Burna Boy has revealed the release date and tracklist for his new album, Twice as Tall. Executive-produced by Diddy, Bosede Ogulu, and Burna Boy, it arrives August 14 and features contributions from Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Stormzy, Youssou N’Dour, Naughty by Nature, Mike Dean, Timbaland, and more. Check out the full tracklist below.
The 15-track LP, which was recorded mostly in Lagos, Nigeria during the COVID-19 pandemic, follows Burna Boy’s 2019 album African Giant. Last month, he and Sam Smith joined forces on the track ‘My Oasis’.
Finneas has unveiled a new version of his track ‘Let’s Fall In Love For The Night’. It’s taken from the recently released deluxe version of his Blood Harmony EP, which includes the original seven tracks as well as ‘Break My Heart Again’ and the stripped-back ‘Let’s Fall in Love for the Night (1964)’. Listen to it below.
“When I was originally producing this song, it took me down two different directions,” Finneas explained in a statement. “One inspired by the rhythms I loved in Outkast and Gorillaz songs, which became the original production, and the other, which became this. A production inspired by the vinyl loved and listened to throughout my childhood. I wanted to make a lullaby version and give it to the people.”
The new version comes shortly after his sister, Billie Eilish, released her latest single ‘my future’, which Finneas helped write and produce.
Like a number of great albums, Fontaines D.C.‘s A Hero’s Death begins with a thesis and ends with an emotional credence. The brooding incantation on the opening track ‘I Don’t Belong’ is as familiar to the post-punk genre as any: “I don’t belong to anyone,” frontman Grian Chatten proclaims again and again over a slow-burning instrumental. What starts as a mere observation quickly turns into a statement of intent: “I don’t wanna belong to anyone.” There are obvious parallels to the band’s own meteoric rise to success following the release of their 2019 debut, Drogel; the line belies a refusal for their art to be commodified, yes, but also a sense of alienation springing from the Dublin quintet’s world tour and the exhaustion that came with it. “We weren’t really eating and we were burning the candle at both ends,” Chatten recently told NME. “It became a bit surreal as towns melted into each other and faces started to look a bit strange.”
Listening to A Hero’s Death, you get a taste of that phantasmagoric experience; not so much in the album’s content as its overall atmosphere, which seeds with a sense of estrangement, disorientation, and unease. Throughout the album, Fontaines D.C. negotiate their place in the world, eschewing any fixed perceptions of who they’re supposed to be but doing so with enough subtlety to render it compelling. “I was not born/ Into this world/ To do another man’s bidding,” Chatten declares on ‘I Was Not Born’; Conor Curley and Carlos O’Connell’s propulsive, anthemic guitars sound like the the rest of the world running after him as he manically cries out “You won’t catch me/ No, you won’t catch me.”
You can’t always tell what Chatten is singing about, and that’s part of what makes A Hero’s Death so enthralling. He fixates on a certain phrase until it’s stripped of all associations: there’s a clear hint of irony to ‘Love is the Main Thing’, whose central mantra morphs into something dark and sullen, Chatten’s delivery growing from weary to chaotic as a nightmarish guitar line looms over and Tom Coll’s drumming coils around him like a snake, ready to devour him at any minute. On the vitriolic ‘Televised Mind’, he repeats the line “That’s a televised mind” as the band boasts one of their most hypnotically electrifying performances. The idea of corporatising your artistic ideals reemerges: “Swipe your thoughts from Broadway/ Turn ideals to cabaret/ Water dreams of yesterday/ Fall behind,” Chatten sings. His commentary is sharp, but never too obvious.
If the plan was to lead the band back into obscurity by presenting a less accessible sound, this obviously hasn’t worked – A Hero’s Death catapulted to the top of the U.K. charts, second only to Taylor Swift’s folklore. If, on the other hand, the goal was to create something a bit more fragmented and less direct than its predecessor, Fontaines D.C. have more than delivered on their promise. The album is downcast and atmospheric without sacrificing the band’s energy, but it’s also filled with some of their most memorable hooks, which get lodged into your mind less like a catchy pop song than a nightmare you can’t quite shake. ‘Living in America’ is moody and evocative, Chatten’s voice reaching its lowest register, but it’s also surprisingly melodic. The title track cleverly offsets a rock n’ roll-inspired rhythm and the faux-inspirational “life ain’t always empty” with a simmering sense of dread conjured by the ghostly vocal harmonies and a rollicking instrumental that slowly edges towards oblivion.
The outro is the only instance where Chatten directly references the band, and it’s a blink-it-and-you’ll miss it moment: “That was the year of the sneer now the real thing’s here,” he mutters. The real thing, it turns out, is complicated. But ultimately, the album is less about reflecting on the band’s own trajectory than about navigating the line between sincerity and cynicism: the central question of metamodernism. Whenever they dip their toes into something resembling optimism, like on the dreamy ballad ‘Oh, Such a Spring’, it’s always covered in layers of sarcasm. But the closing track marks a kind of turning point: the band seem to do away with the disaffected ethos that has long characterized the genre, as Chatten bellows: “Even though you don’t know/ Even though you don’t/ You feel.” He then offers the perfect advice, not just for appreciating A Hero’s Death, but, surprisingly, life as a whole: “And please don’t lock yourself away/ Just appreciate the gray.”
British newcomers Black Country, New Rock have shared a cover of Weezer’s ‘Say It Ain’t So’. The band were supposed to perform at the Haldern Pop Festival in Germany this summer, but as the festival was cancelled due the coronavirus pandemic, its organizers are hosting a series of Saturday Pop concerts instead, livestreamed from the Keusgen recording studio in Haldern. Check out their take on the Weezer classic, as well as the entirety of their performance, below.
Next year, Black Country, New Road will head out on a European tour, including a stop at the Electric Ballroom in London on March 3, 2021. Last month, the band unveiled the nine-minute track ‘Sunglasses’, the follow-up to their much-hyped debut single, ‘Athens, France’.
Last night, The Weeknd performed a virtual concert on TikTok. Titled The Weeknd Experience and billed as a “live fan interactive & immersive XR moment”, the event saw the alternative R&B artist – or rather, a 3D animated version of him – play a minute-long snippet of a new song before a performance of the hit single ‘Blinding Lights’. A digital avatar of Doja Cat also joined in during the performance of ‘In Your Eyes’. Check it out below (the new song starts at 7:03 while ‘In Your Eyes’ is at the 13:06 minute mark).
During the virtual show, fans were encouraged to donate to the Equal Justice Initiative, which supports racial equality and aims to bring an end to mass incarceration in the US. Viewers also had the opportunity to vote in polls and have their usernames displayed on the livestream.
Tom Leighton, a gifted photographer out of London, U.K, has showcased an impressive series in which he explores the innovative and exciting architecture of Chicago, a city which holds over two million people.
Writing about the series, Leighton stated “With these images, I have used the light to give emphasis to the materials that have gone in Chicago’s impressive construction. Light bouncing off concrete, metal and glass, adding pattern to the city’s narrative.”
blink-182 have shared a new song called ‘Quarantine’. Evidently written over the past few months, the track was recorded by longtime members Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker and co-written by Brian Lee, with no involvement from singer/guitarist Matt Skiba, who replaced Tom DeLonge in 2015, Exclaim reports. Listen to it below.
“Quarantine, f*ck this disease,” Hoppus sings during the chorus of the new track. “I’d rather be on Star Tours or stuck at the DMV/ Quarantine, no not for me/ I thought that things were f*cked up in 2019/ F*ck quarantine.”
blink-182 released their latest album, Nine, in 2019. Recently, drummer Travis Barker joined forces with Run the Jewels for a joint single titled ‘Forever’, which was one of our favourites of that week. Yesterday also saw the release of a Mark Hoppus-approved tribute to blink-182’s Dude Ranch, featuring contributions from Joyce Manor, Rozwell Kid, Adult Mom, Spirit Night, Lisa Prank, Retirement Party, and more.
SASAMI‘s self-titled debut LP, released last year, saw Sasami Ashworth coming into her own as a songwriter. A classically trained French horn player who’s scored orchestral arrangements for films and commercials, she’s spent years making a name for herself in the LA music scene, joining Cherry Glazer in 2015 in addition to touring alongside the likes of Snail Mail, Soccer Mommy, Japanese Breakfast, and Mitski. Recorded onto an iPad while touring with Cherry Glazer, lyrics scribbled down in the Notes app of a smartphone, SASAMI is at once intimate, complex, and sonically ambitious – reflecting her versatility as an artist, it draws from the seemingly disparate worlds of shoegaze, jazz, and bedroom pop, from the incandescent guitar line of opener ‘I Was a Window’ to the simmering, hypnotic ‘Callous’. She retains some of that collaborative spirit, too, enlisting freak folk singer Devendra Banhart on the evocative ‘Free’ and previous collaborator Soko on the ethereal ‘Adult Contemporary’. She followed it up with the equally dynamic, holiday-inspired EP lil drmr bb a few months later, and earlier this year, she unveiled the driving single ‘Mess’, followed by a hauntingly prescient cover of System of a Down’s ‘Toxicity’. While we wait for SASAMI’s next LP, though, she’s made sure that the closing track of her debut gets lodged into our minds, resonating in a whole different way during these isolating times: “Thought I was the only one to be so alone in the night,” she sings atop a skeletal drum machine, “Turns out I was everyone.”
We caught up with Sasami Ashworth 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 your earliest musical memory?
My mom singing along to very dramatic, operatic Japanese folk music while washing the dishes.
Who are some artists you look up to, and why?
Alice Coltrane – epically talented as a musician, spiritual traveler and a Black femme icon. Liz Phair- just a ridiculously good songwriter. Her demos from when she was a teen/early 20’s blow me away. Kara Jackson- a songwriter and also youth poet laureate out of Chicago who is always pushing us to think harder and feel deeper.
What made you want to focus on your own music?
I guess I just spent a decade playing other people’s music, so I wanted to give myself a go at focusing on my own compositions. I definitely miss collaborating, and I’m finding new ways to do that on my upcoming creations.
It’s been a year since you released your debut album. How has the response been? Do you see the album any differently now?
I think many people find meaning/pleasure or something from it and that is great. I made it for myself, ultimately, so if even one other person finds it enjoyable or useful, then it I has exceeded its intended purpose. I think it’s an emotional album and I personally still listen to it and feel a lot.
What was the inspiration for your most recent single, ‘Mess’?
Just feeling like my life is messy but trying to stay focused of my own work and calmness despite it. I also just really wanted to play some ripping guitarmonies.
Why did you choose to cover System of a Down’s ‘Toxicity’?
Mess was recorded pre-pandemic, but Toxicity was recorded after the start of the Covid-era and the recent protests and social uprising. There is a sickness, a toxic foundation on which our country was built. This re-focusing and mobilization around the racism against Black folks and the way it manifests in medicine (covid-19), the economy, prison system, etc. really needs to be the main discourse we are paying attention to right now. I was hesitant to even put anything out last month, but I agreed since its proceeds benefited the National Bailout Fund. It seemed appropriate to sing something about the toxicity of society. Also I love System of a Down.
What are you working on at the moment?
Something like System of a Down meets the movie Lady Snowblood meets an epic thematic reprise in a Mahler symphony.
From suit connoisseurs to occasional wearers, we always need a good pocket square to go with our suit. Pocket squares don’t just add detail, but make you feel like you truly own the piece, it brings out your personality and can transform the way your outfit is shaped.
In this short piece, we look at seven pocket squares, currently on the market that will match up well with your navy suit.
Moss Amarone Pocket Square, Serà Fine Silk
Serà Fine Silk accessories are designed in Milan and crafted in Como with careful attention to detail and style. This beautiful pocket square may seem an odd match with a navy suit. Yet, this stunning piece can be matched really well with a well-cut, navy suit. If you’re looking for a high-quality pocket square, this one will be for you.
This well-crafted, eye-pleasing silk pocket square by Reiss is one of the purest elegant touches you can add to your navy suit. It’s minimalist Polka design, with a reversed colour pallet oomphs of class and sophistication.
The Cali pocket square by Reiss like-wise is made and crafted in Italy. It’s constructed from pure linen and brings out a gorgeous medallion print to elevate your look.
TM Lewin’s pink geometric pocket square is a must-have for weddings or dinner parties. It shines as a chill yet elegant, well-presented piece for your outfit. We love it.
Made with Liberty Fabric White James Francis Print Pocket Square , TM Lewin
This floral design pocket square is another excellent addition to our list by TM Lewin. Like their pink pocket square, this also brings out a lovely chill vibe, making it perfect for a dinner party.
Shifting to more Italian style, we have Corneliani’s yellow floral print flax pocket square. There is a sense of maturity and purity about this beautifully crafted piece that will help you bring out a self-confident look with your outfit.
Finally, we have the beloved Gucci. This design incorporates the timeless GG logo and uses a white motif, to help it stand out from a navy background. Like expected, it is made in Italy from smooth silk-twill.
Courtney Barnett has released an acoustic cover of Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter Kev Carmody’s ‘Just For You’. It’s taken from a tribute album of Carmody’s songs titled Cannot Buy My Soul, which was originally released in 2007 and will be reissued with new songs on August 21 through EMI Australia, featuring Jimmy Barnes, Kasey Chambers, Kate Miller-Heidke, Alice Skye, Electric Fields, and more. Listen to it below.
“I’ve only met her just lately, and, very impressed with this young woman, Courtney Barnett,” Carmody said in a video posted on Barnett’s Instagram. “‘Just for You,’ it’s virtually a love song that I’ve directed at everybody, for everybody … It’s trying to get right to the core to say even though we have our disagreements and stuff, I still love you all very much, and I love you as an individual very much.”
