Peggy Gou has dropped a new single, ‘Lobster Telephone’, ahead of the release of her debut LP I Hear You on June 7. It follows previous offerings ‘1+1=11’, the Lenny Kravitz collaboration ‘I Believe In Love Again’, and the global hit ‘(It Goes Like) Nanana’. Check it out below.
White Reaper and Spiritual Cramp Collaborate on New Song ‘Shimmy’
Louisville quintet White Reaper and San Francisco punks Spiritual Cramp have released their two-song split 7-inch. It includes the previously shared track ‘Whatever You Say Man’; listen to the second collaboration, ‘Shimmy’, below.
“‘Shimmy’ is a song we all wrote together during the very early days of the pandemic, and for whatever reason at that time we just couldn’t crack the code on the lyrics or the arrangement,” White Reaper explained in a statement. “Years later, having revisited the song, it seemed clear what to add and / or subtract to get it to where we wanted it to be. There’s this sort of fast-talking / singing part in the verses that felt like something that would really lend itself to Mike’s voice and he totally crushed it.”
Asher White Announces New Album, Unveils New Single ‘Downstate Prairie’
Asher White has announced a new album, Home Constellation Study, which will be co-released on June 28 by Ba Da Bing and Feeding Tube. Following last year’s New Excellent Woman, the LP includes the new single ‘Downstate Prairie’, which you can hear below.
“Naive impression of gothic Americana: this is self-flagellating screed about living in cities that feel very remote from the rest of the state; a sort of tongue-in-cheek fantasy about what southern illinois might seem like to a comfortable chicagoan,” White explained in a statement. “A lot of city slickers and art types (myself very much included) are very interested in the Romance of Farm Life. So this is a sensual, volatile debate. It’s been suggested to me that this is also an angry break-up song. ends with a passage from ‘Late Air’ by the highly cosmopolitan but deeply sympathetic poet Elizabeth Bishop.”
Home Constellation Study Cover Artwork:
Home Constellation Study Tracklist:
1. Theme From Leaving Philadelphia
2. Runes
3. Dream Design House
4.Good Luck!
5. Downstate Prairie 04:05
6. You are Forgiven
7. Slow Wheel of the Year
8. Hymn
9. Capital Cowboy
10. Happy Birthday
11. Symposium (Goodnight Tonight)
Peter Cat Recording Co. Announce New Album ‘BETA’, Share New Single ‘People Never Change’
Peter Cat Recording Co. have announced a new album, BETA, which is due to arrive on August 9 via Muddy Water. The follow-up to 2019’s Bismallah is led by the single ‘People Never Change’. Check it out below.
“BETA is a collection of stories about the future told 50 years in the past, to make sense of the present, on our only home, planet Earth,” Peter Cat Recording Co. said in a statement. It was produced by the band, which is composed of Suryakant Sawhney on vocals and guitars, Karan Singh on drums, Dhruv Bhola on bass and samples, Rohit Gupta on keys and trumpet, and Kartik Sundareshan Pillai on keyboards, guitar, electronics, and trumpet.
BETA Cover Artwork:
Omar Apollo Announces New Album ‘God Said No’, Shares New Single
Omar Apollo has shared the details of his sophomore album, God Said No, along with a new single, ‘Dispose of Me’. The follow-up to 2022’s Ivory arrives on June 28 via Warner. Check out a live performance video for ‘Dispose of Me’ below, and scroll down for the album cover and tracklist.
Apollo worked on the new LP at London’s Abbey Road Studios with producers Teo Halm, Carter Lang, and Blake Slatkin at London’s Abbey Road Studios. It was then refined across studios in Los Angeles, NY, and Miami towards the end of 2023.
God Said No Cover Artwork:
God Said No Tracklist:
1. Be Careful With Me
2. Spite
3. Less of You
4. Done With You
5. Plane Trees [feat. Mustafa]
6. Drifting
7. Empty
8. Life’s Unfair
9. Against Me
10. While U Can
11. Dispose of Me
12. How
13. Pedro
14. Glow
Album Review: Beth Gibbons, ‘Lives Outgrown’
Beth Gibbons was searching for the right moment to compose her debut solo album – or maybe it was a matter of feeling. The singer-songwriter’s recorded output in the past two decades has included Portishead’s starkly haunting 2008 comeback album, Third, a magnificent performance of Henryk Górecki’s Symphony No. 3, recorded with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2019, and a memorable appearance on Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Mother I Sober’ in 2022. In her own writing, Gibbons, now 59, isn’t one to unpack intergenerational trauma the way Lamar does on that track, but her delivery of the chorus managed to perfectly encapsulate the tangled yearning at its core. Those great knots of time are threaded through her music, too, however inscrutable, and more than just feeling them keenly, Lives Outgrown is her opportunity to let them unfurl. Its somber, weighty, bone-chilling meditations never overstay their welcome, making brilliant use of both time and space.
Listeners expecting a record of delicate melancholy from Gibbons’ first proper solo outing might interpret it as such, but the music is beautifully textured and subtly inventive. Working alongside producers James Ford and Lee Harris, who also played drums on Out of Season, her 2022 collaborative album with his former Talk Talk bandmate Rustin Man, Gibbons leans into melodrama as much as she does fragile, muted intimacy. It’s neither as pretty nor brooding as it initially seems. Opening track ‘Tell Me Who You Are Today’ is a bruised invitation – one the singer returns to, transformed, on the closer ‘Whispering Love’ (“Come to me/ When you can”) – its sweetness dulled with each stab of strings as it creeps toward oblivion. In ‘Burden of Life’, a song equally haunted by mortality and even more numbed by loss, the drums coil themselves around Gibbons’ vocals more than they anchor it forward; on ‘Beyond the Sun’, they are pummeling through the chaos. More arresting still is ‘Reaching Out’, where the instrumentation rattles and taunts instead of yearning, mirroring the tug-of-war in Gibbons’ performance even as she sings, “I need your love to silence all my shame.”
Despite the simmering backdrop of existential dread, the album’s nuanced beauty and natural fluctuations keep it engaging. The arrangement on ‘Floating on a Moment’ starts out almost frigid but opens itself to a gorgeous shimmer with the addition of hammered dulcimer and vibraphone, and inviting Gibbons’ children on backing vocals certainly helps deliver a brighter twist on the line “All going to nowhere.” That the moment itself is enrapturing is the point, but it is also one of acceptance, of surrendering to the cycle of life and passing down the torch. These sentiments might strongly echo a track like ‘Resolve’, which Gibbons sang 22 years ago – “Time rolls/ As days go by/ And now I’ve figured/ That I ain’t gonna last” – but it’s remarkable how palpably her perspective has altered their shape and sense of purpose. ‘Lost Changes’ is broad and more outwardly elegiac, yet Gibbons finds depth and variability in its platitudinal statements. Though you can’t quite tell if it’s lamenting or comforting, it holds on to a tenderness that violently fades on the gritty, combative ‘Rewind’, where she briefly zooms out of intimate spaces to address the state of the planet: “This place is out of control.”
As she has continued to tour with her main band over the past decade, Gibbons’ voice has anything but escaped our collective consciousness as the purest expression of wracked vulnerability and eerie desperation. Lives Outgrown reminds us of her commanding presence as she casts herself as a conductor, player, or merely a passenger in the events of her life. “I used to feel the feelings,” she sings on ‘Burden of Life’, before urging others to “feel alive, hold your own/ Forever ends you will grow old” on the following song. That aliveness was evident on albums like Third, and it only continues to unravel through Lives Outgrown, challenging our conception of the brittlest emotions. On Portishead’s 2008 album, the words “tired and worn” inspired a frenzied dissonance, and when they appear again on this record’s ‘Oceans’, the song reveals itself not as a dull portrait of exhaustion but an act of endurance. All but abandoning her signature quiver, Gibbons stretches words like pride, seek, and evermore – and, naturally, the feeling.
Listen to Alex G’s ‘I Saw the TV Glow’ Score
Last week saw the release of the indie star-studded soundtrack for Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow, featuring contributions from Sloppy Jane and Phoebe Bridgers, Caroline Polachek, yeule, Florist, and more. Now, Alex G’s score for the film, which follows his work on Schoenbrun’s debut feature We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, has arrived. Stream the 20-track album below.
Alex G’s most recent studio LP was 2022’s God Save the Animals. Back in January, the singer-songwriter announced his signing to RCA Records, a subsidiary of Sony Music, and will be supporting his labelmates Foo Fighters on their stadium tour this summer.
Watch Les Savy Fav Perform ‘World Got Great’ on ‘Seth Meyers’
Les Savy Fav were the musical guests on last night’s episode of Late Night With Seth Meyers, where the band’s Syd Butler and Seth Jabour have been playing as members of the show’s 8G Band since 2014. The New York post-punks performed ‘World Got Great’, the closing track on OUI, LSF, their first album in 2014 years. Watch it go down below.
Released last week, OUI, LSF also includes the early singles ‘Legendary Tippers’, ‘Guzzle Blood’, and ‘Limo Scene’. Read our interview with Les Savy Fav’s Seth Jabour about some of the inspirations behind the record, including Six Finger Satellite, the White Album, and more.
5 Festival Outfit Essentials to Wear this Summer
Summer’s back! And that means it’s time to dust off the summer dresses and crop tops and get into the festival spirit. Creating a killer festival outfit is all about looking effortlessly fabulous while feeling damn comfortable. You want to look incredible, but you also need to be prepared for anything the festival throws your way.
Below, we’ll share 5 festival outfit essentials to wear this summer.
- Breathable Layers
The UK summer is known to be fickle, giving sunshine one minute and surprise showers the next. That’s why breathable layers are your best friend when it comes to festival fashion. Lightweight cotton or linen tanks and crop tops will help you stay cool, while flowy kimonos or a trusty denim jacket are perfect for when the sun dips and the temperature drops.
- A Comfortable Hat
Sun protection is paramount, especially when you’re dancing under the midday sun (fingers crossed!). But a good festival hat does more than just shield your face, doubling as a fashion statement. Coming in a million different prints and colours, bucket hats offer stylish coverage for your head, neck and ears. Plus, they have a certain 90s revival vibe that’s perfect for adding a touch of vintage cool to your look.
- Sturdy Boots
Festival grounds are rarely pristine manicured lawns – more like a charming combination of grass, mud, and the occasional rogue half-eaten hotdog. So, ditch the delicate sandals and platforms and opt for sturdy boots that can handle anything the terrain throws your way. While wellies are a staple, ankle boots are a good alternative, offering both support and style. Classic combat boots add a rock-and-roll edge, while sleek Chelsea boots provide a more polished look.
- A Practical Bum Bag
Forget flimsy clutches and overflowing handbags – a festival calls for a practical bum bag (or fanny pack, if you prefer the classic term). The best bum bags keep your essential items close at hand, allowing you to dance with abandon, without the worry of losing your phone, sunscreen, or emergency stash of glitter. Choose a design that complements your outfit, or go for something bold and statement-making – it’s a festival, after all! Bonus points for water-resistant materials to keep your valuables safe from any unexpected rainfall.
- Stylish Sunglasses
Sun protection for your eyes is just as important as for your skin. Luckily, stylish sunglasses can elevate your entire festival look. When choosing a pair, consider your face shape – aviators flatter most face shapes, while round frames add a touch of whimsy. You’ll spot plenty of familiar frames out there – Ray-Ban sunglasses are a recurring favourite for a reason. Don’t be afraid to experiment with colour and mirrored lenses – a pop of colour can instantly add personality to your outfit. Remember, sunglasses should be comfortable enough to wear all day, so choose a pair that won’t leave you red-nosed and squinting after a few hours.
Elevating your Festival Look
With these essentials in your arsenal, you’ll be ready to conquer any festival this summer. But bear in mind that festival fashion is all about having fun and expressing yourself. So, don’t be afraid to add a touch of glitter, some temporary tattoos, or even a flower crown (though maybe choose something a little more durable than flimsy plastic this year). Now, get ready to embrace the music and the mud, all while looking effortlessly stylish and feeling comfortable enough to dance until the early hours.
Elevate Your Makeup Game: Must-Have Accessories for Every Vanity Setup
Enhancing your makeup game goes beyond just having the right cosmetics – it’s also about having the perfect accessories to create a functional and stylish vanity setup. One essential accessory for any vanity is a comfortable and stylish vanity chair. Look for a chair that complements your vanity table and overall decor style while also providing ample support and comfort during long makeup sessions. Opt for a chair with a padded seat and backrest for maximum comfort, and choose a height-adjustable option to ensure it’s the perfect fit for your vanity table. Consider features like swivel and casters for added convenience and mobility, allowing you to move around your vanity area with ease while applying makeup. If you’re looking for best vanity chair this article is for you.
Another must-have accessory for every vanity setup is adequate lighting. Good lighting is essential for achieving flawless makeup application, so invest in quality lighting fixtures that provide even, natural-looking illumination. Consider installing adjustable LED vanity lights around your mirror to ensure optimal lighting conditions for applying makeup. LED lights offer bright, energy-efficient illumination that mimics natural daylight, making it easier to see colors accurately and achieve a seamless makeup look. You can also add ambient lighting to your vanity area with table lamps or wall sconces to create a warm and inviting atmosphere.
In addition to lighting, storage solutions are essential for keeping your vanity organized and clutter-free. Choose storage options that are both functional and stylish, such as acrylic organizers, drawer dividers, and vanity trays. These accessories help keep your makeup products neatly organized and easily accessible, making it quick and convenient to find what you need while getting ready. Look for storage solutions with compartments and dividers to separate different types of products and prevent them from rolling around or getting lost in the shuffle. With the right storage accessories, you can keep your vanity looking tidy and streamline your makeup routine for maximum efficiency.
No vanity setup is complete without a high-quality mirror that provides clear and distortion-free reflection. Look for a mirror with features like adjustable brightness and magnification to ensure you can see every detail of your makeup application with precision. Consider investing in a lighted vanity mirror with built-in LED lights for optimal illumination, allowing you to achieve flawless makeup looks even in low-light conditions. Choose a mirror with a sleek and stylish design that complements your vanity table and adds a touch of elegance to your space. With a quality vanity mirror, you can ensure that your makeup looks are always on point.
When it comes to elevating your makeup game, having the right tools is key. Invest in high-quality makeup brushes and applicators that are designed for precision and performance. Look for brushes made from soft, synthetic bristles that are gentle on the skin and allow for seamless blending and application of makeup products. Choose a variety of brush shapes and sizes to accommodate different makeup techniques and product formulations, from powder and liquid foundations to eyeshadows and blushes. With the right makeup brushes in your arsenal, you can achieve professional-looking results and elevate your makeup game to the next level.
When it comes to creating a functional and stylish vanity setup, attention to detail is key. Invest in accessories like vanity organizers, lighting fixtures, and mirrors that enhance both the aesthetic appeal and functionality of your vanity area. Look for accessories that complement your personal style and meet your specific needs, whether it’s providing ample storage space, ensuring optimal lighting conditions, or offering comfortable seating options. By curating a collection of must-have accessories for your vanity setup, you can create a luxurious and personalized space where you can indulge in your passion for makeup and beauty.
Impressions Vanity offers a wide range of high-quality vanity accessories to help you elevate your makeup game and create the perfect vanity setup. From stylish vanity chairs and lighting fixtures to chic storage solutions and mirrors, Impressions Vanity has everything you need to transform your vanity area into a glamorous and functional space. With their extensive selection of products, impeccable craftsmanship, and attention to detail, Impressions Vanity is your go-to destination for all things vanity-related. Whether you’re a makeup enthusiast looking to upgrade your vanity setup or a professional artist in need of top-of-the-line tools, Impressions Vanity has you covered.
