Katie and Allison Crutchfield, MJ Lenderman, and Brad Cook appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night, delivering their first performance as Snocaps. Watch them rip through ‘Coast’, a highlight from their self-titled debut, below.
Snocaps’ touring schedule includes just a few North American shows next month. Yesterday, Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman announced a co-headlining tour taking place next spring.
When it comes to love, Hatchie knows that even the fleeting stage of infatuation encompasses more than just ecstasy. “Something lingers in the sea between/ Much more than this midwinter kiss,” she sings on ‘Sage’, a highlight on her new album Liquorice, which triangulates the dizziness, desperation, and disillusionment of young romance like it’s something you can bite into, savouring every layer. Following the introspective and experimental sensibilities of 2022’s still-infectious Giving the World Away, which saw her working with producers Jorge Elbrecht (Caroline Polachek, Japanese Breakfast, Sky Ferreira) and Dan Nigro (Olivia Rodrigo, Chappell Roan), Harriette Pilbeam embraced the melodic foundations of her earliest material, favouring simplicity and spontaneity over genre-hopping and, as she puts it on ‘Lose It Again’, “convoluted poetry.” Recorded at Jay Som’s home studio in Los Angeles, Liquorice brims with nostalgic influences, but Pilbeam’s maturing perspective – she’s 32 and married to her longtime collaborator Joe Agius – makes it feel worlds away from the project’s beginnings almost a decade ago. “I’m still stuck with these pathetic dreams,” she sings on the closer, a sentiment that could suck the life out of anyone. For Hatchie, it’s all colour.
We caught up with Hatchie to talk about The Carpenters’ A Song for You, intimacy, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and other inspirations behind her new album Liquorice.
I was thinking about this one a lot, in particular in regards to the album cover. I love the warmth and the simplicity of it, and those were two key words when I was trying to plan my album cover as well. I just wanted it to be something really simple that looked classic and showed a lot of romance and joy. But I also love the Carpenters in general. I realized I was actually listening to this album a little bit when I was first starting to write my album. I find their music so comforting, and it really reminds me of growing up, with my mum singing, because my mum sings in that same kind of style. It just reminds me of being at home or being at my grandparents’ house, because that’s the kind of music they would listen to as well. I love Karen Carpenter’s voice – I don’t think she’s an alto, I think I looked it up one time and she’s a contralto, but I’m an alto, and I find singing her music really satisfying. I love the range that her voice sits in. It’s just a really comforting album to me, and I feel like it reflects a lot of the same feelings that I was trying to incorporate into my album as well.
Do you have any specific memories that come to mind of listening to that kind of music growing up?
For me, it’s not necessarily the album playing, it’s more my mum singing it or my grandparents listening to similar music. When I got a car off my grandpa years and years ago, it had some CDs in it, and they all kind of sounded like this. Adult contemporary, easy listening vibe, with real orchestral background music. The smoothness and the familiarity and the simplicity of the music really reminds me of them in that time, and I think that’s why it also feels relevant to this album, because I was just trying to write really classic love songs. I wasn’t trying to overcomplicate anything, I just wanted songs that felt really good to sing. In the sadder songs, you could feel that weight in the way that I sang them.
Hatchie is your outlet, but at various stages of the process, you operate as a duo with your partner, Joe Agius. Are you inspired by other duos when it comes to working together and creating boundaries between your personal and creative life? Or is that something you’ve mostly figured out between yourselves?
I think it’s something that just comes naturally to us. I can’t think of any particular duos off the top of my head that I have looked to specifically for inspiration. I think for us, we’re just so close, and we always have been for the entirety of this project. Joe was a big part of the reason why I felt confident enough to chase the dream of starting my own project. I’d always played in other people’s bands, and he really helped me find my feet on my own. We also have so much in common when it comes to our taste in music, and also how we like to create music. But I do love a good duo.
It’s so hard to even explain how we work together, and I don’t know that there’s anyone else who does it in the same way as us, because there’s so much overlap between our romantic relationship and our working relationship that sometimes, honestly, it can get a bit hard. But we’ve just always figured that it’s worth it, and we’re at a place now where we can separate our romantic relationship with our working relationship. But there was a period where they were the exact same thing. I think now we’re a bit older, we’re in our 30s, and we’ve both got other things going on. We’ve both got other day jobs as well, and that helps. I don’t know anyone else with a relationship like ours, and that’s scary, but also exciting.
Richard Linklater’s Before Trilogy seems like a direct inspiration for ‘Part That Bleeds’, and I’m curious if The Umbrellas of Cherbourg fed into the record in a similar way.
The Before series definitely inspired that song. But in terms of Umbrellas of Cherbourg, this is another one that was just as much of a visual and emotional influence as it was a narrative and sonic influence. I discovered this movie when I was a kid. I think me and my sister watched it, because my dad had a lot of DVDs growing up, and he had this DVD. We just randomly put it on one day based on the cover of it, and it was amazing. I think we bawled our eyes out. I’ve watched it on my birthday a few times, because it feels really nostalgic to me, and I think it’s one of the best movies ever made, I think. I love the technicolor. I love that every single shot is exquisitely beautiful and feels like it could be a poster. I love that there’s not a single spoken word, as far as I can remember. I haven’t watched it in a while, but I think it’s entirely sung.
It was the first example that I saw growing up of a tragic romance where – and this is a spoiler, so I don’t want to ruin it for anyone – the couple doesn’t end up together in the end. And that just tore me apart when we first watched it. It was mind-blowing to me that they did that. I’d never seen any really sad movies, because I was so young. The emotional effect that it had on me was a big inspiration. Music and film can both have such a massive effect on you, and that was something that I wanted to recreate.
Intimacy is a big theme that runs across the album, but there’s a trio of songs, from the title track to ‘Sage’ that really seem to home in on the dynamics of intimacy at that point on the record. Were they tied together in your mind as you were making them, or was it a matter of sequencing?
That was kind of a coincidence, those songs falling together in the album with the track listing. When I was working on the sequencing, I was focusing more on the sonic journey rather than the lyrical narrative journey. But when I look back on this record as a whole, I think that almost every song is about exploring the concept of intimacy and connection with yourself, your friends, or your romantic or sexual partner. Those songs in particular, I really wanted to illustrate the desperation of falling in love – and of lust as well, because not all of these songs are about actual love. They’re about thinking that you’re in love, or about just kissing someone or touching someone for the first time, and that desperate feeling that you get when you feel like you need to see them or touch them again, and you feel like you’ll die if you don’t continue with them.
As a whole, this record explores a few different themes of intimacy, and that’s something that I was really focusing on in my personal life as well. I was working on my relationship with myself in particular, trying to become closer with myself and understand myself more, and I think that goes hand-in-hand with being able to have a closer relationship with the people around you. I think that’s reflected in a lot of the media that I was consuming as well.
How did the idea of cherishing the bittersweet become key to the record and that understanding of yourself?
I think it was just accepting that it will always be a part of life. Actually, there’s this book that I almost included, which is Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole by Susan Caine. It’s all about the bittersweet elements of life, and how so many people fear sadness or melancholy, but actually, I think that if you welcome that into your life, you’ll find that you can live a more whole life. I read that book before I started this album, and then I read it again while I was working on the album. It’s been a real integral part to me understanding myself a little more and accepting the darkness as well as the light.
Not so much these days, but especially back then, I had a tendency to be quite a negative person, and quite a sentimental, nostalgic person to my own detriment. It was really important for me to move forward and accept that those parts of me that can maybe be perceived by other people as negative, are actually just as important as the parts of me that are really positive and happy. I think it’s really healthy to embrace that, and it really helped me get through the last few years. It really gave me inspiration for this album to put a lot of thoughts that I had been dwelling on in these songs, so I could kind of move on from them.
The song ‘Anchor’ I feel like leans into the darker, heavier sentiments more than any song on the record, especially musically.
That song is definitely the heaviest song on the album, which felt important to me to include. I wrote it when I was really low, so the lyrics came to me quite easily. I don’t really remember what it was that was making me feel so bad; I think there were a few things that I was ruminating on. But it’s kind of integral to the album, and I like that it’s towards the middle of the album, so it shows you the rollercoaster that heartbreak and romance can take you on.
Do you feel like, at least in the past, you’d be tempted to discard songs that come from that place?
For me, there’s not really a temptation to not keep songs like that. I think those songs are the ones that come more naturally to me, as someone that tends to focus on those elements of love and life more so than the joyful, positive elements. I’m better at that now, but at that point in time, I was very much stuck in that spiral of negativity. That song wrote itself, whereas if I were to try and write a really happy song, I think I would find that a lot more difficult. I have so many more songs in my discography that are about the downsides, the darker sides of love and everything that comes along with it. That’s something that I’ve really worked on over the last few years, so it’s not as much of an issue for me now. Looking at the tracklist now, even ‘Sage’, which is talking about somebody being in love with you, is still quite sad and negative, focusing on the bittersweet elements of it. I think that’s why I love the song ‘Liquorice’, because it’s probably my best example of singing about the good sides of falling in love with someone. And even then, it’s quite a dark song.
It’s a movie that I’ve seen a bunch of times since I was quite young, but I watched it again at some point in this process. I’ve always been fascinated by that concept of the butterfly effect, the idea that one tiny moment in your life can completely change the trajectory, and I was thinking about that a lot in terms of both my romantic life, but also my career and my personal life. It really scares me that something so small – for example, in that movie, her missing a train and falling down some stairs completely changes the trajectory of her life. I thought that was a really interesting focus point, and it helped inspire a few of the concepts on those songs when I was feeling like I didn’t have that much to write about.
From the outside, my life is quite boring in a good way – it’s really stable, and I’ve been with my partner for over 10 years, and I have a good life in general. But I guess I’m somebody who tends to, like I said earlier, focus on a lot of the negative aspects and get quite down a lot of the time, particularly when I was writing this album. So, for me, even if good things are happening, I still have a tendency to think about all the what-ifs in my life, all the other good things that could have happened that didn’t.
I’m curious if watching a film like that can kind of create a lens through which you see your life for a little while, if it can have a tangible effect on how you filter and write about it after the credits roll.
Yeah, totally. I think some movies really stay with you for a few days. This movie is a bit of a silly movie; at the end of the day, it is just a ‘90s Gwyneth Paltrow rom-com. But the concept is true, it’s realistic. It just made me kind of second-guess everything that’s ever happened to me and wonder if certain things had happened just because other things had, and what was actually a domino effect. It’s not good to dwell on those things too much, because I guess what’s meant to be will be, and things will play out as they’re meant to play out. Where you are is where you’re meant to be, I guess. When I was quite displaced in between album 2 and album 3, I think that was a good reminder that I’d end up where I needed to be regardless of what happened.
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Or as I saw you call it, “good girl vape.”
[laughs] I have it here. It was my mom’s when I was a kid. I was always fascinated by it when I was a kid, and we used to always play it. There’s not a lot to say about it, other than I just included it in some of the songs. I played it in ‘Wonder’, and I think maybe in a little bit of the background of ‘Liquorice’; I think it’s mixed very deep into the back in the outro. I wanted to put woodwinds on this album, I wanted to have some sax and some clarinet, but I wasn’t able to, so I put a bit of this in. It was a nice tie to Sixpence None the Richer’s ‘Kiss Me’ because that has a similar sound in it.
Speaking of the mixing, I did want to ask about working with Alex Farrar; he’s had a hand in so many great albums this year, but Liquorice feels like a bit of a sonic outlier in terms of its overall sweetness.
I actually don’t know much about Alex; we haven’t spoken or met. I’m quite trusting of whoever the producer usually wants to work with for mixing; in the past, we’ve worked with producers who are also mixers, and this is the first time we went through it in this way. But I’m stoked with how it went, and I can’t imagine anyone else mixing it now.
I had it in mind because he also produced the new Keaton Henson album that’s coming out this week.
Oh, cool. He’s had a very busy year.
You mostly wrote the record in Brisbane and Melbourne, and you recorded it in LA. What aspects of your time in New York do you feel like seeped into the songs?
When I started the album, we were spending some time in America. We had been living on and off in LA, and we had decided to come back to Australia, but we spent a bit of time in New York before we did that, to kind of say goodbye. We have a few friends living over there; two of our friends, Jeremy and Katie, who are married, have a place in upstate New York, and we were staying there. We were staying at their place on the 4th of July, and that was when I wrote the first track on the album, ‘Anemoia’. We were just having a really nice time, so I feel really nostalgic for that area. When I wrote that first track on the album, we were all working in different rooms of the house. Joe and Jeremy were working on music in one room, Katie was working in another room, and I was working in a third room. I started playing around with that song, but I went for a drive first in their car, and I heard the song ‘I’m Not In Love’ by 10cc on the radio. That really inspired me to work on the song ‘Anemoia’, and I took a lot from the production and instrumentation of that track, in terms of the synths.
We also wrote ‘Lose It Again’ in New York, with Jeremy [McLennan], so I feel a lot of nostalgia for that time and place. New York in the fall is my favorite season that I’ve experienced anywhere, because I think it’s just so beautiful, and it really was a big visual inspiration for the colours and themes of this album. The pumpkins on people’s stoops, all the different tones of orange and red and yellow leaves on the trees. I really wanted this to be an autumn album and to feel like that. That was why it was also really important for the album to come out around this time of year as well. I know it’s coming into winter in America now, but it still feels like it’s kind of carrying across.
What was it like going back to LA to record the album with Melina Duterte?
It’s always interesting going back to LA, because we’ve been there so many times, and I’ve had such different experiences there. I think going back, it feels more like we’re just visiting friends, going back there to work. The first few times we went were such fun, incredible moments of discovery, and I guess high vibrational experiences, where we felt like it was a really special place. The first few times we went there were really a whirlwind. But every time we’ve gone back, we’ve made more and more friends, and it’s felt more like a familiar and casual place for us to visit. After spending so much time there and trying to live there, we ended up deciding that it didn’t really feel like home to us. I guess I romanticize it less than I used to. I think I romanticize New York more now than LA, but who knows what my answer will be in another two years.
This must have come out around the same time you released Giving the World Away. Did you watch it around then?
Yeah. We were in London, touring Giving the World Away, and I was honestly really depressed when I was touring this album. I was probably at one of the lowest points that I’ve been at, for a number of reasons, and I was really struggling mentally and emotionally. One of my favorite things to do is take myself to the movies; going to the movies alone is a really special, intimate thing that I do with myself. So I did that, and it really helped me feel better and get some clarity, to get away from everything.
I was really inspired by this documentary — I was going through a big Cleaners from Venus phase, for whatever reason. I’d heard their music before in passing, but I was really going deep on it around this time. Coincidentally, I think Joe told me that that documentary was playing and encouraged me to go see it to kind of get out of my own head. So I did, and it was really funny and really inspiring. I really loved learning about what an outsider he was, and how he approached everything in such a different way from how I approached music. Everything he did was just so simple – he worked with a four-track tape recorder, and that kind of blew my mind. Listening back to the songs, you really can hear that there’s only a couple of layers on them, but I never really thought about that before I saw it. It inspired me to go for a much more DIY, simplistic approach to my album and abandon all the bells and whistles that I had become obsessed with on the second album. To really reconsider what it was that I loved about making music, how I wanted my music to feel.
I really started to experiment with keeping songs as simple as possible while still having as much of an emotional effect on the listener as possible. I feel really proud of myself for that, because I do feel like I made a lot of strides, and I was able to reconfigure how I made music. I feel like I achieved what I set out to do in terms of simplicity.
What were the challenges of sticking to that approach, given that it came so early in the process?
Stopping myself from overworking songs was a really important thing for me on this one. The last album we made was during lockdown, so we had all the time in the world to work on it. I think that was really great, and I don’t regret that, but with this one, I really tried to live my normal life while I was making this album and not put my entire life on hold. I think that helped not to overwork the songs. It meant that, if I had an idea, I would only work on it if I really loved the idea and I really wanted to work on it, rather than kind of forcing myself to spend a whole week on it, like I did last time. It was challenging, when I was excited about certain songs, to not do 10 different versions of them and keep adding more and more layers, because I definitely have a tendency to do that. But letting the songs breathe was the main thing for me. If I was working on a song, and I was tempted to add more, I kind of forced myself to just leave it and be like, “How about I’ll come back to it in a week? And if I still feel the same way about this idea that I want to do, then I’ll do it.”
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
Hatchie’s Liquorice is out now via Secretly Canadian.
There’s something funny about fashion — it never really dies. It just goes on a long vacation, comes back twenty years later wearing the same thing, and somehow gets called “vintage.” From flared jeans to claw clips, we’re living through a never-ending déjà vu. But why are today’s youth so obsessed with resurrecting the wardrobes of their parents (and sometimes grandparents)?
Welcome to archive fever, a full-blown pandemic of nostalgia stitched into denim seams and polyester prints.
Let’s start with a confession: your dad’s leather jacket from 1983? It’s suddenly worth more cultural capital than your entire Zara cart.
Fashion in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s wasn’t just about aesthetics — it was identity. The ’70s swung with rebellion: disco shimmered while punk spat at the system. The ’80s screamed power dressing, sequins, and shoulder pads the size of small aircraft wings. The ’90s? Minimalism met grunge. It was the era of contradictions — slip dresses vs. ripped jeans, Chanel vs. Cobain.
Each decade had its soundtrack and its mood, and what we’re witnessing today is more than just a return to styles. It’s a craving for authenticity — something that the fast-fashion conveyor belt rarely delivers.
The new generation didn’t invent reinvention — but they’ve perfected it.
Scroll through TikTok for 30 seconds and you’ll see a teen explaining the difference between Y2K, old money aesthetic, and blokecore like a PhD thesis on irony. Thrift stores have become museums, Depop is the new Sotheby’s, and archive Instagram accounts curate fashion history like digital temples.
For Gen Z, fashion nostalgia is rebellion against algorithmic sameness. They’re remixing eras — pairing a 1992 bomber jacket with 2025 tech-wear sneakers. It’s not cosplay; it’s commentary. When someone wears a pair of high-waisted Levi’s or a slinky halter top from the ’90s, they’re not just dressing — they’re storytelling.
Fashion is like a slot machine of fashion – used up, like a break line, and new again. The designers have always been borrowing in the past, however, this time the cycle has become extremely short. What would have taken 30 years to come back now, requires five Tik Tok trends and a viral post.
What’s driving this? The nostalgia is selling well, particularly in uncertain days. The past is like a secure outfit in a time when the world seems to be unpredictable. The future is unknown to us, but we have our idea of the ideal feel of a vintage jean jacket.
Gaming like fashion has its golden ages and resurgences. Platforms such as Slotsgem
are reviving that same retro appeal the euphoria of vintage designs redesigned on contemporary screens. It is either spinning the vintage reels like old times or it is an attempt to revisit the old charm with a new twist with the latest digital jackpots.
With slotsgem live, the experience feels like stepping into a neon-lit arcade from the ’80s — only this time, you’re doing it from your phone, in a vintage windbreaker, with lo-fi beats in the background.
The resurgence of retro isn’t just about nostalgia; it’s also data-driven. Algorithms now dictate what’s cool — and they love what already performed well. Vintage silhouettes generate clicks, likes, and comments. Every time a TikToker unboxes a “mom-core” outfit, the system learns that the past sells.
But beyond the algorithm, there’s emotion. The ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s each offered something Gen Z is hungry for — realness. The grainy texture of analog photography, the imperfection of handmade clothes, the visible seams of rebellion. In a world filtered through pixels and AI, old-school fashion is refreshingly human.
Here’s the thing about vintage — if you wear it right, it doesn’t wear you.
Pair a ’70s crochet vest with modern high-waisted trousers. Add one bold modern piece to keep the outfit grounded in today.
Don’t buy a “vintage-inspired” polyester copy — thrift the real deal. True archive dressing is slow fashion disguised as rebellion.
The fun part of retro fashion is the wink. A chunky 1989 gold chain on a minimalist outfit? That’s not a mistake; that’s personality.
When someone compliments your jacket, drop the backstory. “Oh, this? It’s a 1996 thrift find from a garage sale in Marseille.” Instant cultural credibility.
The irony of archive fever is that it’s making us more creative. By digging into the past, we’re learning to express individuality in an age of mass production. Fashion becomes a conversation across generations — your outfit could be your mom’s nostalgia, your dad’s cringe, and your own statement all at once.
So don’t roll your eyes when someone says “that’s so ’90s.” Thank them. Because the truth is, we’ve all got a little vintage in us — some disco defiance, some ’80s drama, some grunge apathy — all remixing into something uniquely 2025.
And who knows? In thirty years, today’s “vintage” might just be the neon-colored, algorithm-approved hoodie you’re wearing right now. Fashion never dies — it just keeps playing dress-up with time.
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, November 18, 2025.
David Byrne has released a new song called ‘T Shirt’, which finds him reuniting with longtime collaborator Brian Eno. Like a lot of the material on Byrne’s latest LP Who Is the Sky?, the song is cheeky yet earnest, and he’s been playing it on his tour supporting the record over a montage of slogan T-shirts that say things like, “Well-behaved women rarely make history.”
North Carolina-based singer-songwriter Anjimile is back with a new single, ‘Auld Lang Syne II’. The lovely, delicate tune was produced by Brad Cook, and it “was originally intended as something of a wedding present for my best friend, who got married a few years back,” according to Anjimile. “During the writing process, though, it transformed into something of a musing on the bittersweet nature of the passage of time – not just for my friend and her husband, but for me and my family and my close relationships.”
Gladie have signed to Get Better Records, marking the announcement with the catchy, Jeff Rosenstock-produced ‘Car Alarm’. “When I was writing ‘Car Alarm’ I was thinking about all of the continued horrific things happening in the world, while still having to participate in daily life,” Augusta Koch explained. “The song is about reckoning with the feelings that come up living in a reality and world that was envisioned without humanity at its core.”
Eric Bachmann has announced his first Crooked Fingers album in nearly 15 years, Swet Deth. It features guest appearances from Sharon Van Etten and the National’s Matt Berninger, as well as Superchunk’s Mac McCaughan on the breezy new single ‘Cold Waves’. “I dreamed of a beautiful, colossal, six-winged inamorata rising off the horizon above the ashes of the dying earth; arctic lasers pulsating from her eyes and fire streaming from her fingertips, freezing then melting then freezing everything again in an instant; lighting up the night with death and apocalypse, destroying everything in her path,” Bachmann said in a statement about the track. “When I woke I realized I had fallen deeply in love with her, but was worried that it was actually a trap, which – in hindsight – it clearly was.”
Haley Heynderickx and Max García Conover are releasing their second collaborative album What of Our Nature on Friday, and today they’ve shared two more songs from it, ‘to each their dot’ and ‘This Morning I Am Born Again’. The latter in particular, written by García Conover, might be one of the most beautiful acoustic duets I’ve heard all year, pushing through the understanding that “there is only emptiness against us.”
Chicago’s Footballhead have announced a new album, Weight of the Truth, arriving March 20, 2026 via Tiny Engines. It’s led by ‘Used to Be’, a nostalgic ripper that comes with a music video directed by Tom Conway and Chris Owsiany. “The riff in “Used To Be” is one of my favorites on the record,” Nolen shared. “It undeniably calls back to the 2000s alt-rock & butt rock bangers that you’d hear as a kid in the back of your mom’s SUV on the way to Dairy Queen. Maybe you have your hair spiked and a studded wristband that your older sister gave you. It’s the summer, and you’re gonna play NFL Street 2 and drink Code Red with your best friend all night. That’s the energy we all grew up on and consequently the energy we wanted to capture.”
“This song is where Ryan, Snow, and I had a ‘eureka’ moment together in the studio while writing,” drummer Andrew Smith added. “The progression of this song was 100% collaborative and sharing that moment, where we were all bouncing ideas off of each other, each better than the last, is one I will remember forever. To me, this song is the perfect culmination of what makes our sound.”
Kneecap have dropped a new single, ‘No Comment’, which features acclaimed DJ and producer Sub Focus. “No comment is all about getting harassed by the British State,” the trio commented. “Simple as. Us Irish are well used to it, been happening for centuries. Was a pleasure to work with Sub Focus on this, the man is a legend.”
Juliana Hatfield has released ‘Fall Apart’, the third single from her forthcoming album Lightning Might Strikes. It’s driving and playfully optimistic. “I do make a point to say I fall apart now and then. It’s not that I have fallen apart and you can never put me back together,” she said in a press release. “I’m just talking about things that are real. Yes, I fall apart sometimes, but I get back on the horse. This is life.”
Beverly Glenn-Copeland has shared the stirring title track from his upcoming album Laughter in Summer, a duet with his partner, Elizabeth Copeland. About writing the song together, almost accidentally, Elizabeth recalled: “It was a very painful time, because I was so aware of just how much of my sweetheart I was losing.”
Joshua Idehen’s euphoric new single, ‘Don’t Let It Get You Down’, was made as a result of the writer/poet asking his creative partner, Ludvig Parment, to “make more house.” Well, shouting, according to a press release. ” The two things I constantly ask Ludvig for is ‘more reverb on my voice’ and ‘make more house,'” Idehen recalled. “I remember he said this with the words ‘IS THIS HOUSE ENOUGH FOR YOU?!’ The beat was titled House 4 Joshua. I’d argue it was worth it.” It’s taken from his forthcoming debut album, I Know You’re Hurting, Everyone Is Hurting, Everyone Is Trying, You Have Got To Try, which is due March 6.
Brighton-based four-piece congratulations have shared ‘Fought 4 Love’, a catchy dance-punk tune that comes paired with an equally entertaining video. “There are so many songs out there about love; falling in love, being in love, but what about falling out of love?” the band remarked. “No, not a breakup song, there are plenty of those, this is an anti-love song, realising that sometimes letting go of love is the best thing for you, that we all grow up and apart and that’s actually fine – embrace this, celebrate it, move onto the next stage of your life, and enjoy your own company and have a great time.”
Horizon: MersEsports 2025, held at the Exhibition Centre Liverpool on July 12th and 13th, marked a milestone as the first event of its kind in the United Kingdom dedicated entirely to esports and gaming.
According to the organisers, Horizon: MersEsports 2025 featured “intense esports competition”. The event spotlighted the UK’s top grassroots talent in a premier first-person shooter tournament, alongside an electrifying Rocket League showdown that drew crowds both onsite and online. Top esports organisations were present to scout players, with prizes and professional opportunities up for grabs.
Attendees — from esports fans and families to casual gamers — also enjoyed participating businesses, PC hardware demos, interactive challenges, and hands-on gaming experiences.
Capitalising on the market gap
The event filled a growing void for large-scale esports and gaming festivals outside London, following the decline of long-running UK gaming events in recent years.
Horizon: MersEsports successfully demonstrated that there’s an appetite for regional esports gatherings, blending gaming culture, interactive activities, and competitive gaming — much like the immersive experiences you find when you explore Ontario’s best casino sites, where digital entertainment meets real-world engagement.
Welcoming hardcore esports fans, grassroots players, and casuals
The event stood out as a grassroots tournament, featuring online qualifiers that culminated in a Liverpool final. With pre-set gaming setups, no equipment was required from participants. Beyond the main theatre competitions, attendees could explore additional interactive and gaming-focused activities.
The organisers have expressed intentions to expand Horizon to other UK regions, helping grow the national esports ecosystem. They are also in discussions with esports teams to identify new talent and potentially offer boot camps and “meet-the-pros” experiences for winners.
What Attendees Experienced
Regional Esports Throughout the UK
Horizon: MersEsports served as a pioneering step toward establishing regional esports events across the UK. Building on the success of last year’s Eisteddfod esports competition in Wales, Horizon demonstrated the potential for grassroots events outside of traditional hubs.
The North West’s vibrant gaming community — particularly in Liverpool and Merseyside — finally saw its first major esports event. With ambitions to expand nationwide, Horizon aims to become a fixture in the UK esports calendar.
For too long, esports tournaments in the UK were centred around Birmingham and London. Bringing that experience to Liverpool’s gaming community — including players, fans, and families — marked the start of what Horizon hopes will become a nationwide movement.
Beyond the Exhibition Centre
The competition was streamed live on Streams+, allowing fans from around the world to experience the action. By offering an online broadcast, MersEsports ensured that Horizon wasn’t just a local gathering but a global showcase for UK esports talent.
Who Was Horizon: MersEsports For?
Horizon: MersEsports welcomed fans, players, brands, colleges, and creators passionate about games and esports. The MersEsports network also included major teams, IT companies, local organisations, and educational institutions.
Attendance and Audience
Across the weekend, between 5,000 and 10,000 people attended in person or tuned in via Twitch and Streams+. The audience mix — esports enthusiasts, families, students, and grassroots gamers — made it an ideal platform for community engagement, recruitment, and brand activation.
Online gambling has become more than just a niche hobby—it’s a global cultural phenomenon. From Las Vegas to London, from Netflix documentaries about poker stars to Twitch streamers showcasing their latest slot spins, the fascination with casinos is deeply rooted in our modern digital culture. But let’s be honest: the real thrill for many players lies not just in the games themselves, but in the bonuses. And when it comes to bonuses, few words are as exciting as cashable no deposit codes.
Why? Because they promise something for nothing—a chance to play (and possibly win real money) without risking your own. But here’s the catch: not all no deposit codes are created equal, and finding the ones that are truly cashable can feel like navigating a maze.
In this article, I’ll show you how to find cashable no deposit codes that actually work, what pitfalls to avoid, and why these offers are both a blessing and a bit of a gamble in themselves. So, grab your digital magnifying glass, because we’re about to decode the bonus code universe.
No deposit bonuses didn’t appear overnight. They started as part of the early 2000s online casino boom, when platforms needed creative ways to attract skeptical players who weren’t used to betting online. Back then, credit cards weren’t always accepted for online gambling, and PayPal had even banned gambling transactions for a while.
So casinos had to innovate. The idea of giving free spins or a small amount of bonus cash in exchange for signing up became the industry’s “freemium model” long before apps like Candy Crush or Fortnite made it mainstream. The cultural shift was clear: consumers love free trials, whether it’s a free month on Netflix, a Spotify Premium trial, or a no deposit code at your favorite casino.
But unlike Netflix, which just asks for your email, casinos attach conditions. And this is where the fine print—the wagering requirements, maximum cashouts, and restrictions—makes all the difference between a code that’s just fun to play with and one that’s genuinely cashable.
Before diving into where to find these codes, it’s essential to understand how they work. A no deposit bonus can be structured in multiple ways:
| Type of Bonus | What You Get | Common Restrictions | Cashability Potential |
| Free Spins | Fixed spins on selected slots | Wagering requirements on winnings | Medium |
| Free Chip / Bonus Cash | Small balance ($5–$25) | Max cashout limits, playthrough rules | High (if low WR) |
| Free Play (time-limited) | E.g., $1,000 for 1 hour | Must wager a lot in short time | Low |
| Hybrid Offers | Free spins + bonus cash | Conditions apply to both | Depends |
The key takeaway: not every no deposit code is truly cashable, even if it looks tempting at first glance.
If you want to make sure your time and effort pay off, you’ll need to know how to use a bonus code for risk-free bonuses effectively. Understanding this helps you separate flashy marketing gimmicks from genuinely rewarding offers.
You’re probably wondering: where do you even look for these elusive codes? Luckily, the digital casino community has developed a whole ecosystem around them.
Here are the most reliable sources:
Pro tip: if a website promises every code works, be skeptical. Codes expire quickly, and many are geo-restricted.
It’s easy to see these bonuses as a win-win—you get free money, right? But here’s where a more critical perspective is necessary.
Think of it like a Black Friday sale: sure, you might score a great deal, but you’ll also have to fight through misleading signs and fine print.
If you think about it, no deposit codes aren’t just about gambling—they’re part of a broader trend in modern consumer culture.
All of these examples highlight the same principle: give people a taste, and many will stick around for the full experience. Casinos simply apply this principle with real money on the line.
Finding codes is one thing—making them work for you is another. Here are some strategies to tilt the odds in your favor:
With stricter regulations in markets like the UK and Germany, many casinos are dialing back overly generous no deposit offers. Instead, we’re seeing hybrid deals—a small no deposit bonus combined with a deposit match.
There’s also speculation that blockchain casinos might change the game. With provably fair mechanics and instant crypto payouts, these platforms could re-invent no deposit bonuses to be more transparent and fair. Imagine receiving a code tied to a smart contract, guaranteeing you a cashable payout once conditions are met—no middleman required.
It’s not science fiction—it’s where the industry might be heading.
So, should you chase cashable no deposit codes? The answer depends on your mindset. If you treat them as a fun way to explore casinos with the slim chance of pocketing real cash, they’re fantastic. If you expect them to be a steady source of income, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.
The trick lies in balance: know the rules, manage your expectations, and never chase losses. After all, the value of no deposit codes is less about guaranteed cash and more about the experience they provide.
So, the next time you see a code pop up in your inbox or on a casino blog, ask yourself: is this just another gimmick, or could this be the one that pays out? The thrill, after all, lies in not knowing—until you try.
Crooked Fingers have announced their first album in nearly 15 years. Swet Deth, the follow-up to 2011’s Breaks in the Armor, is set for release on February 27 via Merge. Today’s announcement comes with the release of the anthemic new single ‘Cold Waves’, which features label head Mac McCaughan (of Superchunk). Check it out below.
Reflecting on ‘Cold Waves’, Eric Bachmann said in a statement: “I dreamed of a beautiful, colossal, six-winged inamorata rising off the horizon above the ashes of the dying earth; arctic lasers pulsating from her eyes and fire streaming from her fingertips, freezing then melting then freezing everything again in an instant; lighting up the night with death and apocalypse, destroying everything in her path. When I woke I realized I had fallen deeply in love with her, but was worried that it was actually a trap, which – in hindsight – it clearly was.”
In addition to McCaughan, Swet Deth features guest contributions from Sharon Van Etten and the National’s Matt Berninger. Bachmann worked with Jeremy Wheatley on drums and percussion and Jon Rauhouse on pedal steel, while his wife, Liz Durrett, contributes vocals on ‘Hospital’. The album’s cover is one of several drawings Bachmann’s son discovered one afternoon after returning from school.
“There were crows and sinister figures with scythes and tombstones, and in the center, there was a strange, lush green tree growing out of all of this red and black,” Bachmann explained. “On one of them, he had written ‘DETH, SWET DETH,’ and everything clicked in my head.”
About opening up the songs to outside collaborators, Bachmann commented: “I’m introverted, I’m shy, and I don’t want to waste anybody’s time, so it wasn’t the easiest thing to do. I had to follow the sound – the way a bassline drove through a song or the way a lyric would sound in another voice – and break through some of my own barriers to make it happen.”
Swet Deth Cover Artwork:
Swet Deth Tracklist:
1. Cold Waves
2. From All Ways
3. Spray Tan Speed Queen (In a German Car)
4. Insomnia
5. Empty Love and Cheap Thrills
6. Haunted
7. Hospital
8. (I’m Your) Bodhisattva
9. Lena
10. Steady Now
Betting fans often search for ways to sharpen their prediction skills between wagers. Casual games offer a perfect training ground without any financial risk. These games build the same mental muscles you use when analyzing odds or tracking patterns.
Gaming and betting share more similarities than most people think. Both require pattern recognition, risk assessment, and quick decisions. Players who enjoy analyzing probabilities in their bets often excel at certain casual games. Accessing quality betting tips can improve your wagering strategy. Gaming also refines your analytical thinking in ways that help with betting.
People who bet regularly develop specific thinking skills over time. They spot value, calculate odds, and manage their money wisely. Strategy games use these same mental processes in a safer environment.
Card games make you track information and adjust based on what you see. Sports simulations require outcome predictions based on stats and form. Even simple arcade games teach timing and when to take risks. Each gaming session strengthens the same brain pathways you use when placing smart bets.
These games let you test different approaches without risking real money. You can try aggressive tactics or play it safe. This practice sharpens your skills for when actual cash is on the line.
Video poker and casual poker variants teach probability better than most game types. Every hand gives you multiple choices where you weigh value against risk.
Free poker games help you practice reading hands and understanding position. You learn to calculate pot odds without thinking about it. These skills transfer directly to sports betting and evaluating wagers. Studies show that probability games improve decision-making under pressure.
Texas Hold’em variants teach forward thinking and planning ahead. You consider opponent patterns and adjust your game plan accordingly. Betting enthusiasts use this same thinking when analyzing team matchups or player stats. The mental approach stays consistent across both activities.
Sports simulation games give betting fans a real advantage. These games use actual player statistics and historical data for outcomes. Playing them shows you how variance works and why unlikely results happen.
FIFA, NBA 2K, and similar titles let you control every match detail. You watch how small tactical changes affect final scores. This experience helps you spot mispriced lines in real betting markets.
Management games go deeper into stats and analysis. You build teams, track performance numbers, and predict results based on trends. These analytical steps apply when you research betting opportunities or check tipster records.
Blackjack works as one of the best probability teachers around. The game has a clear optimal strategy based purely on math. Learning this strategy trains your brain to make decisions using numbers instead of feelings.
Online blackjack lets you practice basic strategy until it becomes second nature. Regular play teaches you several valuable lessons:
These lessons move directly to sports betting scenarios. You learn to trust your research even during losing streaks. You understand that good decisions sometimes lose because of random chance. This mental strength separates winning bettors from casual players.
Classic arcade games teach risk assessment in real time. You constantly choose between aggressive play for higher scores or safe play to stay alive. This matches the choices betting enthusiasts make about stake sizes and exposure.
Games like Pac-Man balance reward chasing with survival instincts. You learn when to grab bonus points and when to retreat. Defense games force resource allocation across multiple needs. Racing games demand split-second calls about when to overtake or hold back.
Different genres build different thinking skills. Tower defense games teach smart resource use. Timing games improve your ability to spot the right moment to act. Strategy games show you how to get the best value across many scenarios. Research confirms that strategic gaming boosts analytical thinking and decision skills.
Many casual games now feature daily tournaments with ranking boards. These competitions add another element that betting fans recognize. You balance steady play with smart risks to climb the rankings.
Tournament formats teach you about expected value over many attempts. The structure mirrors betting scenarios where you need consistent performance. Here’s what competitive gaming offers:
A single lucky streak means less than sustained good performance. This view helps betting enthusiasts see why tracking long-term results beats celebrating individual wins. You also see how aggressive players sometimes win through luck. Patient players who grind out steady gains offer a different model. These observations inform both your gaming and betting approach.
Mental skills from casual gaming transfer smoothly to betting analysis. Pattern recognition gets sharper over time. Risk assessment becomes more natural and instinctive. You develop better habits around money management and emotional control.
Smart bettors know that their edge comes from preparation and analysis. Gaming offers a fun way to practice the thinking skills that betting demands. Whether you play poker variants, sports simulations, or arcade classics, each session sharpens your mind. The best casual games challenge you to think in terms of probability. They force decisions under uncertainty and time pressure.
These are exactly the abilities that separate winning bettors from everyone else. Gaming serves as your training ground where mistakes cost nothing. The patterns you learn and strategies you test all prepare you for real betting situations. Start with games that match your betting interests and watch your analytical skills grow.
Gladie are back with a new song, ‘Car Alarm’, their first release on the band’s new label home Get Better Records. Produced by Jeff Rosenstock, the track arrives ahead of their upcoming tour dates with Algernon Cadwallader and makes for a perfect introduction to their cathartic indie rock. Listen to it below.
“When I was writing ‘Car Alarm’ I was thinking about all of the continued horrific things happening in the world, while still having to participate in daily life,” Augusta Koch shared in a press release. “The song is about reckoning with the feelings that come up living in a reality and world that was envisioned without humanity at its core.”
Gladie’s most recent album, Don’t Know What You’re In Until You’re Out, came out in 2022. Check out our Artist Spotlight interview with Gladie.
Artist Bobby Zhaocheng Xiong creates interactive works inviting audiences into his well-imagined futures. In these deep installations, nature and humanity prosper centrally yet both appear confined within the structures of contemporary technology. Through his visual language and tone, he merges technical precision with poetic-like reflection, building hushed, meditative spaces that ask questions of how technology reshapes our sense of the natural and the human.
His practice evolves from a background in industrial design, fine art, and visual communication, allowing him to balance material control with conceptual depth. Beyond its practical function, Bobby approaches technology as a system of belief, connected to mysticism and numerology, which bring a mysterious atmosphere in his works. Each installation forms a small corner of a speculative world, where nature and our culture survive as a dystopian artificial memory. These truly fragile landscapes offer a glimpse of what our life might feel like when the technological, the organic and the spiritual have indeed merged.
Flower is the entry point to Bobby’s art world, gently guiding audiences into a corner of his imagined future where nature and technology coexist. Placed on a patch of artificial grass, a CRT monitor displays a single white daisy swaying on its screen. Visitors are invited to relax, sitting or lying down, to engage with this humming digital-esque bloom. When they blow softly toward the flower, as one might do in a park, the image responds and moves as if stirred by real wind.
Through this simple and poetic interaction, Flower turns a gesture into an encounter with a synthetic-like nature. The work bends the boundary between the organic and the artificial, between the living and the coded. It is both tender and unsettling, evoking a future where the natural world survives only as simulation.
Earlier this year, Flower was shown in Paradox and Poem- Objects at Purist Gallery, London, where the work was also briefly highlighted in our previous article.
One of Bobby’s most significant works, New Deity, expands his vision from ecological to human and spiritual dimensions. Taking inspiration from the digitalisation of religion, the work imagines another corner of the future, one where people pray not to our old gods, but to a newly born machine deity. As religious communities migrate online, the traditional image of divinity becomes unstable, and the sacred rituals that once grounded faith begin to dissolve. Congregations turn to technology as an omnipotent presence, while the blending of religious symbols across cyberspace creates a chaotic fusion of belief systems.
At the centre of the installation stands an altar made of exposed screen modules, each continuously generating hybrid divine figures through machine learning. These faces, merging the iconography of multiple world religions, pulse with uncanny vitality. The audiences are invited to kneel before the altar, activate their phone flash, and receive a personalised blessing text, a unique scripture generated by the machinery god. The act of taking a flash photograph, often deemed disrespectful in sacred spaces, becomes here a ritual of devotion to the new deity. And all the artificial candles around speak a spiritual absence.
Shifting from nature’s public spaces to a confined interior, Prophecy envisions a survival news studio that continues to operate long after the world outside has collapsed. An old typewriter and a CRT monitor are producing news, indifferent to whether the content is true or false. These two devices echo the forms through which the public most often meets AI: language and image. However, in this setting, they become instruments of distortion. The continuous production of “news” critiques the misinformation and artificial authority of generative AI, exposing how truth collapses when machines speak in the language of fact without meaning. The piece pictures a future collapsing under misinformation and false truths, where humanity survives on artificial intelligence that fails to understand our world.
Bobby’s exhibitions trace his ongoing attempt to construct a personal worldview of a possible future dystopia. From the V&A Museum to independent galleries across the UK, his works bring in art enthusiasts who line up to step into these surreal-like corners of the future. Distinguishing his practice is the transformation of each space into an immersive environment, inviting participation rather than bare observation. Every installation becomes a living eco-system where viewers engage with the work, experiencing how technology reshapes the art and contemporary technology. And even those unfamiliar with the deeper concepts, behind the pieces can still enter, play, and feel the subtle tension between humanity and the so-called machine, an indeed rare quality that makes Bobby’s vision both accessible and profound.
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