Throughout the week, we update our Best New Songs playlist with the new releases that caught our attention the most, be it a single leading up to the release of an album or a newly unveiled deep cut. And each Monday, we round up the best new songs released over the past week (the eligibility period begins on Monday and ends Sunday night) in this segment.
There was plenty of magic going around in this week’s new tracks. This Is The Kit served up a hypnotic, wonderfully produced new track called ‘Was Magician’; equally entrancing is the dynamic, percussion-heavy second single from singer-songwriter Laura Fell, while Loma’s ‘Elliptical Days’ coils around a similarly elusive, ghostly atmosphere. Channel Tres’ sleek, infectious new single is more than enough to transport you straight to the dance floor, while Yola offered a little bit of hope with her stirring new song ‘Hold On’ featuring Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell, and Sheryl Crow, and others. And finally, count on Wild Pink to make you feel alive with the wondrously expansive lead single from one of the most anticipated records of 2021.
Fiona Apple appeared on The New Yorker’s virtual festival on Saturday (October 10). Accompanied by a small ensemble of musicians, the singer-songwriter performed three tracks from her latest album Fetch the Bolt Cutters live for the first time ever: ‘I Want You to Love Me’, ‘Shameika’, and title track. Watch her performance below.
In addition to the performance, Apple also joined New Yorker’s Emily Nussbaum for an interview covering what she’s been up to during lockdown, her new album, and US politics.
Fetch the Bolt Cutters arrived in April and topped our Best Albums of the Year (So Far) list. Since then, Apple contributed to Bob Dylan’s latest album Rough and Rowdy Ways and wrote music for the Apple TV+ show Central Park. She also narrated a short film about how to safely document and record U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests.
In a recent virtual interview for the Grammy Museum’s Programs at Home series, FKA Twigs revealed that she’s almost finished writing a whole new album during the months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I ended up, in actual fact, making a whole album in quarantine,” she said. “I just decided one day. It was kind of, maybe one-third of the way through and I just said, ‘you know what, I’m just going to make an album,’ and I just went and did it. And it was really amazing because I worked predominantly with an amazing artist and producer called El Guincho, and I did the whole thing with pretty much all of the collaborators over FaceTime.”
twigs added that she is currently adding the finishing touches on the new record, which currently has no title or release date attached to it. Talking about how being in quarantine affected the collaborative process, she said: “I was working with people I’d never met in real life and we were doing the whole thing over FaceTime and it was great because I couldn’t go in the studio at the beginning. So I was getting beats and having to work from MP3s, and then I would writing melodies in the day with [El Guincho] and then in the night I would call some of my friends in America who made music and I would have a glass of wine and chill and write lyrics and talk about what the song’s about.”
twigs’ most recent album,MAGDALENE, came out last year. Back in August, she unveiled the Hiro Murai-directed music video for her song ‘sad day’.
Spirited Away is a Japanese animated film from acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki, the same man behind Howl’s Moving Castle and My Neighbor Totoro. In Spirited Away, a ten-year-old girl named Chihiro is left to her own devices after her parents turn into pigs at an abandoned amusement park. With the help of Haku, Chihiro embarks on an adventure where she learns that the park is a haven for supernatural creatures, both gracious and evil. She must find a way to rescue her parents and help the creatures from unexpected threats.
The film is particularly noted for its gorgeous animation and visual artistry. Here are sixteen spellbinding stills from Spirited Away.
Just a couple of months after its debut, Teenage Bounty Hunters became the latest Netflix original series to be cancelled after a single season. News of the show’s swift end might have been somewhat overshadowed by the announcement that fellow Jenji Kohan series GLOW would not proceed with Season 4 at Netflix, but it also revealed a larger, more unnerving pattern of female-centric and LGBTQ+ friendly shows being given the axe. Teenage Bounty Hunters also marked the third show in the coming-of-age/teen genre to be cancelled after its first season this year, following I Am Not Okay with This and The Society, both of which were led by female protagonists and received generally positive reviews.
Since these shows are Netflix originals, and the platform automatically green-lights entire seasons at a time, Deadline compares this to “passing on a pilot.” But given the circumstances surrounding COVID-19, it seems unlikely that Netflix’s decision not to go forward with them had anything to do with quality or even popularity. In fact, we know that GLOW, I Am Not Okay with This, and The Society were scrapped due to production difficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic, though it has not been confirmed that this was the case for Teenage Bounty Hunters. The show might have been criminally underpromoted and thus overlooked, but it still cracked the Nielsen Streaming Rankings Top 10 the week after it premiered, garnered widespread critical acclaim, and amassed a considerable online following during its short run.
But while the real reason Teenage Bounty Hunters was cancelled will probably remain a mystery, it’s not hard to see why fans called it one of the best and funniest shows on the platform. The show immediately delivers on the premise of its title – it centers around a pair of 16-year-old fraternal twins, religious good girl Sterling (Maddie Phillips) and the rebellious Blair (Anjelica Bette Fellini), who team up with veteran bounty hunter Bowser Jenkins (Kadeem Hardison) and start bringing in local criminals while also having to navigate the complexities of adolescent life. But while some viewers might have skipped on it precisely because of its straightforward but slightly gimmicky title – I’m sure the trailer also induced at least some amount of Kadeem Hardison-style eyerolling – Teenage Bounty Hunters quickly manages to transcend that premise by going much deeper than anyone could have expected. Set against the backdrop of a conservative Southern community, it brilliantly balances elements of a raunchy teen comedy, a heartfelt family drama, an entertaining crime procedural, a social satire, and a slow-burning mystery thriller, all without completely falling apart at every turn.
At the core of the show, however, is the natural chemistry between Fellini and Philips, whose wonderfully dynamic performances anchor Teenage Bounty Hunters from start to finish. In fact, you could get rid of the Bounty Hunters portion of the series and the story would probably work just as well, at least if they somehow managed to keep Hardison’s role in all of it – the surprisingly familial bond they develop with his character leads to some of its most endearing and hilarious moments. Written and created by Kathleen Jordan, the show isn’t afraid to be a little ridiculous, both in its humour and its mystery, but it’s also grounded in the human drama of these characters as they tackle complicated relationships (be it with other fictional characters or a certain K-pop phenomenon), question their beliefs, and uncover dark family secrets. It channels the delightful comedic energy of Booksmart and champions sex positivity in a similarly nuanced and empathetic way as Sex Education, but it’s also something uniquely of its own. Teenage Bounty Hunters may not have been perfect for everyone, but it did more than enough to stand out from the onslaught of teen shows currently populating the streaming platform.
Which is precisely why it feels too early to have to refer to it in the past tense.
Upon hearing the news, I was inevitably reminded of two other beloved coming-of-age shows that were cancelled after their first season: Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000) and Everything Sucks! (2018). The first was partly doomed from the start due to its Saturday night time slot on NBC, while the latter, another Netflix original, gained a small and loyal fanbase but struggled to cut through to a mass audience. Like many, I was introduced to Freaks and Geeks as a teenager during its stay on Netflix; as for Everything Sucks!, I recently discovered it after Our Culture contributor Rachel Chandler deemed it a “hidden gem” (which it very much is). What made my experience with Teenage Bounty Hunters different, however, was that it marked the first time a show’s premature cancellation was actually news and not an already known fact – which only intensified that familiar feeling of heartbreak that comes with watching a show you love come to an end, whether untimely or not.
Maddie Phillips and Anjelica Bette Fellini in ‘Teenage Bounty Hunters’ (Netflix)
For those of us who are used to either getting fresh new content every second of the day or having a bunch of it dumped all at once, even waiting a certain period of time for a new season presents somewhat of a challenge. Teenage Bounty Hunters was (is?) an eminently watchable show, and I’m sure many people binge-watched all 10 episodes in less than a few days – if they’re anything like me, the same viewing pattern might be applied to a show like Freaks and Geeks, which probably wasn’t meant to be experienced in that way. But while some might argue this means that viewers will have had less time to cultivate any meaningful attachment to the show’s characters, the fact that there is currently a petition to save Teenage Bounty Hunters (nearing 10,000 signatures at the time of this writing) proves that their enthusiasm is certainly no less fervent.
Beyond offering plenty of memes, a quick browse through the #SaveTeenageBountyHunters hashtag is enough to give you a sense of just how serious these fans are about bringing the show back: we’re talking evidence-based, well-substantiated arguments aimed at basically every streaming platform there is in the hopes that at least one of them might pick it up – and these efforts are being promoted by the show’s stars, too. The fact that the cancellation of a show with a relatively unknown cast produced this much grief and anger is only a testament to how much joy it brought, especially during this time of great uncertainty for young adults. But while it would certainly be nice if Teenage Bounty Hunters were to be remembered as a show that offered some semblance of normality and a dash of genuine excitement in the midst of it all, fans would understandably much rather fight for it stay than admit that this is really happening – especially since the season ended on a serious cliffhanger.
In a moving gesture, creator Kathleen Jordan recently took to Instagram to share a letter she wrote when she was nine to the two best friends who “gave her away” to another friend group. “We were like The Three Musketeers fighting crime and doing everything together,” it reads. “Now we have to pack our bags, of memories and faith. As I get in my car, I slowly start to drive away. Departure is hard. We often want to look back on the street we know, but it will only make it harder. Strange things are on this new street, things I’m not familiar with. I will adapt. Best wishes for your new road.”
Because it was cancelled by Netflix itself rather than by another network, some say that this probably really is the end of the road for Teenage Bounty Hunters, a show that captured the intensity (and cheesiness) of teenage emotions unlike any other to come out in 2020. Even if chances of it being picked up by another platform are slim, that doesn’t mean there’s no future for it: the series has all the right ingredients to become cult favourite in the years to come, much like Freaks and Geeks and Everything Sucks! before it, and fans will do everything in their power to ensure it doesn’t stay overlooked. And it certainly doesn’t mean there isn’t a new road ahead for the team that made it possible in the first place.
Still, departure is hard. And for those of us who found refuge in the show’s unbridled irreverence as well as its heart over the past few months, it’s probably going to be a slow burn. But as with any ending, it’s hard not to cling on to the kind of hope that April (Devon Hales), one of the show’s most complex characters, expresses during the final episode: “Maybe someday, though.”
Elton John has unveiled a previously unreleased song called ‘Regimental Sgt. Zippo’. It’s taken from his upcoming rarities collection Elton: Jewel Box, which also includes last month’s ‘Sing Me No Sad Songs’. Check it out below.
Notably, ‘Regimental Sgt. Zippo’ was recorded at the same DJM Studios building that housed the Beatles’ Northern Songs publishing company. “Within six years of this May 1968 recording Elton John would be a superstar the size of the Beatles, and close friends with John Lennon, something that would have been hard to predict at the time ‘Regimental Sgt. Zippo’ was recorded,” a statement on the release reads. The pair later collaborated on Lennon’s chart-topping single ‘Whatever Gets You Through The Night’, as well as John’s cover of the Sgt. Pepper track ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’.
Jack White was the musical guest on last night’s episode of Saturday Night Live. The White Stripes frontman was announced as this week’s last-minute musical guest after country artist Morgan Walle was disinvited after violating COVID-19 protocols. He kicked off his performance with a medley of the 2003 White Stripes cut ‘Ball and Biscuit’ (with lyrics from ‘Jesus is Coming Soon’ by Blind Willie Johnson) and his Beyoncé collaboration ‘Don’t Hurt Yourself’. Later, he returned to the stage to play his 2014 solo single ‘Lazaretto’. Check out his performance below.
In a tribute to the late guitarist Eddie Van Halen, who died of cancer at 65 on Tuesday, White used a cobalt blue model designed by Van Halen for himself while performing ‘Lazaretto’. Sharing a photo of the guitar on social media, White wrote: “i (sic) thought it could be a nice gesture for me to use this blue eddie van halen model guitar for one of the songs tonight on SNL. eddie was very kind to me and saw to it that this guitar was made for me to my specs. i wont even insult the man’s talent by trying to play one of his songs tonight. thanks again eddie for this guitar and rest in peace sir.”
In related news, the White Stripes are set to release their first-ever Greatest Hits compilation this December after Jack White and his label signed a new agreement with Sony Music Entertainment covering distribution of most of his recordings.
Raelle, a 21-year-old singer-songwriter out of London, just yesterday released her euphonious single ‘Sundown’, making it the third release by the exciting artist. In this ear-pleasing piece, Raelle displays her mellifluous with a playlist-ready production. If you’re looking for something refreshing, ‘Sundown’ is the one for you.
The Manatees Know You
Southampton-based The Manatees also revealed their latest single ‘Know You.’ With addicting energy and unbowed production The Manatees showcase just they are about with this truly mood-altering hit that takes us back in time with its yesteryear-like vibe.
East London born and bred, Rose Gray emulates a gloriously colourful amalgamation of musical influences. From the obvious Primal Scream and Happy Mondays references to the more eclectic sounds of Nitin Sawhney, Rose Gray’s distinctive musical stylings speak to her equally animated surroundings. Having grown up on 90’s indie, dance and alternative classics, it’s no wonder that, despite her arrestingly soulful voice, Rose Gray has leaned more towards the cathartic and ecstatic feeling that comes from swelling choruses that are orchestrated to make you move. Since her first sombre, jazz-infused single ‘Good Life’, a lot has happened for Rose Gray in terms of her growth as an artist. Her single ‘Same Cloud’, released last month, saw her reassessing her sound and marked the beginning of a new era. Showcasing a playful and jarringly sunny side to her music with a dash of an “I don’t care what you think of me” spirit, this change in direction is unsurprising when you consider that she was first compelled to make music whilst in the middle of a dance floor. Carefree and expansive, Rose Gray’s music recreates that liberating feeling that inflected the best part of music throughout the 90’s.
We caught up with Rose Gray for this edition of our Artist Spotlight series, where we showcase up-and-coming artists and give them a chance to talk about their music.
What’s been the most enlightening experience for you during lockdown, or the most positive thing you’ve taken from the very bizarre, collective experience of lockdown?
I learnt to produce and make little weird beats. I spent months just messing around on Logic. Something I’m so surprised I hadn’t tried before. I’ve actually produced a track on my upcoming Mixtape, which I made in lockdown. I guess also just time to just exist and be at one- no rushing about just living- eating, making music, and sleeping. I enjoyed the simplicity, I’m taking that from this time.
Your music is undoubtedly influenced by your hometown London, is this something that’s done with intent or is it intrinsically mixed up in your art?
I guess my upbringing has direct coloration with my experiences and finds its way into my lyrics. I grew up in a part of London that in my eyes is slightly confused, don’t get me wrong I love it. But it’s confusing, you have the traditional east Londoners and then you have people who live the more suburban lifestyle. Nearly everyone I grew up with stayed in their suburban bubble. I rebelled this, I always craved the energy of London. I started going out to parties and raves at 15/16. I would do anything to get on the Victoria line …. I formed an incredibly eccentric friendship group when I left for college in South London. I think this is where my true understanding of my hometown started. I feel like I’ve seen nearly every corner of London because of them and that has definitely shaped the music I make. I’ve had a lot of fun in my city.
What motivates you to create music and is it something that you’ve always been compelled to do?
I feel like I’ve always been very connected to my feelings and my surroundings. I was a very sensitive dramatic child. I loved telling stories, I loved performing and I loved music. So it kinda just happened. If I’m honest a few years back I felt like maybe doing music wasn’t for me, I’d made over 100 songs, nobody really cared, I was working loads of jobs and paying too much that I stopped seeing a future in music. But I think music calls you. The moment I stopped writing I felt so far away from myself. When I’m making music I feel like I’m doing what I’m meant to be doing- there’s no other way to describe it really.
Your single ‘Same Cloud’ charts the delightfully bittersweet feeling that comes post break up where you’re having an awful time but you take some solace in knowing – or at least hoping – the other person is too. The lyrics “And I never meant to cause any pain on you/But I guess I like the feeling that you’re feeling quite blue/And as I look out my window, and a rainbow falls through/Maybe it’s time/We got over us too” are just like a gut punch of accuracy. What inspired you to focus on this topic?
I was really missing someone. They were in California, thousands of miles away from me in rainy cold london. I feel bad saying this because I don’t think you should ever wish something shitty on someone, but I was hoping they were feeling like me. There is also a part of the song that is like, ‘ you know what maybe we need to get over this, what’s the point staying in this place..maybe it’s time for a new day..a rainbow even’. When a relationship breaks down it takes a bit of time but you get to this place where you’re like, ok I’m ready now to move on with my life. I hope we are both ok..”maybe it’s time.. we got over us too” I hope that comes through in the song, it’s not all gloom. Clear skies and rainbows are round the corner.
What was the inspiration for the ‘Same Cloud’ music video? How did the concept come about?
So I have quite an obsession, maybe I could call it a hobby. I love watching documentaries about the history of London. I found one about Shadwell basin in Wapping /East London. The next day I went to see it, it was on the hottest day in July – I think it was 36 degrees Celsius. I fell in love with it. Right there and then I decided I wanted to shoot something there, we waited for another sunny day, woke up at 3.30 am and filmed myself walking around it singing. I had this mad idea of getting into the basin and swimming into the middle, I changed my mind in the morning as I realised it was connected to the Thames. I wanted to create a simple visual where you could see my getting over a relationship. Dancing and interacting with strangers at 6am. It’s kinda weird but is very much where I was at in my life.
How would you describe your music making style? Is it slow and methodical or more free and erratic?
I write lyrics on my phone usually on my way to the studio and if I’m at home I might just blurt them out or play something on guitar. In the studio for me it’s always a vibe, I’m very free in my writing style. Lyrics, a vibe then melody is how I usually do it. I don’t stick to one thing though.
What would you say is the biggest thing you’ve learnt about yourself through your process of making music? Has it highlighted anything unexpected or amplified things you already knew about yourself?
I’ve learnt that my sensitivity is my tool. I’ve also learnt/ still learning there are no rules, I was for too long trying to make songs that I thought the world would want to hear… but now I’m making music that I love, that I want to dance and cry too. I love what I do, I’m also not afraid of failing because I love the music I make. I’m proud of it.
What’s next for yourself, are you actively working towards an EP/LP or going with the flow in terms of musical output?
I have a finished mixtape set to release Jan 2021. I’m working on creating some visuals. My second single came out on October 9th (a cover of Saint Etienne’s ‘Nothing Can Stop Us’). I’m also writing a lot for the new year and beyond and just trying to stay sane through this bizarre time we’re all living through.
The Flaming Lips are planning a concert in their hometown of Oklahoma City where each audience member will be enclosed in a giant bubble, frontman Wayne Coyne has told Brooklyn Vegan and JamBase.
“I mean, it seems absurd, but we at first were just doing it as not a joke, but just as a kind of funny thing, and now it’s becoming kind of serious and real,” Coyne told BrooklynVegan’s Bill Pearis. “We’re starting to get ready to do an actual show where yeah, there’s three people in each of these space bubbles, and we play… We think maybe playing two shows a night, and getting a big audience in there each time.”
Coyne continued: “The place that we’re at at the moment, it holds almost 4,000 people, but it only holds a hundred space bubbles. So it’s a lot of space in there […] You fill them up and people can be in them for quite a while. I don’t think people quite realize that. Since we have some here, we’ve played with them and messed with them for quite a while. I mean, even back in 2006, I would get in one of the space bubbles at the end of our big Halloween parade here, and I would walk down the street for almost an hour in one.”
Speaking with Andrew Buss in an interview with JamBase, Wayne Coyne further explained: “We don’t want this to be [a super spreader event] like that Smash Mouth [concert]. We want this to be safe and a great experience. Those are the things the venue is allowing us to set up so we can start to figure out how it will work. The part about playing in the bubble, we already have down. It’s how we get the crowd in and out without cross-contamination that we need to figure out, but they’re giving us a few weeks in this venue to figure it out.”
Earlier this year, The Flaming Lips performed on Colbert to a small bubbled audience, a concept they also implemented for the video of their American Head track ‘Dinosaurs on the Mountain’.
