version of ‘All Too Well’. Check out the announcement below.
“I’ve always said that the world is a different place for the heartbroken,” Swift wrote in her post. “It moves on a different axis, at a different speed. Time skips backwards and forwards fleetingly. The heartbroken might go through thousands of micro-emotions a day trying to figure out how to get through it without picking up the phone to hear that old familiar voice. In the land of heartbreak, moments of strength, independence, and devil-may-care rebellion are intricately woven together with grief, paralyzing vulnerability and hopelessness. Imagining your future might always take you on a detour back to the past. And this is all to say, that the next album I’ll be releasing is my version of Red.” She continued:
Musically and lyrically, Red resembled a heartbroken person. It was all over the place, a fractured mosaic of feelings that somehow all fit together in the end. Happy, free, confused, lonely, devastated, euphoric, wild, and tortured by memories past. Like trying on pieces of a new life, I went into the studio and experimented with different sounds and collaborators. And I’m not sure if it was pouring my thoughts into this album, hearing thousands of your voices sing the lyrics back to me in passionate solidarity, or if it was simply time, but something was healed along the way.
Sometimes you need to talk it over (over and over and over) for it to ever really be… over. Like your friend who calls you in the middle of the night going on and on about their ex, I just couldn’t stop writing. This will be the first time you hear all 30 songs that were meant to go on Red. And hey, one of them is even ten minutes long.
The original Red came out in October 2012 and featured some of Swift’s biggest hits, including ‘I Knew You Were Trouble and ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’. Back in April, the singer-songwriter released the re-recorded version of her second album, 2008’s Fearless.
The next album that I’ll be releasing is my version of Red, which will be out on November 19. This will be the first time you hear all 30 songs that were meant to go on Red. And hey, one of them is even ten minutes long🧣 https://t.co/FOBLS5aHpSpic.twitter.com/6zWa64Owgp
You can’t say you didn’t see it coming. The title of Danny Elfman’s first non-soundtrack solo project in 37 years, like much of the album itself, can either be seen as cloyingly on-the-nose or perfectly fitting: Big Mess. The striking cover artwork, which was created by Sarah Sitkin and transforms 3D scans of the composer into a disturbing digital sculpture, also prepares you for the overarching mood of the album: thoroughly creepy and bizarre, Elfman’s many sides colliding into one inscrutable package. Even as his appearance is distorted, he still remains at the center of it all: “I knew from the start that this wasn’t going to be a neat, easy-to-categorise record,” he said in a statement. “It was always destined to be this crazy cacophony because that’s who I am. The ‘Big Mess’ is me.”
Of course, Elfman is far from the first musician to capitalize on that messiness – much of his own celebrated work with director Tim Burton is built on subverting our perception of traditionally unattractive qualities and turning them into a source of compassion. On his latest effort, too, the music takes on an obviously cathartic role: Created almost entirely during lockdown in 2020, the album is the result of a spontaneous experiment that inexplicably took the form of a 2-sided project boasting 18 tracks – Elfman has compared the process to opening Pandora’s Box. The lack of a creative filter is partly what’s appealing about it, leading to a few scattered moments of exhilarating brilliance, but it’s also what makes Big Mess by turns insufferable, underwhelming, and exhausting. The keyword here isn’t just mess, but big mess.
The album’s most memorable songs are those that were intriguing as singles. One can hardly imagine a stronger return for Elfman as a solo artist than lead single ‘Happy’, which echoes the darker edges of the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack while infusing its theatricality with more of the rock instrumentation that bolsters much of the new record. A more interesting point of reference, though, isn’t rock music, but what Elfman calls “anti-pop” – it’s no surprise that highlight ‘Kick Me’ got the remix treatment by Death Grips’ Zach Hill. But where the best experimental pop feels liberating, the atmosphere on the album’s most hyperactive moments is more often oppressive, while the more conventional tracks, like the meditative, string-led ‘In Time’, offer little in the way of variation.
On a compositional level, Big Mess is technically flawless and mostly interesting, even if it’s best consumed in small doses. But what’s most likely to test your patience are the lyrics, which are topical in the most exasperating way possible: the worst offender might be ‘Love in the Time of Covid’, which opens with the lines “Living a life in a nutshell/ Stay inside and you’ll do well,” before devolving into, “Oh, she likes me/ Her videos excite me/ Under the virtual moonlight/ We got a date at midnight.” It’s like it exists in a parallel universe where Disney acquired the rights to Bo Burnham’s Inside, turning it into a Burton-esque (emphasis on esque) nightmare that’s naturally way less introspective and self-conscious than the original (that special is only 15 minutes longer than the entire album, by the way). It might not be supposed to invoke empathy, but even as satire, it’s a tough sell.
And that’s before we even get to the record’s political commentary, which is where it undoubtedly falters most. As a critique of the Trump era, ‘Serious Ground’ feels unoriginal and redundant in its vagueness; follow-up track ‘Choose Your Side’ sets an actual soundbite of Trump saying “It’s a great thing that’s happening to our country” against an industrial groove to evoke an ominous atmosphere of national division, but it falls short of suggesting much else. Then Side A concludes abruptly with the mournful ‘We Belong’, before ‘Happy’ comes to once again upset the flow of the album; in this context, the track is more baffling than satisfying.
Yet it’s hard to imagine longtime fans being disappointed by what Big Mess has to offer, which is everything one might expect from Danny Elfman and more – perhaps too much more. That directionless maximalism might be seen as a minor gripe for an album whose biggest strength is that it isn’t afraid to go completely off-the-rails. But really, after repeated listens, you start to question how much of it is done with an audience in mind, and how much of it is just for Elfman himself. “I take a weird pleasure to play things for people that they’re not expecting, so I always led the presentation with ‘Sorry’ because I just wanted to see their faces,” he said of trying to market the album to different companies. “It was almost like performance art. I’d look at their expressions, usually horrified, and take great pleasure at that.” That mischievous spirit is all but lost on Big Mess, but somewhere along the way, the thrill of it starts to feel curiously one-sided.
Gaming used to be seen as a pastime or a way to unwind at leisure, but it is now seen as somewhat a part of life instead of something silly. Certainly, cellphones and social media habits have made it normal to check devices often or to use them for brief periods, and casual gaming has progressed similarly with little need for a big investment of your time or money.
Engagement
Casual gaming generally consists of scenarios where you perform repeated and frequently addicting game tasks with simple gameplay mechanics that improve with the person’s skills at each subsequent level. Think Temple Run or Angry Birds, but on a smaller scale. These titles have fascinating and engaging elements that draw gamers in while still being simple to enter and exit, and perusing sites like Google Play is the best way to find a good fit for anyone looking to join in on the fun.
Smartphones Pave the Way
Casual games are a perfect fit for the mobile devices we carry with us every day. Even other forms of media, such as casino gaming, recognize the significance of having a mobile version, as allslotscanada.com illustrates by showcasing the variety of casino gaming possibilities accessible on your mobile in response to our desire to keep occupied on the move. Because the smartphone’s concept is evolving, we can now depend on it to accomplish practically anything. Mobiles have become embedded and valuable tool in our everyday lives, so utilizing them as a gaming platform is a natural evolution.
Accessibility
One of the chief factors for the influx of casual gaming titles is that they require little time to produce, are much less expensive, and are far more likely to be embraced by a larger audience. Because console and PC titles require a bigger financial investment from the player, they are held to higher standards, so a free casual game can get away with a lot more and end up in many more hands. Casual gaming on devices like mobile phones, on the other hand, provides more penetration and caters to a larger spectrum of players, even people who may not regard themselves to be gamers.
No Stereotypes in Gaming Anymore
The stigma of being a gamer that clung to “nerds” a few years ago has dissolved, with the world learning how fun, entertaining, and educational gaming can be. A decade ago, if a person admitted that they spent most of their free time staring at screens and playing video games, they would have been ostracized. Today, there are more moms and dads, grandmothers and grandfathers casually gaming than ever before, with casual gamers making up the vast bulk of gamers in today’s industry.
Hopefully, a few of these facts help to explain how prevalent casual gaming has grown and why it’s such a popular pastime. Casual games will be played by an increasingly bigger portion of the people in the world as mobile gaming keeps pulling in greater profits. Nevertheless, if you enjoy playing casual games, take pride in the fact that you account for the majority of players nowadays.
Vince Staples has returned with his first solo single since 2019. It’s called ‘Law of Averages’ and it’s the lead offering from the rapper’s upcoming self-titled album, which was produced by Kenny Beats and arrives July 9 via Blacksmith Recordings/Motown Records. Check it out below, alongside an accompanying video directed by Kid. Studio.
In a press release, Staples said the new 10-track LP “really gives much more information about me that wasn’t out there before. That’s why I went with that title. I feel like I’ve been trying to tell the same story. As you go on in life, your point of view changes. This is another take on myself that I might not have had before.”
He added: “I’m a mind more than I am an entertainer to a lot of people. I appreciate that my fanbase is willing to go on this ride with me. I’m ready to diversify what we’re doing and see how we affect the world.”
Staples recently featured on Emotional Oranges’ new track ‘Back & Forth’, from the R&B group’s eight-song project The Juicebox. His last solo single was 2019’s ‘Hell Bound (Ad 01)’, while his most recent full-length project was 2018’s FM!.
Kings of Convenience, the Norwegian folk duo of Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe, are back with their first new album in 12 years. The follow-up to 2009’s Declaration of Dependence is called Peace or Love and was preceded by the singles ‘Rocky Trail’ and ‘Fever’. The album was recorded across five years in five different cities, including Gothenburg, Sweden, Santiago, Chile, and Berlin at Nils Frahm’s Funkhaus studio. According to a press release, Peace or Love “is the sound of two old friends exploring the latest phase of their lives together and finding new ways to capture that elusive magic” and features “11 songs about life and love with the alluring beauty, purity, and emotional clarity that you would expect from Kings of Convenience.”
H.E.R.‘s much-anticipated debut album, Back of My Mind, has arrived via MBK Entertainment/RCA Records. The Grammy- and Oscar-winning artist’s new LP features collaborations with Ty Dolla $ign, Cordae, Lil Baby, Yung Bleu, Kaytranada and Thundercat, DJ Khaled and Bryson Tiller, YG, and Chris Brown. “People always ask me, ‘What’s the message? Where does this come from? Is it personal experience?’” the singer said in a trailer for the album. “And it’s always the thoughts that sit in the back of my mind. It’s always things that I’ve been through, things that I go through, or what I feel, and all those thoughts that I’m afraid to say sometimes. Things that feel too honest or too vulnerable or too emotional or too aggressive … It’s all of those things that have been in the back of my mind for the past few years since my first project. It’s like a peek into my soul.”
Mykki Blanco has dropped a new mini-album titled Broken Hearts & Beauty Sleep via Transgressive Records. The 9-track record includes contributions from Jamila Woods and Jay Cue, Blood Orange, Big Freedia, Hudson Mohawke, and Kari Faux, and was preceded by the singles ‘Free Ride’, ‘Love Me’, ‘Summer Fling’, and ‘It’s Not My Choice’. Blanco said in a statement: “For me, I am one of those artists who many would say has taken the longer road to get to where I am now, but it’s that journey which has been the reward because the journey really has been my life; the career has just been the outer shell to the deeper things that I’ve experienced, and I can only be here now because of this journey.”
Azure Ray, the duo of Maria Taylor and Orenda Fink, have returned with their first new album in 11 years. Remedy is out now via Taylor’s Flower Moon Records and follows 2010’s Drawing Down the Moon as well as two EPs, 2012’s As Above So Below and 2018’s Waves. Lord Huron’s Brandon Walters produced the album, which was recorded across three separate locations in southern California during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We chose ‘Remedy’ as the title track for our new record because we felt like it spoke to our collective experience of the last year (when this record was written and recorded),” the group said in a statement. “Many of us experienced grief, anger, isolation, and fear, and in those times when you can’t find solace in your usual places, you have to look for it on the inside. In the end, you are your own source of power, your own source of hope. ‘You’re a remedy, or there’s none.’”
Max Bloom, formerly of the London shoegaze outfit Yuck, has released a new solo album, Pedestrian, out now via Bloom’s own Ultimate Blends. It includes the previously released singles ‘Palindromes’, ‘All the Same’, and the title track. According to a press release, Bloom found inspiration for these songs while “wandering the city streets and parks against the surreal backdrop of the last twelve months” and “observing his surroundings and people’s behaviour in a new light.” He also designed individual artworks for each one of the album’s 10 songs. Yuck announced their breakup back in February, on the exact 10th anniversary of their self-titled debut album.
Brooklyn-based artist MattBachmann – who plays bass in Mega Bog and also records under the monikers Pachanga and Big Eater – has released a new solo album, Dream Logic, via Orindal Records and We Be Friends. The LP was mostly recorded by Bachmann alone in his Brooklyn apartment and features guest contributions from members of Mega Bog (Derek Baron), Big Thief (James Krivchenia), and more. “Up until this record, I had carefully contained my musical styles into neat collections, recording songwriting material under the moniker Big Eater, recording jazz-oriented instrumental music under the moniker Pachanga, and recording repetitive melodic drone music under my own name,” Bachmann said in a statement. “The guiding principle behind Dream Logic was to integrate these modalities of music-making, allowing whatever was going to come out to come out, and not worry if it made sense.”
Other albums out today:
Joan Armatrading, Consequences; Angélique Kidjo, Mother Nature; Andrew Hung, Devastations; Tigercub, As Blue As Indigo; Francis Lung, Miracle.
Kings of Convenience
Mykki Blanco
Max Bloom
Brooklyn-based artist 