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Who would’ve imagined we’d one day have access to the kind of technology we have today? As long as you have a device and an internet connection, nothing is impossible. You can even bring the cinema experience to the comfort of your home. And one tool that made it possible is Kanopy. It’s a streaming platform that makes it easier to access high-quality films, documentaries, and independent titles. Likewise, it opened doors for more people to watch meaningful content. But no platform is perfect. It still has some limits, like a smaller selection and limited reach. That’s why many people still search for Kanopy alternatives.
This article breaks down a few streaming options you can try, along with mirror sites and Reddit information.
Five Recommended Kanopy Alternatives
Hoopla
Hoopla is likely the closest legal alternative to Kanopy. It also lets users stream movies and TV shows using a library card. Like Kanopy, it focuses on educational and indie films. Plus, Hoopla lets viewers stream and download titles on any device.
HBO Max
HBO Max offers new stories for everyone each week. With a cheap subscription fee, you can already stream popular series and blockbuster films. From the DC universe to the world of Harry Potter, your favorites are on Max.
Hulu
Hulu is another paid platform that offers a strong mix of TV shows, movie library, and original content. Aside from these, Hulu provides access to live sports coverage, news programs, and Disney shows. Like HBO Max, it’s a strong addition to the list of Kanopy alternatives if you want a broader range of content.
Bflix
Bflix caters to audiences who value streaming comfort and quality at no cost. Specifically, it’s a free website that hosts an extensive collection of films and TV episodes. Similarly, users don’t need to sign up or register to stream blockbuster titles and classics.
1movies
1movies is also a free streaming website. With no fees needed, anyone can enjoy watching titles from its library of movies and TV series. Particularly, viewers can choose from different genres.
Available Mirror Sites for Kanopy
The main Kanopy website is working perfectly. You can use this link to visit: https://www.kanopy.com/en. If this is not an option for you, then you can download the app version on the App Store, Google Play, and Amazon.
Reddit News About Kanopy
Many users on the r/criterion and r/Letterboxd threads on Reddit share their delight with Kanopy. However, some people on r/Kanopy are saying it’s sad that the platform is not available everywhere.
Final Notes
There are many free streaming websites. But it’s always better to stick with legal Kanopy alternatives. Choose smart and stream safe.
There’s so much music coming out all the time that it’s hard to keep track. On those days when the influx of new tracks is particularly overwhelming, we sift through the noise to bring you a curated list of the most interesting new releases (the best of which will be added to our Best New Songs playlist). Below, check out our track roundup for Tuesday, August 12, 2025.
Sorry – ‘Echoes’
Sorry have announced a new album, COSPLAY, arriving November 7. It includes their recent singles – ‘Waxwing’, ‘Jetplane’, and ‘Jive’ – as well as the ethereal yet vulnerable ‘Echoes’. “Meet me at the butterfly sanctuary,” Asha Lorenz remarked of the song.
Kaytranada – ‘Space Invader’
Kaytranada has previewed his imminent new album, Ain’t No Damn Way!, with a sleek, bouncy new single called ‘Space Invader’, which is built on a sample of Latrelle and Kelis’ 2001 R&B track ‘My Life’.
Militarie Gun – ‘B A D I D E A’
Militarie Gun have announced a new album, God Save the Gun, with the infectious and pummelling ‘B A D I D E A’. “I wanted to make a video that was a celebration of vices, a new iteration of yourself looking back at a moment you made a mistake while never truly reflecting,” bandleader Ian Shelton said in a press release. “This was the most technically challenging video we’ve ever done and it only fits a song spelling out the words ‘bad idea’.”
Hannah Frances – ‘Surviving You’
“‘Surviving You’ is a reflection on the ways generational trauma can repeat itself when unexamined, and the ways we learn to protect ourselves through necessity,” Frances said of her entrancing new single, which leads her forthcoming album Nested in Tangles. “It’s a personal account of receiving harm from people who have projected their own pain onto me, who refuse to see themselves or take accountability for the impact of their actions. I was reckoning with my rage, and recognizing how much I’ve lived in survival mode for the majority of my life. This is for anyone who grew up in a turbulent and harmful home and is learning to affirm their lived experience.”
Twen – ‘Godlike’
Twen have a new album on the way, Fate Euphoric, which comes out November 5. It’s led by the tuneful and breezy ‘Godlike’, which comes paired with a video directed by the duo’s Jane Fitzsimmons.
Sudan Archives – ‘MS. PAC-MAN’
‘MS. PAC-MAN’ is the name of Sudan Archives’ kinetic, hilarious new single. “My cousin Taylor was like, all you write about is love, sometimes I want to be toxic — I want to hear stupid shit,” the artist remarked. “Eric, her husband, was playing this beat, and Taylor was like ‘PUT IT IN MY MOUTH’ and I was like, oh God, that’s so funny – ‘AND MY BANK ACCOUNT!’”
Avalon Emerson and Moby – ‘E After Next’
Avalon Emerson and Moby have joined forces for a new song, which flips Moby’s 1992 rave anthem ‘Next Is the E’. It’s a playful, buoyant reimagining.
Jay Som – ‘Cards on the Table’
Jay Som has shared, ‘Cards on the Table’, the latest single from the forthcoming album Belong. It’s hazy-sounding track with striking emotional clarity. “‘Cards on the Table’ is my favorite song on Belong!” Jay Som commented. “It’s about the shifting nature of friendships and how devastating conflict can be in platonic relationships when you feel misunderstood by each other. I think it’s a universal experience to navigate that type of dynamic. It feels like a never-ending cycle of people walking in and out of your life, but it ultimately leads to self discovery and growth.”
Guerilla Toss – ‘CEO of Personal & Pleasure’
“If you’re feeling strange/ You should probably stick with it.” That’s a decent piece of advice from Guerilla Toss’ delightfully weird new single, ‘CEO of Personal & Pleasure’. “Instead of marinating in the void, I’ve chosen to gaslight myself into greatness by firing my inner critic and reinstating myself as the slightly unhinged CEO of my own emotional start-up,” frontperson Kassie Carlso saidn. “The CEO of Personal & Pleasure doesn’t have a 5-year delusion, but I do have dogs, vicious optimism, and a vague idea that being alive should occasionally feel good. Late-stage capitalism meets self-care nihilism … and blooming from it, the CEO of Personal and Pleasure.”
Kitba – ‘Wolf’s Mouth’
“When I was little I had a dream/ About putting my head in a wolf’s mouth/ He never hurt me never bit down/ I always woke up but maybe now,” Rebecca El-Saleh sings on their blurry new Kitba single. “The song is based on a recurring childhood nightmare where I was in a room with a filing cabinet in the corner and a large wolf that would open its mouth,” they explained. “I would place my head inside its mouth and then wake up. I never got to see beyond the bite and I often wonder what was in the cabinet and why, when I eventually became less scared of the wolf, he disappeared. This song is about being ready to let the unknown consume me.”
Droogie Otis (Madlib + Your Old Droog) – ‘The Edge’ [feat. Killer Mike]
Madlib and Your Old Droog have teamed up with Killer Mike for their woozy new single, ‘The Edge’. “‘The Edge’ is one of those songs I dreamed of making,” Droog, who also delivers a guitar solo on the track, said in a press release. “It feels elevated. It feels like a suit-and-tie affair. It feels like an award show. It’s great to share that figurative stage with Killer Mike.”
Just Mustard – ‘We Were Just Here’
Just Mustard have announced a new album, We Were Just Here, out October 24, and dropped the dizzying title track. “I was trying to write more optimistically, and feeling like a fraud sometimes,” the band’s Katie Ball said of the album. “I was trying to put myself in places of physical joy to try and get that euphoric feeling.”
Marissa Nadler – ‘Light Years’
Marissa Nadler’s new single, ‘Light Years’, both evokes and digs into the memory of a fading love. “Back in the day, you were all the rage/ When you could still hypnotize her,” she sings, “Rockets and planes, and through hurricanes/ Fused to the sight of her fire.” It’s taken from her imminent LP New Radiations.
villagerrr – ‘Ride or Die’ [feat. Lydia Slocum]
feeble little horse’s Lydia Slocum has joined villagerrr for the hooky new single ‘Ride or Die’. It marks villagerrr’s signing to Winspiear, which will be releasing his album Tear Your Heart Out on vinyl for the first time, and the new song is one of five previously unreleased recordings that it features.
Pool Kids – ‘Sorry Not Sorry’
Pool Kids have previewed their new album Easier Said Than Done with an ethereal track called ‘Sorry Not Sorry’. “When you feel like you’re somebody’s second choice, or like you’re not as important to them as they are to you, it can send you into this desperate, embarrassing sort of spiral,” Christine Goodwyne reflected. “In phases like those, it can feel very empowering to pick yourself up, take control of the situation and be like ‘whatever, I’m not going to tolerate this, I don’t need this person’s approval.’ I used to get caught sort of in the middle of those two approaches, swinging back and forth between totally desperate and totally in-control.”
“It’s been many years since I’ve dealt with or felt anything like that, but it’s the kind of feeling that you never forget,” she added. “Sometimes when I’m writing, it can be inspiring to tap into those old, more potent emotions that I haven’t felt in a long time. It’s kind of an ode to an old version of myself that would’ve found a song like this very cathartic.”
Robin Kester – ‘Perspective’
Robin Kester has unveiled ‘Perspective’, the fifth offering from her upcoming record Dark Sky Reserve. “It is sinister, but at the same time there’s hope in it,” she said of the new single. “You need to go to a dark place first to get that kind of perspective.”
Natural Wonder Beauty Concept – ‘Wicked Game’ (Chris Isaac Cover)
Countless artists have covered Chris Isaac’s ‘Wicked Game’. It’s been a live staple for Natural Wonder Beauty Concept, the duo of Ana Roxanne and DJ Python, and I haven’t heard a rendition quite like theirs, spare yet intoxicating. It will appear on Sitting on the Moon, a compilation their label home Mexican Summer is putting out this Friday.
Camp Trash – ‘Signal Them In’
Camp Trash have dropped a new single, ‘Signal Them In’. It seems to be a one-off single, and it’s pretty fun.
No Peeling – ‘Can I Pet That Dog?’
Knottingham’s No Peeling take inspiration from bands like the B52s and the Unicorns, and they remind me of Snooper, the egg punk band who recently started rolling out their second album. No Peeling’s self-titled debut arrives next month via Feel It Records, and it’s led by the exhilarating ‘Can I Pet That Dog?’.
The title of Ada Lea’s new album, when i paint my masterpiece, is not exactly aspirational. It’s hardly allegorical – on the album cover, Alexandra Levy is literally holding her guitar while being surrounded by her paintings. But it’s hard to listen to the sprawling, otherworldly little album and not, at any point, feel like she’s offering a glimpse into the practice and magic of mastering. (Not the post-production stage, which the prolific Heba Kadry artfully handled here, but the artistic process.) Following 2021’s kaleidoscopic one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden, relentless touring forced Levy to restructure her life and priorities as a musician, which is not to say she stopped writing songs – in fact, she taught a songwriting course at Concordia University. She wrote over 200 songs over a period of three years, 16 of which made it onto the new album, and most of which originated in the Songwriting Method, a community-based group she kept up that required submitting songs with a deadline. On songs like ‘it isn’t enough’, you can almost hear her rushing to get a song down before midnight, singing, “Today I lost/ Today is gone/ Today I really fought.” Far from impatient or forced, however, it sounds unhurried and precious, glad not to have slipped into past tense.
We caught up with Ada Lea to talk about painting, the Songwriting Method, Leonora Carrington’s The Hearing Trumpet, and other inspirations behind when i paint my masterpiece.
Drawing and painting
For you, is there a linear kind of relationship between drawing, painting, and songwriting?
It’s funny that you use the word linear because I think that one big difference between music and paintings is the temporal difference that dawned on me while I was working on the songs and spending more time with painting. It’s kind of silly, but you do take in a painting all at once. There can be motion within the painting, and you can maybe try and gather what came before or, if there’s a figure, where the figure’s going, but you really are taking it in all at once. With a song, it’s evolving over time, and it’s the same with reading. I think attempting to bring that experience to a song, almost it becoming impressionistic or having small flashes of images over making it logically and narrativelly make sense – that took priority. We’re doing this interview now, but I’m not comfortable speaking compared to how free it feels to paint or draw or play something on the piano or play a little melody. It’s really difficult for me to speak, and I know it’s not the case for everyone. Like, my partner, he thinks in entire sentences and sees the sentence before he’s even speaking. I think it was just coming into the right brain aspect of it and letting my intuition guide me instead of having my hands gripped around the neck of the song.
I know that one part of stepping away from the music industry, for you, was studying painting. I’m curious if that way of appreciating art also affected how you approached songwriting.
I was really lucky to be in contact with a mentor that was really inspiring to me, and allowed conversations to happen in a way that didn’t feel oppressively academic. I really don’t come from an academic background. My parents didn’t go to school. My brother has a bachelor’s, and we’re the first ones to go to school. The academic world is not one that I’m comfortable in, so I think I do school in my own way. I also gravitate towards professors and mentors who maybe think in a similar way. Having someone that was more about the doing and less about the talking of the doing was really important to me. You can only really learn through trying and doing: moving the paint around, seeing what happens. You can look at other people’s paintings and study that, in a way, but I’m just not attracted to the purely academic route.
Was that also your goal as a teacher, to focus on the doing?
I think the academic setting can be so helpful to so many people, but it can also be so damaging, especially when we’re thinking about art in universities and academic settings. It’s almost like they cancel each other out. I’ve been really inspired by Lynda Barry’s approach, and I read her book The Syllabus, where she calls herself the accidental professor. The one positive thing about academia is that you have a group of artists in your cohort, and you have critiques, and you are in contact with people regularly. And I think what happens is when people leave the school setting, it’s hard to recreate that environment even though that environment can be really oppressive as well. So the takeaway for me is how can we create an environment like school without it being in school, just taking the positive aspects of school, which for me are community and mentorship and friendship – this secondary education that you’re getting, the hallway education.
You can get that through organizing it yourself with your friends too. I try and show that to the students in the songwriting class, where I was like, “I don’t know who is who chose this class, who really wants to learn about songwriting, but when you are out of school, you’re going to want to have a strong group of friends that are like-minded that also want to create. So how can you create this world and also continue to write?” Because another thing that the school gives you is deadlines. How can we have that kind of experience and not be in an academic setting? I’ve kind of found my own way that works for me, which is creating low-stake deadlines, creating work in community, and creating your own learning environment with friends.
Sheila Heti’s friendship with Margaux Williamson
I read a bit about how their work has intersected as a result of their friendship. How have they inspired you personally?
I love Sheila’s writing. I’ve read, I think, all of her work. Margo came to Concordia to give an artist talk just this past year. Someone asked about her routines and her studio practice, and she was like, “I start off my day, I read something and then I start to paint at midday. I meditate for forty-five minutes. And if I don’t meditate, then I might as well go home.” And she mentioned that twice a week, two friends come by, and that the only rule that they have is no talking, which I really loved.
This happened after the album, but in 2022, when I had just come off of so much touring and was exhausted from being on the road, I felt a deep longing for a routine and friendships and feeling grounded in creativity. I think that was the basis for wanting to step away from the touring life, to feel grounded and have a routine and close friends that can come by the studio. I have an art studio, and often I have get-togethers with friends. It’s either silent working or talking through ideas, and I really feel so grounded and inspired by those conversations. It was great to hear that Margo creates that same environment. The rule of no talking – I really laughed, and my friend was there with me, someone that I meet with weekly. We just looked at each other, and we were like, “That’s what we do too.”
The ‘midnight magic’ video was created by Group of Two, which is also a project of friendship.
The Group of Two started in 2016 or so. It was with my friend Valerie Lacombe, her visual art identity is Clarice Han. We used to put on shows at my apartment as the Group of Two. I’m just remembering one where we had filmed each other, drawing each other, and it was this idea that as women friends, we’re not comfortable being nude or being topless in the way that maybe we would like to be, so the video was us drawing ourselves topless. We had to fill out a whole pad of paper, and we weren’t allowed to look down at what we were drawing, so we were just looking at each other. We projected the video on my wall, and we put up the pictures that we had drawn. One person came by and sat watching the video, and I think maybe a second or third person came by. But that was an amazing project, and it really is important to do the things that you want to do. It can be really small, and that’s okay if one person sees it.
The Songwriting Method
Another way of building community after that period of touring was the Songwriting Method, this group that you co-facilitated. How did it develop over time?
It started unofficially when I went to a residency in 2017, and it felt like an incredible opportunity to just write as much music as I could. I set some of these little restrictions or games for myself where I was like, “Today I’m going to write a song.” I tried to write a song every day for those three weeks and came up with little constraints. Pretty much my first album came out from that time frame. In 2019, I went back to the same residency, and I wrote a song every other day where I was like, “Day one, I write the song, and day two, I’m recording it.” I think seven or eight songs came from that residency that I ended up using for my second album. So it was kind of a revelation that if I sit down, something will come, and it’s in the doing that something comes.
My friend, Johanna Samuels, invited me – this is over COVID, after the second album – to a School of Song workshop, and I went to one meeting and then dropped out. The structure didn’t feel good to me. Also, I was renting a cabin in the woods, and the reception was really bad, so I couldn’t really log in for the video calls. There were these technical difficulties, but what I took away from the School of Song was that you can have this process done in a group. Something that I had that was really familiar to me: Let’s write a song, and meet in two or three days and talk about it. I hadn’t really considered that I could do that with other people until the School of Song.
After that, I tried to get other people to join me in my song challenges, but no one wanted to commit, or they would say yes, and then when it came time to submit the songs, they would drop out. That happened until I met my partner, Thomas, and he was like, “I’m down. Let’s do it.” It was the first time someone else was interested in trying it together. We tried the residency method of a song every other day. We got together, we wrote the prompts, and he talked about it with some of his friends. And then before we knew it, there were five or six of us that were doing it. We made a Bandcamp, and we shared the password, and we all uploaded our songs. It was just for one month, more and more people dropped out, and at the end, it was just me and him again.
Over the years, we refined the ideas. Maybe over COVID, things were slower, and it was easier to write a song every other day. If you’re not in a residency environment, and you’re working and you have your daily responsibilities, it’s kind of difficult to set that time aside. So then we tried to do something every three days. That’s what we’ve landed on now as being something that can work even if you’re working full-time and you have other commitments. The Method runs for one month, three or four times a year. And it’s my favorite thing in the world. [laughs] My favorite part is really listening to everyone’s songs and how they’ve interpreted the prompts. Sometimes it’s just one verse and a chorus, and it just has so much life and rawness. The recorded music that you hear on streaming platforms is so different from what is coming out of people directly. I find that so inspiring because there’s nothing like it. You never get to hear people’s songs that are so rough.
The deadline is the most important thing. You have to submit the song at 11:59PM, and if you don’t you’re out; sometimes that means you’re recording a voice memo. We’ve kind of become more relaxed with the deadlines, and when I was going through a really busy time, I was appreciative of the relaxed constraint of the deadline. But I think the deadline really does something to people. It can’t be too high-stakes either. I would love someone to do a bit of research on creative methods and deadlines, because it is fascinating what it can do for you when you feel like someone or your community is waiting for something from you. The pressure can’t be too high that it is creating anxiety; it just needs to be this gentle push.
Would you say there was not just a communal but conversational aspect to it, especially when it was just you and your partner?
It’s hard to say, but there are specific examples I can think of where I really didn’t feel like writing, and I had accepted that I would miss the deadline. And then I would hear someone who had already submitted their song for that prompt, and it would get me out of my head and writing. I guess the songs become, whether or not it’s intentional, kind of responses to each other, because you can hear other people’s songs.
I feel like the whole album wants to preserve that rawness, but ‘i want it all’ stands out in that regard.
There are parts of that song where I still wince of I listen back to specific vocal moments. I’m like, “Couldn’t I have recorded that a little bit better? But it was a big challenge of the record for me to just decide I would like the album to have imperfections built in, and that’s okay. It’s just a different mode of operating where you’re not aiming to achieve a kind of robot machine perfection. And I think that, weirdly, music has gone in this direction where everything is disconnected because that seems to be the biggeset time saver. So you make a decision to record things individually, you’re copy and pasting, you’re quantizing drums – you know, you move the snare hit so that it’s more on the grid. All of these decisions that we make and think that it is making the music better – we’re just erasing our humanness.
Harvest by Neil Young
That album, Harvest, is one of my favorites. Maybe because of how it sounds, but also the songs themselves are so good. I thought the whole album was recorded in Neil’s ranch, and it turns out that only two of the songs are recorded that way. He got these Nashville session musicians, and to record the drum part, the drummer was playing too busy, so somebody was like, “Put your hand under your butt and only play with one hand.” I remember in rehearsal as we were preparing for the recording, because I really wanted to record the album all of us together in the room, I asked Tasy, who plays drums, if she could try that one-handed style where you’re playing a little bit more simply, and you’re letting the song breathe a little bit. It was a reference point for sure. I love the idea that it could be recorded in a barn even though the songs that I connect most to aren’t the ones that are recorded in the barn.
The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington
You note that it encouraged you to finish recording the album. How so?
I loved the story, the imagination, the odd, eccentric old ladies and their big plans. I loved Carrington’s drawings. And, honestly, I lived for the afterword as well. It really gave a new perspective on what I had just read and an interpretation of the story that I hadn’t considered, so it really touched me. I have the book in front of me – I could read the passage in the afterword or part of it, or I could maybe take a screenshot and send it to you.
I’d love for you to read it.
So, she mentions a different writer saying the best criterion for the quality of a book is that women don’t like it. She’s like:
All right. So be it. Kitsch is our ocean. All those cyclical processes, menstruations, and recurrent migraines. Mumbo jumbo, healing herbs, and infantile trust in the power of nature. An unhealthy love of animals, sentimentality, the feeding of stray cats. Being overprotective, poking one’s nose into everything. All those flowers in little pots, all those little gardens, the hollyhocks, the rags, the lace, the stitching, the knitting, the romance novels, the soap operas, “women’s literature,” “emotionality,” the accusation of mental weakness that has been pressed on us for centuries. The reservoir of misogynist scripts is immense and seemingly bottomless. In modern times, in a thoroughly patriarchal world, we can only talk about the Goddess ironically, winking like the Abbess in the painting that hangs in the Gambits’ dining room, and with a hidden smirk, half serious, half mocking. Having been actively displaced and ridiculed for thousands of years she can only express herself in this covert way. It’s worth pondering how many subjects related to women’s experience have been marginalized, derided, ridiculed, or altogether displaced. For hundreds of years women have been raised within misogynist, patriarchal religions that openly discriminate against them to some degree. They take part in cultures that are never fully theirs, or that are even in outright opposition to them.
It continues on, but for me that part “They take part in cultures that are never fully theirs or even in outright opposition to them” is the music industry as I’ve experienced it myself. There was a short time when it was really brought to everyone’s attention that, how can a band have no women in it or a bill have no women in it completely? That means that you have three bands, maybe, that are all guys. How is it that everybody at each venue is a guy? We’re thinking, we can just live on the music itself. If the music is good enough, it will connect to many people, and it will disseminate. And then you’re slowly realizing that the space is occupied by men. She talks about being out of the center and that things that are eccentric are by definition outside the center, so it helped me come into myself as a woman and how my music will not fit these norms or expectations, and that I can just create my own path of what feels important to me.
If you’re making music because you’re trying to achieve or reach something, then you will be disappointed time and time again, and it’s not a system that’s set up for you. If you still want to do music at that point, then you definitely should, and you should do it the only way that feels really good to you. That was my motivation in finishing the album. I had just experienced a second trimester loss, and I still had more than half the album to record vocally. I was just completely exhausted and felt like the 92-year-old woman who has no place in society in the book. [laughs] What she says here – “in the patriarchal order, on reaching old age, a woman becomes an even greater bother than she was when she was young.” I felt like I’m moving into social nonexistence. Now that I’ve become pregnant, I’m no longer this young, alluring woman that seems to get a lot of attention in music. So what am I, if not that? It was a rebuilding and coming into the odd eccentric nature of being a woman and having my own experiences. It was letting go of the expectations of what the album could do, a reminder of why I love music.
I’m thinking about the poem that introduces the liner notes, where you write, “toward the end, I had no choice but to take a cloth to my reflection and erase myself from myself.” In a similar way to that afterword, it frames your experience of the album.
That’s exactly what I was intending with that line of the poem.
Did it come after all the songs were written?
I can’t exactly remember. I might have had fragments of it that were already written, and I worked on the finishing of the poem after the album had been recorded. As I was reflecting on the process of the album itself and what led to it, it did feel like needing to restart. Like the system that I’ve been working with hasn’t been working for me, so where do I go now?
Burnout/Rest
You mentioned feeling exhausted after touring, but I wanted to focus on the other side of it. What does a good day of rest look like for you? How did you come to define it after this period of burnout?
The definition of rest for me is that I can feel good in my body and feel like I have energy for things. That I’m able to speak with a kind of calmness and clarity to people, and give them patience. It’s really hard to explain, but rest brings this side of me on. And then I noticed that in situations where I am burnt out, I don’t have patience, I can’t think clearly, I’m kind of in survival mode. My ideal day would probably be coffee and journaling, reading, walking to the studio, painting, conversations with studio mates or showing each other projects, just working away, maybe hanging out with somebody. For me, that feels restful.
Where do you see music fitting into that ideal?
I think there’s a place for all kinds of songs. Ideally, I would want everyone to feel good while songwriting. But I do think that if you’re angry and you’re not feeling aligned and maybe you’re burnt out, and you’re writing a song about that, then there’s room for that. If you’re approaching creating in a way that is a response to what’s going on in your environment, then you likely won’t always be rested, and the therapeutic benefits of art will apply. They always apply. But you can still approach it even if you’re not aligned spiritually. I don’t know, what do you think?
I think grinding and being burnt out is oddly romanticized, but restfulness can actually help you process anger and other negative emotions. Of course you can write from a non-rested place, but it’s kind of a non-negotiable .
Yeah. There’s nothing that can really come from being burnt out. You’re in a survival state. It’s difficult to make meals and to sleep and to eat.
Art education
It’s part of a larger philosophy that’s maybe in line with Lynda Barry’s teachings, too. I do believe that everybody is so creative at their core, and that people that aren’t creating, that want to create – it’s because of some damaging force from their youth that they would need to repair. But that creative act is so natural. I’m starting this program in the fall, and they’re allowing me to go on tour as well. It’s a Masters of Art in Art Education, and I’m doing a studio-based thesis. As kids, we love scribbling. We love drawing. It’s the most natural thing that we do. And then, eventually our scribbles turn into figures. As we age, we’re learning about ourselves and the world and the world around us, and the pictures start to mirror reality. I don’t know exactly the time frame – perhaps I’ll learn about this when I start the program – but around the age of nine or so, we become frustrated that the pictures don’t look realistic. And those who continue to draw are the ones that find a way around them looking realistic.
From the Songwriting Method and other personal discoveries I’ve made over the years, like watching how I create best or how others create or don’t – and also from an astrology appointment that I had in November – I really feel like it’s my life mission to create things and to inspire others to create. So I applied to this program at Concordia, and they gave me a scholarship to do it. I don’t know exactly what the project will be, but I would like to create a lesson plan for high school students. That would hopefully bridge that gap of, “I’m not an artist anymore,” or “I can’t draw,” and just build confidence through art-making and having it be low stakes in the way that the Songwriting Method is.
In terms of sustainability in the arts, I think that for me, that means having many avenues of exploration and not having a focus only on album cycles and songwriting. It can be so much more, and there isn’t really a blueprint for that either. There’s no one modeling what a sustainable arts career can look like, for me. So I’m kind of figuring it out as I go, but that feels inspiring to me, where I can be touring for a few months of the year and then also teaching and also doing some research.
Judging from how many songs you wrote for when i paint my masterpiece, it sounds like that low-stakes method can actually be more productive, in a good, deep sense.
Yeah. The idea that to be touring and on all the time is the goal can be reframed as, how can we have our artists feeling the best that they can? For everyone, that’s going to look a little bit different. For some people, that means touring. For others, it means songwriting a lot. And for others, it’s maybe spending more time in the studio and crafting things that way. There just isn’t that variety in models and what is possible.
When did you start feeling this disillusionment with the music industry?
I guess it started in 2019 when I was releasing my first album, and I was going on tour. I was really excited, at first, to have these opportunities and to have people helping me realize these plans. It kind of got away from me somehow, where I wanted to tour in a way that felt sustainable and was feasible for me, which meant probably doing solo shows, because the fees were so low. Even with the Canadian grant system, it was still very difficult to not be in such debt at the end of a tour. There was this European tour where I went as a three-piece and we had someone driving that there was no funding lined up for – it was all on me, and I was young, and I didn’t have any income, I was living at my parents’ place. I was fortunate enough to be able to go on this trip and also somehow now a bandleader with a small business mentality, which I felt like I didn’t sign up for. I just wanted to tour with friends.
It was just a bad energy overall that I look back on, and I don’t even know if there was a solution. I think the solution was just asking for help when you can’t do it. I always thought that I was the problem, that I couldn’t figure things out myself, that I just didn’t have the kind of intelligence to make it work. And now I see it as: that was an impossible situation. I didn’t have the tools. I wasn’t equipped, and that’s totally normal that I didn’t have those tools. I didn’t go to business school. I don’t know how to make a budget with four people. There’s so many things that I didn’t know how to do that I was figuring it out on the spot, and I was really doing the best that I could. I think it’s okay to say, “This is too big a project, and I need support. I need someone to help me rent a car in a country that I’ve never been to. I need someone to help me with the backline in a country where I don’t know how to communicate, and I need resources to be able to pay for all of these things.”
So then I kind of retreated, and then it was COVID. After a while, you forget about that, and you just want to be out on the road again with your friends, having those experiences.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
“I wanted to make a video that was a celebration of vices, a new iteration of yourself looking back at a moment you made a mistake while never truly reflecting,” Shelton said in a press release. “This was the most technically challenging video we’ve ever done and it only fits a song spelling out the words ‘bad idea’.”
Militarie Gun worked on the 14-track effort with producer/engineer Riley MacIntyre (Arlo Parks, The Kills). God Save the Gun also features contributions from Phillip Odom, James Goodson of Dazy, and Nick Panella of MSPAINT.
“I’m well aware that being this vulnerable turns my personal trauma into a marketing hook for this album,” Shelton added. “But I’m fine with it, if not provoking it. Over the past couple years, as I spoke about addiction from the perspective of someone affected by it, I became the one struggling with it. There’s a farcical logic to entering a situation, fully knowing the consequences, and doing it anyway – but that’s where my head was when I started leaning on drinking.”
1. Pt II
2. B A D I D E A
3. Fill Me With Paint
4. Throw Me Away
5. God Owes Me Money
6. Daydream
7. Maybe I’ll Burn My Life Down
8. Kick
9. Laugh At Me
10. Wake Up And Smile
11. I Won’t Murder Your Friend
12. Isaac’s Song
13. Thought You Were Waving
14. God Save The Gun
Hannah Frances has announced a new album titled Nested in Tangles. Due October 10 on Fire Talk, the follow-up to last year’s Keeper of the Shepherd includes the previously released song ‘Falling From and Further’, as well as a searingly contemplative new track, ‘Surviving You’. Check out its Derrick Alexander-directed video below, and scroll down for the album cover and tracklist.
“‘Surviving You’ is a reflection on the ways generational trauma can repeat itself when unexamined, and the ways we learn to protect ourselves through necessity,” Frances shared. “It’s a personal account of receiving harm from people who have projected their own pain onto me, who refuse to see themselves or take accountability for the impact of their actions. I was reckoning with my rage, and recognizing how much I’ve lived in survival mode for the majority of my life. This is for anyone who grew up in a turbulent and harmful home and is learning to affirm their lived experience.”
Nested in Tangles Cover Artwork:
Nested in Tangles Tracklist:
1. Nested in Tangles
2. Life’s Work
3. Falling From and Further
4. Beholden To
5. Steady in the Hand
6. A Body, A Map
7. Surviving You
8. The Space Between [feat. Daniel Rossen]
9. Heavy Light
Kaytranada has announced that his new album, Ain’t No Damn Way!, comes out on Friday, August 15. The producer has today previewed it with the sleek, bouncy new single ‘Space Invader’, which is built on a sample of Latrelle and Kelis’ 2001 R&B track ‘My Life’. Check it out below.
Ain’t No Damn Way!, which arrives ahead of Kaytranada’s autumn tour with Justice, will follow last year’s guest-heavy Timeless. A tracklist for the new record has yet to be revealed.
The online casino industry is doing everything possible to attract the attention of a large audience. Various tools are used for this, among which gamification deserves special attention. So, when choosing an casino online site, you should pay attention to those tools that increase involvement in the gaming process. They allow you to get special privileges, as well as get a unique experience. Gamification plays an important role in the gambling market and is actively developing.
Evolution of Gamification in Casino Platforms
Gamification is a tool used by modern online casino site operators to attract the attention of the audience. In structure, such an ecosystem is similar to traditional video games, where there are levels of difficulty and specific rewards.
Initial efforts focused on the basic mechanics: earn points for playing, unlock badges for milestones, and climb loyalty levels. These features were largely static and offered limited personalization or interactivity. The main goal was to provide a reward for activity.
Now casinos are actively integrating additional features. Platforms now use behavioral data to tailor challenges and rewards to individual players. Special leaderboards and tournaments encourage competitive play. All information is displayed in real time, so players can easily track their progress online with minimal restrictions.
Core Elements of Advanced Gamification
Casino sites use multi-level and personalized gamification systems. Key elements to look out for include:
Experience points and leveling systems. Players earn experience for completing tasks, placing bets, or reaching checkpoints. Experience helps them level up, unlocking new features, and bonuses.
Missions and tasks. Structured tasks are time-limited and designed to reward players who play and place bets regularly.
Real-time rankings encourage social competition and provide an enhanced gaming experience for everyone.
Badges and achievements. Visual indicators of milestones also play an important role. They can be rare or time-limited, increasing their value in use.
Virtual currencies. Non-monetary currencies earned through gameplay can be used to place new bets or exchanged for real money.
Tiered achievement systems. Players choose different ways to earn rewards. All this allows for the offerings to be stacked and used to their maximum potential.
Modern online casino site features provide the best possible gaming experience and attract the attention of the most loyal users.
Psychological Drivers Behind Gamification
Gamification works not only because it is fun. It also uses the basic psychological mechanisms that shape human behavior. Intrinsic motivation comes from internal satisfaction. Players enjoy a new challenge and exploration of available options.
Reaching new goals, unlocking levels, and receiving bonuses also trigger a release of dopamine. This creates a unique connection with online casino site elements of gamification and motivation to repeat the success. Daily bonuses for activity and login increase engagement and make you feel like you are part of a large community. As a result, such mechanics form habits and loyalty to casino games.
To summarize, gamification is a complex tool that online casinos use to attract and retain gambling fans. To increase engagement, missions, quests, and tasks are used that allow you to receive unique rewards and use them to continue playing.
Black Ops 7 takes Treyarch’s signature action and adds smoother, more responsive movement and truly expansive battlefields. You’ll find that diving and wingsuit drops feel natural, letting you drop into the fight exactly where you need to be. Classic maps return with fresh layouts, and brand-new arenas offer plenty of verticality and sightlines to master. For players interested in learning about different features and enhancements in Black Ops 7, understanding how they align with movement and map design can help you see the game from a broader perspective. Whether you’re used to boots-on-the-ground play or eager to try large-scale 20v20 Skirmish matches, the basics remain the same: move smart, pick your positions carefully, and work with your team.
In this guide, we’ll explain the core mechanics – how movement works, which maps to learn first and how they play out, and what each mode demands from you. You’ll get straightforward tips on picking loadouts, understanding Overload and Skirmish objectives, and setting yourself up for success in every playlist. By the end, you’ll know exactly where to land, how to fight, and what to pack before you even hit “Deploy.”
Mastering Movement Mechanics: From Diving to Wingsuits
Black Ops 7’s movement system, called Omnimovement, blends grounded combat with strategic aerial options. Directional diving lets you drop into cover or dodge fire, while vaulting over obstacles and quick slides keep you mobile on the ground. On larger maps like Skirmish arenas, wingsuit drops speed up rotations and surprise enemies from above.
Key Movement Features
Directional Diving
Hold dive while moving to drop forward or sideways
Use dives to slip under sightlines or take cover
Vaulting & Slides
Run into low obstacles to bounce up and maintain momentum
Slide into prone or vault to quickly change elevation
Wingsuit Drops
Deploy from spawn or high ground to glide across open zones
Aim your camera down to gain speed, up to float over objectives
Land with a dive to immediately engage in combat
Master these mechanics in Custom Matches before jumping online. Practice transitioning from slides into dives for sudden direction changes, and experiment with wingsuit drops to find unexpected attack angles on every map.
Black Ops 7 offers a mix of fresh battlegrounds, reworked classics, and massive zones built for 20v20 clashes. Understanding each map’s flow and key areas will help you to control engagements and anticipate enemy movements.
Brand-New Environments
Each new map in the Black Ops 7 launch roster brings unique terrain, sightlines, and vertical layers:
Urban Uprising (6v6)
Tight street corridors balanced with rooftop access
Narrow alleys for close-quarter fights; balconies for taking out enemies at range
Arctic Facility (6v6)
Indoor labs with tight choke points
Outdoor frozen courtyards with sliding ice patches – use caution when diving
Skyrise Siege (Skirmish)
Multiple high-rise buildings connected by zip lines
Ground-level plaza for vehicle support
Rooftop platforms ideal for sniper cover
Classic Map Comebacks
Treyarch has remastered several fan favorites to fit Black Ops 7’s style and flow:
Magma
Now with updated lava hazards that change each round
Wider central pit for easier rotations between lanes
Hijacked
Yacht layout expanded with a lower cargo hold for stealth flanks
Added skylights for jump-in ambushes
Express
Station terminal redesigned to open up sightlines and reduce chokepoints
Faster train timing – time your movements or get caught on the tracks
Skirmish and Open-World Zones
Skirmish maps support 20v20 objectives across sprawling environments:
Cascade Canyon
Three capture points spread across river canyons and cliffside paths
Use wingsuit drops to reach flank zones quickly
Desert Stronghold
Central fortress surrounded by open dunes – expect long-range fights
Mobile cover (rock formations) shifts each match, forcing dynamic positioning
Forest Forward
Dense trees for concealment – watch for enemy ambushes
Elevated watchtowers controlling the north and south flanks
Underground bunkers linking objectives
Familiarize yourself with each map in Custom and Training modes. Focus on common lanes, high-traffic areas, and available cover. In Skirmish zones, always plan your drop point based on the current objective and remaining teammates – coordination can turn an unfavorable position into a strong counterattack.
Overload returns to small-team action with a focus on moving an EMP device into the enemy base. It plays like a mix of capture-the-flag and Uplink:
Device Handling: Pick it up and run, or toss it a short distance to a nearby teammate – each quick handoff keeps the objective moving while limiting how long you’re exposed in the open.
Scoring: Deliver the EMP to the target zone for points; holding it too long makes you an easy target.
Tips: Move in short bursts between cover, and use tactical grenades to force defenders off the device’s path.
Skirmish – 20v20 Large-Scale Battles
Skirmish ramps up the player count and objectives across sprawling maps:
Multiple Objectives: Capture points, escort payloads, or hack terminals all in one match.
Wingsuit Rotations: Drop near objectives, then glide into flanks or high ground.
Team Roles: Heavy weapons clear paths, scouts cover flanks, and medics keep pushes alive. Aim to stick with at least one other teammate when you fly in – overwhelming force wins objectives.
Core Playlists – Classic Modes Refreshed
Familiar game types are reworked slightly to fit Black Ops 7’s pace and maps:
Team Deathmatch: Faster spawns and slightly tighter time-to-kill make every engagement count.
Domination: Zones shift location on some maps; watch the minimap for new capture points.
Search & Destroy: No respawns raise the stakes – use sound cues and slow pushes to avoid ambushes.
Each mode rewards different skills. Practice Overload to improve your device-handling under fire, dive into Skirmish to master large maps, and run Core Playlists when you want quick, focused rounds on familiar locales.
Core Game Mechanics & Combat Systems
Understanding Black Ops 7’s core systems allows you to adjust your approach and react to any situation effectively. From fine-tuning loadouts to syncing movement with shooting, these mechanics are at the heart of every match.
Loadout Customization & Perks
Creating the right loadout gives you an advantage before the match even starts.
Weapon Classes & Attachments
SMGs & ARs: SMGs excel in close range; ARs handle mid-to-long-range engagements.
Optics & Barrels: Choose sights that match each map’s sightlines, and barrels that balance recoil and ADS speed.
Perk Tiers
Tier 1 (Stealth & Mobility): Ghost hides you from UAVs; Lightweight boosts sprint speed.
Tier 2 (Combat Tools): Fast Hands speeds up reloads; Forward Intel spots nearby killstreaks.
Tier 3 (Survivability): Hardline lowers the points needed for scorestreaks; Tactical Mask reduces stun effects.
Begin with a balanced build – an AR with recoil control attachments, Ghost, Fast Hands, and Hardline – and swap perks as you learn which playstyle suits you best.
Scorestreaks, Equipment & Field Upgrades
Choosing the right support tools can boost your momentum.
Scorestreak Selection
Low-Cost (RC-XD, UAV): Rack up early points for constant intel.
Mid-Cost (Air Patrol, Sentry Turret): Control zones and deny enemy pushes.
High-Cost (Robotic Dog Unit): Eliminate multiple targets, especially in Skirmish.
Lethal & Tactical Gear
Frag & Semtex: Great for clearing chokepoints or post-plant situations.
Stun & Flash: Slows enemy advances and opens up site entries.
Field Upgrades
Ballistic Shield: Block narrow corridors for safe pushes.
Deployable Cover: Create instant cover in open areas.
Adapt your choices according to the game mode – stick to low-cost streaks in Search & Destroy, but go heavy with mid-cost options in Skirmish to support large-scale pushes.
Combining Movement and Combat
Combining movement techniques with your shooting style keeps you unpredictable.
Dive & Shoot: Drop into prone or slide-dive to break enemy aim, then fire on the move.
Slide Canceling: Briefly brake slides to recover faster and maintain accuracy.
Wingsuit Ambushes: Glide onto rooftops or behind objectives, then dive-shoot into unsuspecting opponents.
Practice switching from a slide into a quick strafe-dive and immediate firing in Custom Matches. When you master these combos, you’ll turn evasive moves into aggressive pressure.
Building Your First Loadout: Weapons, Attachments & Perks
Choosing a solid starter kit helps you to focus on improving rather than wrestling with your gear. Here’s a simple framework to launch you straight into the action.
Weapon Recommendations
Close Range:
MP7 – Fast fire rate and tight hip-fire spread make it forgiving in tight spaces.
Fennec – High damage up close; control recoil by tapping instead of holding the trigger.
Mid Range:
M4A1 – Balanced recoil and clear sightlines for learning recoil patterns.
STB 556 – Good damage at 30-40 meters; keep shots in 3-5 round bursts.
Long Range:
AX-50 Sniper – One-hit body shots reward careful positioning.
Kastov 762 – Handles well at distance when paired with a steady stock attachment.
Attachment Setup
Barrels & Muzzles:
Pick a barrel that cuts recoil by at least 20% without slowing ADS more than 10%.
Add a suppressor to stay off enemy radar when you fire.
Stocks & Grips:
Use an adjustable stock for faster ADS speed.
Foregrip improves horizontal recoil without reducing sprint-to-fire speed.
Optics:
Stick to a 1.5x-2x red dot or a small magnifier for clear targets at all ranges.
Avoid high-zoom scopes until you master map sightlines.
Perk Combinations
Stealth Build:
Ghost – You won’t appear on UAVs when you move.
Quick Fix – Regenerate health faster after a kill.
Tracker – See enemy footprints for simple tracking.
Mobility Build:
Lightweight – Move and aim while sprinting more easily.
Fast Hands – Swap weapons and reload in a flash.
Vanguard – Shorter slide distance penalty when sliding into prone.
Balanced Build:
Combine Ghost, Fast Hands, and Hardline to mask movement, reload quickly, and earn streaks faster.
Start with one build, then swap a perk or attachment each match to find what best fits your style. Over time, you’ll know exactly which tools allow you to focus on outplaying your opponent rather than your kit.
Beginner-Friendly Tips: Map Awareness, Positioning & Team Play
Success in Black Ops 7 often comes down to reading the battlefield and working with teammates rather than raw aim. Here are simple tactics to get you started.
Read the Minimap and Ping System Keep an eye on enemy blips and objective markers. If you see enemies on the minimap, fall back to cover or reposition to flank them. Use pings to alert teammates of threats or call out enemy locations – even a single ping can turn a failed push into a coordinated defense.
Control Key Chokepoints Every map has high-traffic lanes – doorways, alley entrances or narrow bridges. Position yourself just behind cover, watch those lanes, and bait enemies into the open. If you hold a chokepoint, you force the enemy to work around you, slowing their attack and giving your team space to respond.
Use High Ground and Vertical Routes Maps with multiple levels reward players who think in three dimensions. Jump onto crates or ledges to surprise opponents from above. In Skirmish, deploy your wingsuit toward roofs or balconies to drop into the action unchallenged. Always have an escape route – don’t get trapped on a rooftop without a clear way down.
Stick to a Small Team Solo pushes often result in being outnumbered. Pair up with one or two players and move as a unit. Assign roles – one scout moves ahead while pinging enemies, another provides cover fire, and a third plants or defends objectives. Even basic radio chatter or quick text pings can keep everyone on the same page.
Adapt to Enemy Patterns If the opposing team favors long-range fights, swap to an AR with a magnifier. If they run SMGs through narrow halls, lay traps with equipment like trip mines or tactical grenades. Watch where they respawn and push from the opposite side to catch them off guard.
By combining steady map awareness, smart positioning, and simple teamwork, you’ll turn beginner mistakes into winning plays. Practice these tips in Casual matches to build habits that stick when the stakes are high.
These core pillars of Black Ops 7 give you everything you need to beat the competition. Nail your slide-dives and wingsuit drops, learn each map’s flow, and lock in a weapon setup that fits your style to the max. Jump into Custom Matches to build muscle memory, then tackle Overload, Skirmish and classic modes to turn what you’ve learned under pressure into victory on the battlefield. After that, go ahead and change one attachment or perk each session and monitor how it affects your play. With steady practice and smart positioning, you’ll go from newcomer to confident competitor in no time at all.
The connection between gambling and gaming has grown increasingly clear in recent years. Where arcades and casinos were once seen as distinct entertainment spaces, today they share more than a few design principles. As digital gaming has developed, many creators have borrowed ideas from casino design to enhance engagement, reward loyalty, and increase the time users spend playing. The colours, pacing, sound cues, and even the psychology behind these systems often mirror what’s been refined for decades on the casino floor. What might have started as a few visual nods has grown into a deeper influence that’s helping shape game culture as a whole.
This change is partly driven by the best online casinos, which have consistently improved how users interact with digital platforms. These platforms are known for quick loading times, responsive gameplay, and reward systems that keep people engaged without becoming overly complicated. They also tend to offer practical benefits like fast withdrawals, easy account setup, and regular promotions that add value to each session. Aspects of this style have filtered into other digital games, especially mobile and free-to-play ones, where developers have adopted similar techniques to boost daily logins, player retention, and in-game purchases. It’s a style built on convenience, speed, and constant stimulation, which are all qualities that appeal to modern players.
Design-wise, the visual influence of casinos is easy to spot. Many current games feature glowing lights, celebratory animations, and stylised win effects that look almost identical to slot machine interfaces. These visual elements aren’t just for show; they play a part in how players feel during a session. By replicating casino-like reward sequences, games can create a sense of excitement or anticipation, even when very little is actually at stake. The goal is to build up positive reinforcement loops that encourage repeat play and longer sessions. These effects are often combined with in-game timers, limited-time offers, and unlockable rewards. They are design choices that are deeply influenced by gambling platforms, even if the gameplay itself remains far removed from traditional casino formats.
As gaming evolves, this crossover with casino design raises some important questions around player experience and transparency. Many games now use randomised reward systems, where outcomes are determined by chance, and the odds are not always made clear. This adds a gambling-like element to games that otherwise have no link to betting. While some players enjoy this unpredictability, others have grown wary of how much real money can be spent on games where success is partially luck-based. The line between entertainment and chance-based systems is becoming increasingly blurred, especially in competitive games where upgrades or cosmetic items can influence the experience. Players often perceive cosmetic purchases not just as vanity items, but as a means of rewarding developers and enhancing social engagement, with motivations tied to autonomy, relatedness, and ongoing investment in their gaming identity
Even with those concerns, the creative opportunities that come from this blending of styles are worth noting. Some developers are using gambling-inspired systems in original ways, creating entirely new types of games that build on the thrill of chance while offering thoughtful or artistic experiences. From card-based story games to risk-and-reward combat mechanics, the influence of casino structure can be seen across many genres. What makes these games different is how they use those elements not just to drive spending, but to shape the narrative or mood. It shows that even features once tied purely to casinos can be used more meaningfully when placed in the right creative hands. For the wider gaming industry, the link between arcade-style design and algorithm-driven gambling has opened the door to more experimentation and a deeper understanding of how players respond to digital experiences.
