Home Blog Page 479

Exploring Ethiopia’s Undiscovered Natural Treasures

Ethiopia, a nation with diverse landscapes and uncommon wildlife, offers fantastic experiences for those who enjoy the outdoors and adventure. The wild Simien Mountains and the bizarre Danakil Depression landscapes are only two of the country’s many natural wonders.

The article will guide you through these breathtaking environments and provide tales of strange animal encounters, such as those with Ethiopian wolves and Gelada baboons. The nation is a must-visit destination for all avid travellers because of its unique cultural past and profusion of animals.

Ethiopia is mostly known as a destination for cultural tourism, and with its fascinating history and vibrant culture, many visitors are content to concentrate only on this facet of the country. On the other hand, because of its enormous range of habitats, it does have a very broad biodiversity. With over 800 species, including at least 30 that are indigenous to the nation, birds are also noteworthy.

At times, images of buffalo, giraffes, lions, and elephants are also included. By booking an Ethiopian Airlines ticket, you can travel to discover Ethiopia’s wildlife. The airlines provide numerous services to their customers.

Bale Mountains

At 4,200 metres, the lava-covered Bale Mountains are home to one of the largest forests in Ethiopia, as well as 78 different mammal species, like the thriving population of Ethiopian wolves, mountain nyalas, Menelik’s bushbuck, Bale monkeys, and no fewer than eight species of rodents. Additionally, the region is dotted with rivers, fertile grassland, and extensive alpine moorland.

These rodents are the only food the wolf eats, especially the mole rats. The black and white colobus monkey, olive baboon, leopard rock hyrax, warthog, huge forest hog, and spotted hyena are among the other animals that call this place home. The innumerable species of birds that may be seen here include the yellow-fronted parrot, blue-winged geese, and spot-breasted plover, which are unique to these mountains.

Simien Mountains

With Ras Dashen reaching 4,500 metres, the Simiens are Ethiopia’s biggest and tallest mountain range. The mountains provide amazing views and some fantastic options for longer treks and hikes. The fact that locals live inside Ethiopia’s national parks surprises many tourists, but that is part of the agreement between the communities and the government.

The majority of people show respect for animals, and it’s not unusual to see many gelada baboons hanging around near communities. Compared to their cousins, they are rather laid-back and kind, and they spend their days in great groups searching these high meadows for food. Here, too, Walia ibex are visible in seemingly inaccessible locations on the rock walls.

Simien Mountains

Omo Valley

The Omo Valley, among many mountain regions, is substantially warmer and wetter due to its lower height. The national parks here are home to lions, giraffes, elephants, buffalo, eland, cheetahs, and numerous plains animals. The banks of the river are lush and productive. The forest on the banks of the river is home to a large number of monkeys, crocodiles, hippos, and a profusion of birds.

Among the notable species are the vervet and black-and-white colobus monkeys, Pel’s fishing owl, and De Brazza’s monkey, mostly found in the tropical woods of Uganda and Congo. A variety of birds may be heard, if not seen, from the deep vegetation, including carmine bee-eaters, white-cheeked bee-eaters, black-headed gonolek, orioles, weavers, barbets, cuckoos, African fish eagles, and warblers.

Gambella National Park

Because so few people are aware of it, it’s not on anyone’s list of places they really must see. Boma National Park in South Sudan borders Gambella, an area of hot swampy lowlands crisscrossed by three sizable rivers that offer over 27,000 sq. km of exceptional animal habitat, of which 4,500 are in Gambella.

This immense swath of little-known or explored wilderness is merged into a protected area larger than the whole ecology of the Serengeti, Kafue, or Ruaha National Park. The primary sources of income for the Anuak and Nuer people who inhabit the area are fishing and cow herding.

The Danakil Depression

There are no other landscapes on Earth like those seen in the Danakil Depression. An unearthly landscape is created by the seething lava lakes, the enormous salt plains that extend forever, and the vibrant mineral deposits. Even though it’s a hostile and terrible environment, something is captivating about its stark beauty.

The ability of species such as the Afar people of the Danakil Depression and the Gelada baboons of the Simien Mountains to adapt to and thrive in such a wide range of environmental circumstances in Ethiopia is evidence of the remarkable diversity of life on our planet

Gulfer Announce New Album ‘Third Wind’, Share New Single ‘Too Slow’

0

Montreal emo outfit Gulfer have announced a new LP: Third Wind arrives February 28 via Topshelf. Today, they’ve shared a new single called ‘Too Slow’, following the recently unveiled ‘Clean’. Check it out along with the album cover (by Robert Voyvodic) and tracklist below.

“‘Too Slow’ is a reflection on burnout and the desire to alleviate the pressure that comes with it,” the band explained in a statement. “The music video centers around a runner who is meant to symbolize the urgency being conveyed by the energy and tempo of the song. Broadly speaking, the goal of the video was to lean into the surreal, and to weave a loose storyline that transcended the normative music video narrative. We also spent the entire 10-hour shoot fighting below 0 temperatures, mostly notably with our drummer Julien being the star of the second half of the video.”

Third Wind Cover Artwork:

Third Wind Tracklist:

1. Clean
2. Heartshape
3. Cherry Seed
4. Drainer
5. Too Slow
6. No Brainer
7. Motive
8. Prove
9. Vacant Spirit
10. Talk All Night

Ellis Announces New Album ‘no place that feels like’, Shares New Song ‘obliterate me’

Ellis has announced a new LP, no place that feels like, sharing the lead single ‘obliterate me’. Featuring the 2023 track ‘forever’, the album comes out April 26. Listen to ‘obliterate me’ and check out the album cover and tracklist below.

“one of my best friends told me about this dream she had where she physically died and her consciousness just continued to exist in this completely silent, vast, empty space and we were talking about how that would be the absolute worst-case scenario for an after-life,” Ellis’ Linnea Siggelkow explained in a statement. “at a party later that night we jokingly made a list of all of the things we would rather happen to us when we die – that’s what ‘obliterate me’ is about. i also did scream-cry to karma police whilst driving fast down the highway, so…”

no place that feels like Cover Artwork:

no place that feels like Tracklist:

1. blizzard
2. forever
3. obliterate me
4. taurine
5. mouth full of goo
6. it’ll be alright
7. what i know now
8. balcony hymn
9. prelude
10. home
11. devil’s punchbowl

Album Review: Sleater-Kinney, ‘Little Rope’

It’s been three years since the release of Sleater-Kinney’s last album, Path of Wellness, which was perceived s a significantly restrained, even breezy effort in their three-decade-long career. It boasted a lot of the swagger, if not the urgency, of rock n’ roll, and though it wasn’t nearly as polarizing as 2019’s The Center Won’t Hold, it left something to be desired. Following the departure of drummer Janet Weiss, Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker seemed more content to coast on a more familiar and clean–cut sound, struggling to either cut through or underscore the dread that pervaded the album’s pleasant arrangements. The opening of Little Rope, the band’s follow–up, almost points in a similar direction, beginning on a note of cool nihilism that promises no explosions: “Hell don’t have no worries/ Hell don’t have no past/ Hell is just a signpost when you take a certain path.” Then Tucker’s voice, along with the whole song, erupts with the fury of watching a friend drown in despair: “You ask why like there’s no tomorrow.” It’s a much-needed jolt, as raw and visceral as you’d want a record like this to be.

Sleater-Kinney haven’t switched up their approach too much, still anchoring in steady grooves and catchy hooks, but ‘Hell’ hints at a brokenness that will catch anyone who’d filed their past couple of records as “sleek” off guard. It’s the kind of emotion musicians might turn away from but can never fake, and Sleater-Kinney don’t try. When the album was announced, they were open about how the songs were inspired by grief: halfway through the making of the album, Brownstein received the news that her mother and stepfather had died in a car crash. Given the circumstances, Little Rope doesn’t sound dark so much as on the edge of riotously spinning out of control, which leads to some of the band’s most invigorated performances in a while: “warped from grief,” goes a line on ‘Don’t Feel Right’, not wrapped in or grappling with it. It’s a defiantly upbeat song about making plans for when you’re out of a depression that naturally sucks you further into it, the key change at the end adding real irony to the self-immolating chorus of “Don’t come around, I’m a real let down.”

The album is at its best when it feels both earnest and eager to reflect not just the vulnerability underlying the lyrics, but the sort of relentless drive that can come from having your whole worldview upended. It doesn’t always come across. On ‘Dress Yourself’, Brownstein pleads to be given “the madness” and “a new word for the old pain inside of me,” but John Congleton, who the band enlisted after self–producing Path of Wellness, suddenly adds booming drums that stifle the yearning. (The woozing synth on ‘Hunt You Down’ is another odd, albeit more subtle, production choice that distracts from the real horror from the song.) By the time we get to ‘Dress Yourself’, though, we’ve already heard delicious glimpses of that state of frenzy, whether in ‘Needlessly Wild’, where Brownstein exalts in bending the word “wild,” or ‘Six Mistakes’, which seems to be fuelled by the paranoia of stalking someone on the grounds of suspected infidelity (or worse).

Little Rope is less compelling when it steps away from those fiery emotions, but only because it tends to undersell the other side of them – resilience, tenderness, love. The early single ‘Say It Like You Mean It’ works better in concept than it does in execution, aching for a show of sincerity in the midst of a painful goodbye but flattening itself out in the process. Tucker’s vocal performance on the song is dynamic, but not like it is on the closer ‘Untidy Creature’, whose lurching grandiosity feels cathartic rather than imposing, Brownstein’s cleanly melodic guitar flourishes peeking out, and then powering through, the fuzz. “There’s too much here that’s unspoken/ And there’s no tomorrow in sight/ Could you love me if I was broken/ There’s no going back tonight,” Tucker sings. She finds no new word for that old pain but manages to wail it into existence regardless, if only to be reminded she isn’t standing against it alone.

Ariana Grande Announces New Album ‘Eternal Sunshine’

Ariana Grande has officially announced her new album, Eternal Sunshine. The follow-up to 2020’s Positions will arrive on March 8 via Republic.

Last week, Grande previewed the record with ‘yes, and?’, which was written and produced with longtime collaborators Max Martin and Ilya Salmanzadeh. Since her last album, she has been busy filming the movie adaptation of the Wicked musical.

Sam Evian Announces New Album ‘Plunge’, Shares New Single ‘Wild Days’

Sam Evian – the musician and producer known for his work with Big Thief, Palehound, Blonde Redhead, and Cass McCombs – has announced a new album called Plunge. The follow-up to 2021’s Time to Melt will be released on March 22 through his new imprint Flying Cloud Recordings/Thirty Tigers. The lead single, ‘Wild Days’, arrives today alongside a music video. Check it out below and scroll down for the LP’s cover art, tracklist, and Evian’s upcoming tour dates.

Plunge was recorded over ten days during the early winter months of 2023. Evian was joined by a group of friends and collaborators that included Liam Kazar, Sean Mullins, El Kempner of Palehound, and Adrianne Lenker of Big Thief. “No one knew the songs or what the plan was. We kept it loose and fun,” he said in a press release. “This was the spirit of the sessions. No headphones, no playback, minimal overdubs, or bleed. Fast and loose.”

“I spend so much time trying to make perfect recordings for everyone else,” Evian added. “So it was a slight act of resistance to make something wild and kind of fucked up for myself.”

Revisit our Artist Spotlight interview with Sam Evian.

Plunge Cover Artwork:

Plunge Tracklist:

1. Wild Days
2. Jacket
3. Rollin’ In
4. Why Does It Take So Long*
5. Freakz
6. Wind Blows
7. Another Way
8. Runaway
9. Stay

Sam Evian 2024 Tour Dates:

Feb 24 – Bristol, UK – Simple Things Festival
Feb 27 London, UK – Oslo Hackney
Feb 29 –  Paris, FR – Badaboum
Apr 24 – Montreal, QC – Le Ritz PDB
Apr 25 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
Apr 26 – New York, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
Apr 27 – Washington, D.C. – The Atlantis
Apr 28 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s
Apr 30 – Toronto, ON – TBD
May 2 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall
May 3 – Milwaukee, WI – Vivarium
May 4 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry
May 5 – Davenport, IA – Raccoon Motel
May 7 – Denver, CO – Globe Hall
May 9 – Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge
May 10 – Boise, ID – Neurolux
May 11 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
May 13 – Seattle, WA – Madame Lou’s
May 15 – San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
May 17 – Los Angeles, CA – Lodge Room
May 18 – Los Angeles, CA – Lodge Room
May 21 – Austin, TX – Antone’s
May 22 – Denton, TX – Rubber Gloves
May 24 – Nashville, TN – The Blue Room
May 25 – Asheville, NC – Eulogy
May 26 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle

13 Memorable Quotes from Saltburn (2023)

0

One of the most talked about films that came out in late 2023, Saltburn follows Oxford University student Oliver Quick, played by award-winning Irish actor Barry Keoghan. In the movie, Oliver uses his untamed confidence to trick himself into his aristocratic classmate Felix Catton’s life and his family’s extra event estate, Saltburn.

Saltburn has been rated as one of the best releases of 2023. Critics have described the performances as “acerbic” and the overall film as “a delicious cinematic schadenfreude.” Barry Keoghan’s performance could only be described as phenomenal and rightfully gained him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture Drama. 

Among great acting, Saltburn also features terrific cinematography led by Oscar-winning director of photography Linus Sandgren, who also worked on such films as La La Land (2017), No Time to Die (2021), and Babylon (2022).

All in all, the film is creepy and showcases some superb acting by a well-gifted cast. It is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. So, here are thirteen memorable quotes about love from Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn.

  1. Oliver Quick: Is there really ever such a thing as an accident, Elspeth? I don’t know. Accidents are for people like you. For the rest of us, there’s work. And unlike you, I actually know how to work.
  2. Oliver Quick: I’m sorry my performance wasn’t good enough.
  3. Duncan: Lots of people get lost in Saltburn.
  4. Venetia Catton: Stranger-fucking-danger.
  5. Sir James Catton: Eat the bloody pie!
  6. Venetia Catton: He doesn’t like sharing his toys. Even the ones he doesn’t want to play with anymore.
  7. Farleigh Start: Fuck, chuck or marry: Richard III, Henry VII or Henry VIII? You know, I think I’d fuck Richard III. He’s so insecure, so you know he’d put in the work, right?
  8. Felix Catton: Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, Catch a tiger by the toe, If he squeals, let him go, uh… you’re out, boy scout.
  9. Sir James Catton: The words are on the screen! That’s the best part.
  10. Felix Catton: I don’t know what you are but I do know you. You make my fucking blood run cold.
  11. Elspeth Catton: I was a lesbian for a while, you know, but it was all a bit too wet for me in the end. Men are so lovely and dry.
  12. Venetia Catton: I don’t think you’re a spider, you’re a moth. Quiet, harmless, drawn to shiny things, banging up against a window, and begging to get in.
  13. Oliver Quick: “Only rich people can afford to be this filthy”

Wolf Parade’s Daniel Boeckner Announces Solo Album, Unveils New Song ‘Lose’

Daniel Boeckner (Wolf Parade, Operators, Divine Fits, Handsome Furs) has announced his self-titled debut solo LP. Boeckner! was produced, engineered, and mixed by Randall Dunn at Circular Ruin in New York City and mastered by Heba Kadry in Brooklyn. It’s out March 15 on Sub Pop, and the new single ‘Lose’ is out today. Give it a listen below.

Boeckner! features Matt Chamberlain on drums, Medicine’s Brad Laner (who contributed guitar and vocal arrangements), and Jeremy Gaudet of labelmates Kiwi Jr., who co-wrote the song ‘Dead Tourists’. “This record is like an autobiography—Atlas Strategic music concrete synth explosions, lush synth stuff from Operators, the noise guitar from Handsome Furs, drawing influence from everything from Stockhausen to Tom Waits all at the same time,” Boeckner said in a press release.

Of working with Dunn, he added: “I’d been a fan of his forever, especially the Sunn0))) records he produced. Working with Randall really unlocked some suppressed musical urges, things that I enjoy in my private life but don’t normally weave into what I’m releasing—like occult synth, pseudo-metal, krautrock, and heavy psych influences.”

Boeckner! Cover Artwork:

Boeckner! Tracklist:

1. Lose
2. Ghost in the Mirror
3. Wrong
4. Don’t Worry Baby
5. Dead Tourists
6. Return to Life
7. Euphoria
8. Holy Is the Night

Villagers Announce New Album ‘That Golden Time’, Share New Single

0

Villagers have announced their latest album, That Golden Time, with a video for the title track. The follow-up to 2021’s Fever Dreams is scheduled to arrive on May 10 via Domino. Below, check out the Rok Predin-directed video for ‘That Golden Time’ along with the album’s cover art and tracklist.

“I wanted the warmth of the record reflected in its title,” Conor O’Brien explained in a statement. “The song also touches on a theme that keeps cropping up, of romanticism versus realism. How can you have aspirational ideas about yourself and the world around you, whilst being confronted with a harsh, cold reality? The friction interested me.”

“For me, That Golden Time has an internalised voice, so much so that I almost found it impossible to let anyone else in,” he added. “It’s probably the most vulnerable album I’ve made. I played and recorded everything in my apartment, and finally, towards the end, invited people in.” The record features contributions from Dónal Lunny on bouzouki, American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Peter Broderick on violin, and a group of musicians that O’Brien had first seen performing in a tribute to Ennio Morricone, adding soprano vocal, viola, and cello.

That Golden Time Cover Artwork:

That Golden Time Tracklist:

1. Truly Alone
2. First Responder
3. I Want What I Don’t Need
4. You Lucky One
5. That Golden Time
6. Keepsake
7. Brother Hen
8. No Drama
9. Behind That Curtain
10. Money On The Mind

Lime Garden Release New Song ‘Mother’

0

Lime Garden have dropped a new single, ‘Mother’, lifted from their upcoming debut album One More Thing. It follows previous entries ‘Nepotism (baby)’, ‘Love Song’, and ‘I Want to Be You’. Check it out below.

“This song is about the relationship with my mother evolving in tandem with my personal growth coming into adulthood,” the band’s Chloe Howard explained in a statement. “Coming to the understanding that my mother is just like me, someone trying their best to figure out life and not knowing 100% of the answers was a scary but beautiful realisation which bonded us. It’s cool how relationships shift and transform to match each phase of life. The song is the culmination of those feelings during adolescence and the realisation as an adult to appreciate our mothers.”

Produced by Ali Chant, One More Thing is due out February 16 on So Young Records.