At the heart of Sofia Kourtesis’ debut album, and the most euphoric song on it, is ‘How Music Makes You Feel Better’. It makes no attempt to explain, but simply affirm the power of music to heal and uplift, and demonstrates the how: by taking you on a journey. In the past, Peruvian-born, Berlin-based artist has leaned away from dance music as a form of escape and towards evoking a sense of nostalgia for home, even as she stretched the definition of the word beyond the literal place where she grew up. She favours vulnerability over the perfect rigidity and intellectualism that marks the genre, and her work on Madres, richly textured and meticulously crafted as it is, is above all emotionally complex. Complex not just in its range of emotion – though there is certainly more of that than you would expect from a glistening and infectious set of dance tracks – but in the way it tends toward joy as something intimate, radical, curiously malleable, and teeming with history. In trying to contain it, Kourtesis’ songs remain autobiographical but venture further than she ever has before, sharpening her ear as a storyteller, curator, and sound collagist.
Dedicated to her mother as well as Peter Vajkoczy, the renowned neurosurgeon who performed life-changing surgery on her, Madres is undeniably personal. But it is also full of intrigue, even if you know the story behind it – that of a musician balancing her touring schedule with flying to Peru to care for her mother, trying to make sense of disparate parts of her life. The title track that opens the record softly introduces Kourtesis’ kaleidoscopic sound, anchoring in sparkling synths and her gentle falsetto before she fashions a fractured vocal sample into the blissful parade. Another track, named after Vajkoczy, takes almost half a minute to find a rhythm, then pulses warmly and beautifully for the rest of its runtime; though it bleeds directly into ‘How Music Makes You Feel Better’, it’s in no rush to get there. It’s this sense of care, coupled with Kourtesis’ ability to cherish emotion in mysterious yet indelible fragments, that makes her electronic music so unique.
It’s not always rapturous: one of the Madres‘ highlights is ‘Moving Houses’, which recontextualizes the whole record by zeroing in on a moment of loneliness and heartbreak. But in contemplating the end of a relationship a decade after it happened, Kourtesis’ approach is similarly focused. Where another producer might have framed it as a dark ambient interlude, Kourtesis fleshes it out and draws it into the same world. She contrasts the assuredness of ‘How Music Makes You Feel Better’ with genuine, desolate questioning: “How can, how can, how… express the feeling,” she intones. Words get twisted, jumbled, echoes of themselves, but the big ones ultimately cut through: alone again. Instead of ending the song there, she soaks in the feeling for almost another two minutes, until the line between beauty and pain, like memory, begins to dissolve.
After ‘Moving Houses’, the three final tracks on Madres remind you that it’s an album that mostly looks outward, guiding you through Kourtesis’ travels as much as they reflect her internal world. The artist left Peru at 17 after being expelled from school for kissing a girl and subsequently forced into conversion therapy, and part of Madres pays tribute to the community she found in Berlin, with ‘Funkhaus’ nodding to the venue where she built a local following. But it also honours her parents’ work as activists. After her father, a pro-bono lawyer to whom she dedicated the 2021 single ‘La Perla’, passed away, he made her promise to go out into the world and document what she saw, and Madres follows through: ‘Estación Esperanza’, which features her musical hero Manu Chao, opens with a sample of a Peruvian protest against homophobia; ‘Cecilia’ is audibly inspired by her mother’s work protecting the Indigenous tribes of South America; ‘El Carmen’ incorporates instruments like the cajón, played by the Ballumbrosio family who helped pioneer Afro-Peruvian percussion. The answer to how music makes us feel better, Madres naturally asserts, is in the movement. Kourtesis just makes it mean so much more.
Hotline TNT, the project led by Will Anderson, have dropped their second album and Third Man Records debut, Cartwheel. The follow-up to 2021’s Nineteen in Love was recorded with producers Ian Teeple and Aron Kobayashi Ritch and features the previously released tracks ‘Protocol’ and ‘Out of Town’. “I did work with some more collaborators in this one in the recording studio. Almost every note is played by me in both albums, all the drums are programmed by me, and the songs are pretty much written by me – when I get into the studio, they’re already done,” Anderson said in our Artist Spotlight interview. “But I did allow Ian, who is one of the producers – I pretty much asked him, ‘I want you to put your fingerprints on this.’ He definitely helped me and pushed me a little bit in ways that I hadn’t really allowed for before.”
Former Brockhampton leader Kevin Abstract has put out his new album, Blanket, after previewing it with the title track, ‘What Should I Do?’, ‘Running Out’, and ‘Madonna’. “I wanted to make, like, a Sunny Day Real Estate, Nirvana, Modest Mouse type of record. But I wanted it to hit like a rap album,” Abstract said of the follow-up to 2019’s Arizona Baby, which was produced by longtime collaborator Romil Hemnani, multi-instrumentalist Jonah Abraham, Tyler Johnson, Kid Harpoon, John Carroll Kirby, and Julian Ali. The LP’s closing song, ‘My Friends’, features contributions from Kara Jackson and MJ Lenderman.
Chicago artist Sen Morimoto has come out with his latest album, Diagnosis, via City Slang and his own Sooper Records. It follows his 2020 self-titled LP and was preceded by a series of singles, including ‘If the Answer Isn’t Love’ and the title track. “I’ve now released a couple of albums in a time when the most commercially exploitable asset an artist has is their social identity and their trauma,” Morimoto explained. “Over this time the discussion of this pattern has come up repeatedly with peers who felt similarly tired of being expected to share every private detail of an immigrant household or to romanticize the struggle of their working class upbringing only to find questions on the craft itself reserved for artists without those burdens. While the songs on my third album range in topic from love to radicalization to spirituality and the internal effects of life under capitalism, every song on Diagnosis is, at its core, an attempt to flip the lens around. To hold a magnifying glass over the systems we live in and empower us to investigate them with the same scrutiny.”
IAN SWEET has followed up 2021’s Show Me How You Disappear with a new album, SUCKER, via Polyvinyl. It was preceded by the singles ‘Emergency Contact’ and ‘Your Spit’. “Show Me How You Disappear was written during a really difficult period of my life after reckoning with a mental health crisis,” Jilian Medford commented in a statement. “I survived that very moment in my life through writing that record, and the extreme urgency to heal is reflected in the songwriting. With Sucker, I felt more capable to take my time and experiment without being totally afraid of the outcome. It wasn’t life or death — it was just life, and I was lucky to be living it.”
bar italia – the London-based trio of Nina Cristante, Jezmi Tarik Fehmi, and Sam Fenton – have released their second LP of 2023, The Twits, via Matador. Following up May’s Tracey Denim, the band previewed the album with the tracks ‘my little tony’, ‘Jelsy’, and ‘worlds greatest emoter’. They recorded it in eight weeks in a makeshift home studio in Mallorca, and it was mixed by Marta Salogni, who also worked on Tracey Denim.
Boston shoegaze legends Drop Nineteens are back with their first album in 30 years, Hard Light. The National Coma follow-up features the original lineup of Greg Ackell, Steve Zimmerman, Paula Kelley, Motohiro Yasue, and Peter Koeplin, and was previewed by the singles ‘Scapa Flow’, ‘A Hitch’, and ‘The Price Was High’. “The intent on Delaware was to reflect that time in our lives, which I think it did accurately,” Ackell said in press materials. “Having considered Delaware before embarking on Hard Light, we wanted to make an honest, reflective album representing who we are now, which is, well, older.”
Marnie Stern is back with her first album in a decade, The Comeback Kid, out now via Joyful Noise. Following 2013’s The Chronicles of Marnia, the LP features the promotional singles ‘Plain Speak’ and ‘Believing Is Seeing’. “It was so great to be able to start being myself again and when I would think, ‘Oh, is that too, too weird?’ I’d remember I’m allowed to do whatever I want! This is mine,” Stern said in a press release. “I’m trying to go against the grain of this bullshit that when you get older, you lose your sense of taste. I want to empower people to not be so homogenous and go against the grain a little bit.”
Tkay Maidza has dropped her new album, Sweet Justice, via 4AD. Featuring collaborations with Lolo Zouaï, Amber Mark, Duckwrth, Stint, and Kaytranada, the LP follows Maidza’s 2016 self-titled debut, as well as her Last Year Was Weird EP trilogy. “Sweet Justice was a way for me to channel my emotions from what I’ve experienced in the last two years,” the Los Angeles-based rapper, singer, and producer said in a press statement. “It’s a diary of things and thoughts I’ve kept to myself. Making the record was a healing experience and I’m grateful to have worked with producers who have inspired me throughout my career.”
Spiritual Cramp have dropped their debut self-titled effort via Blue Grape Music. Featuring the advance singles ‘Herberts On Holiday’, ‘Talkin’ on the Internet’, and ‘Better Off This Way’, the LP was produced by the band’s Michael Bingham and Michael Fenton and features additional production from Carlos de la Garza (Paramore, M83), who also handled the mixing. Spiritual Cramp was mastered by Dave Collins and engineered by longtime collaborator Grace Coleman at Different Fur Studios in San Francisco.
Former Cure drummer Lol Tolhurst, ex-Siouxsie and the Banshees drummer Budgie, and producer Garret ‘Jacknife’ Lee have teamed up for a new album, Los Angeles, out now via Play It Again Sam. It features guest appearances from LCD Soundsytem’s James Murphy, Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie, U2’s The Edge, Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock, Lonnie Holley, Mary Lattimore, Starcrawler’s Arrow de Wilde, and IDLES’ Mark Bowen. The album started coming together after Budgie met Tolhurst for lunch while Budgie was passing through Los Angeles as part of John Grant’s touring band, and the pair recorded the album with Lee over two weeks in Topanga. “Lol is very levelling,” Budgie said. “He calls himself a pragmatist, whereas I’m very impetuous, and it was like Garret was bridging the two, in his consultation room.”
Empty Country – the project of former Cymbals Eat Guitars leader Joseph D’Agostino – has issued Empty Country II, the follow-up to their 2020 self-titled LP, via Get Better Records. It was recorded over two weeks at R.E.M. producer Mitch Easter’s studio Fidelitorium in Kernersville, North Carolina with producer John Agnello. “Mitch has collected an astounding array of weird mics, amplifiers, and oddball orchestral instruments: organs, Buddhist temple bells, bar chimes, tubular bells,” D’Agostino remarked in press materials. The singles ‘Erkling’, ‘David’, ‘Pearl’, and ‘Dustine’ arrived ahead of the album’s release.
British producer Darren Cunningham has unveiled LXXXVIII, his latest effort as Actress. Out now via Ninja Tune, the album follows 2020’s Karma & Desire as well as last year’s Dummy Corporation EP, and includes the advance tracks ‘Push Power ( a 1 )’ and ‘Game Over ( e 1 )’. A major inspiration behind the new record was game theory, according to a press release, “for not only does chess reflect the precise physicality of the artist’s material interactions in his studio, it also illustrates the intricate and tactical, internal and aesthetic battles which brokered LXXXVIII‘s creation.”
Other albums out today:
Matmos, Return to Archive; Rid Of Me, Access to the Lonely; Laura Veirs, Phone Orphans; Charlène Darling, La Porte; Sarah Davachi, Long Gradus; Cold War Kids, Cold War Kids; William Eggleston, 512; Fuming Mouth, Last Day of Sun; Amor Muere, A Time to Love, a Time to Die; Liza Anne, Utopian; Honour, Àlááfíà; Jimmy Buffett, EqualStrain on All Side; Kevin Richard Martin, Black; Dirty Honey, Can’t Find the Brakes; Marta De Pascalis, Sky Flesh.
Iranian-born, Rotterdam-based singer and producer Sevdaliza has teamed up with Grimes for a new song called ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’. Listen to it below.
“Admiration and adoration turn into weapons when women challenge expectations,” Sevdaliza said of the track in a press release. “True liberation is breaking free from inner and outer expectations, a journey worth embracing despite the bruises.”
Back in June, Sevdaliza shared the track ‘Ride or Die’ featuring Villano Antillano. Her most recent LP was 2020’s Shabrang. Earlier this year, Grimes released he solo single ‘I Wanna Be Software’ and collaborated with Italian producer Anyma on the song ‘Welcome to the Opera’.
Megan Thee Stallion is back with a new song, ‘Cobra’. It marks the rapper’s first single since officially cutting ties with 1501 Certified Entertainment after a three-year legal battle. It’s out now via the Houston rapper’s new independent music and entertainment entity, Hot Girl Productions, alongside an accompanying music video. Check it out below.
“Cobras exemplify courage and self-reliance,” Megan Thee Stallion said ahead of the song’s release. “They stand tall and fierce in the face of challenges, teaching one to tap into their inner strength and rely on oneself to conquer their treats. Emulating the cobra helps one be more confident in the person they are within.”
Earlier this year, Megan Thee Stallion shared ‘Out Alpha the Alpha’, her contribution to the soundtrack of A24’s Dicks: The Musical. Her most recent album was 2022’s Traumazine.
Olivia Rodrigo has released a new single, ‘Can’t Catch Me Now’, which appears on the soundtrack for the upcoming film The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Listen to it below.
‘Can’t Catch Me Now’ will serve as the opening track to the 17-song soundtrack album, which is due out November 17, the same day the movie hits theaters. It also features new songs from Rachel Zegler, Molly Tuttle, Billy Strings, Sierra Ferrell, Flatland Cavalry, Bella White, and Charles Wesley Godwin.
This weekend, Rodrigo is set to perform at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, where she will be joined by new inductee Sheryl Crow. Her sophomore album, GUTS, came out in September.
The digital age has seen a widespread acceptance of betting. However, when it comes to online betting, reliability is crucial. With the increased gambling popularity in South Africa, bettor’s selection of reliable betting sites has become more difficult. Thus, this article will discuss the main aspects that bettors should think about while selecting a betting site.
Local vs. international betting sites
Selecting a domestic or foreign betting site is among the first choices that gamblers must make. Although there are advantages and disadvantages to both choices, it’s crucial to take reliability into account. Local betting sites are governed by the South African government and are bound by stringent guidelines. On the other hand, reliable international betting sites like Betway that have been localized, which can be accessed through Betway app download may offer a wider range of betting options to bettors. The betting site is regulated by the Malta Gaming Authority and the Western Cape Gambling Board in South Africa, proving its reliability.
The role of licensing and regulation in trustworthiness
As mentioned above, a betting site’s credibility is largely determined by its licensing and regulation. In light of this, players have to search for websites that have licenses from respectable regulating agencies like the Western Cape Gambling Board and the South African National Gambling Board. These licenses guarantee that the website complies with legal requirements and offers users a safe, fair, and secure betting environment.
Community feedback and bettor reviews
On the other hand, examining bettor and community evaluations is one of the finest methods to determine how reliable a betting site is. Experienced gamblers have a wealth of insightful information to provide on chat rooms and review sites. Bettors may gain an understanding of the site’s credibility, customer support, and general user experience by reading these reviews. While some unfavorable reviews are unavoidable, it’s crucial to remember that a betting site with a large amount of positive ratings is generally considered reliable.
Financial security and payout reliability
Further, when choosing a reliable betting site like Betway, which can be accessed through the Betway app download, financial safety and payout consistency are important considerations. In order to safeguard their financial and personal information, bettors should make sure the website uses encryption technology and secure payment methods. Additionally, it’s critical to pick a website with a track record of prompt and trustworthy reimbursements. Transparent procedures about payments, withdrawals, and any related costs are the hallmarks of a reliable betting service.
Mobile compatibility
In today’s digital age, mobile compatibility is a must-have feature for any betting site. Bettors should look for sites that offer a seamless mobile betting experience. This features a user-friendly interface, quick loading speeds, and a responsive design that adjusts to various screen sizes. In order to enable bettors to play their preferred games and place bets while on the go, a reliable betting site like Betway accessed through the Betway app download will invest in mobile optimization.
Availability of bonuses
Further, a lot of bettors may base their decision on the incentives that are offered. Bonuses can make wagering more enjoyable, but it’s vital to read the terms and conditions attached to these deals. A reliable betting site will have explicit conditions, fair bonus programs, and manageable wagering requirements. Additionally, bettors should steer clear of websites that offer excessively large incentives since this might be a sign of impending fraud.
Customer support
Ultimately, a reliable sportsbook will have excellent customer service. Bettors ought to select websites that provide live chat, email, and phone assistance, among other means of communication. When questions or issues arise, the support staff should be able to answer them quickly, be informed, and be there to help.
In conclusion, a bettor’s careful evaluation of the mentioned number of elements is necessary when choosing a reliable betting site in South Africa. Safety, security and dependability should be the top priorities for bettors, from licensing and regulations to community feedback and customer support. Punters may have a smooth and entertaining online gaming experience by doing this.
Mount Kimbie – now a quartet, with Dominic Maker and Kai Campos bringing in long-term collaborators Andrea Balency-Béarn and Marc Pell – have shared a new single called ‘Dumb Guitar’. Following their recent King Krule collaboration ‘Boxing’, the track is “loosely based around a couple’s futile attempt to save a doomed relationship,” according to a press release. Listen to it below, and scroll down for the band’s 2024 tour dates.
Mount Kimbie 2024 Tour Dates:
Apr 27 Copenhagen, Denmark – Vega
Apr 28 Berlin, Germany – Huxley’s
Apr 29 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso
Apr 30 Paris, France – La Cigale
May 2 Brussels, Belgium – Les Nuits Botanique @ Halles de Schaerbeek
May 3 London, England – Roundhouse
May 4 Manchester, England – New Century
May 5 Glasgow, Scotland – QMU
May 17 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
May 18 Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
May 21 Denver, CO – Perplexiplex at Convergence Station
May 23 Austin, TX – Parish
May 25 Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall
May 28 Toronto, Canada – Axis
May 29 New York City, NY – Webster Hal
These opulent Philadelphia hotels are paradise. There are over a dozen opulent hotels available around the city for those who want to unwind in grandeur.
We’re talking about penthouses on the top level with amazing views of the city skyline, along with extras like private elevators, Fuji soaking tubs, king-size canopy beds, and more. And while Rivers Casino Philadelphia is set to debut some new luxury accommodations quite soon, check out these luxury hotels you can visit right now.
AKA University City
Situated on the west side of the Schuylkill River, the 49-story FMC Tower in Cira Centre South is home to University City, which is housed on the top 19 levels. In addition to the rooftop garden Cira Green, the opulent extended-stay hotel has 268 rooms total, including 103 hotel residences (along with 30 furnished, 30 serviced, and 105 apartment apartments for longer stays). Level 28 is also quite noteworthy, it has a lounge, a 3D golf simulator, a movie theater, a fitness center, a yoga area, a lap pool, an outdoor patio with fire pits, a private theater with carefully chosen screenings, and a library of films.
AKA Rittenhouse Square
This hotel property, which specializes in stays lasting a week or more, strikes a mix between the comfort and elegance of an opulent home and the style and friendliness of a small, boutique hotel. The 12-story historic landmark offers 78 studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments, each with a complete gourmet kitchen, and beautiful furnishings with a modern feel. The hotel is in a great location, just across from AKA’s highly regarded Center City restaurant a.kitchen + bar, at the entrance to Rittenhouse Square.
Guild House Hotel
This place oozes the elegance of the Gilded Age. Known for its historical lineage and cozy nostalgia, the Italianate townhouse of the New Century Guild is a suffrage-era organization for local militant women. Travel & Leisure named this boutique hotel, a National Historic Landmark, one of the greatest new hotels in the world in 2022. It pays homage to the tradition of the New Century with 12 rooms designed by former Guild members. From the textured fabrics of NAACP founding member Florence Kelley’s room to the brass lights of Guild President Edith Brubaker’s suite, each room has plenty of furniture, artwork, and other items that are connected to a member’s story.
The Rooms at Fitler Club
This expansive private lifestyle club with a view of the Schuylkill River opened its doors in 2019. It features a large fitness center, a gaming lounge, a stellar cocktail bar, live performances, a private movie theater, a menu created by chef Marc Vetri, chic design, and original modern art. In addition to midcentury elements like rotary phones and vintage alarm clocks, nine queen and king rooms, three king lofts, the fourteen suites, 860-square-foot master bedroom, and 1,095-square-foot Fitler provide a contemporary design.
The Dwight D Hotel
This 11-room brownstone in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square district seems very much like an upscale private mansion. Pollock-esque artwork and vintage brasserie posters give the classic, opulent décor a modern feel. This place is ideal for small weddings, showers, and other special occasions since it also has a large private garden area and a brand-new chef’s kitchen.
Wm. Mulherin’s Sons
Built within a former whiskey bottling plant from the 19th century, the four elegantly furnished apartments above Fishtown’s highly regarded restaurant called Wm. Mulherin’s Sons are distinctly unique. This place features refinished walnut frameless kitchen cabinets (complete with Mauviel cookware), poured concrete worktops, wood slab headboards, polished concrete floors, glazed tiling, and top-notch amenities like blackout shades, washer/dryers, rainfall showers, and Aesop soaps. An antique safe houses a clawfoot soaking tub in Room #4.
Vyva Melinkolya has released a new track, ‘222’, which features backing vocals from Hayden Anhedonia aka Ethel Cain. It’s the third and final single from her upcoming album Unbecoming, which comes out November 9 and includes previous cuts ‘Doomer GF Song’ (featuring Midwife) and ‘I-65’. Give it a listen below.
“One meaning of the number 222 is alignment, finding oneself,” Vyva Melinkolya, aka Angel Diaz, explained in a press release. “The song is about healing, repairing the mind and body piece by piece. It’s about choosing strength over trepidation, retribution over surrender. In late 2021, I sent Hayden a video of myself playing lapsteel guitar, and we quickly started talking about our ideas, and maybe working together. When I showed her the demos for ‘Unbecoming’, she asked if she could sing backing vocals on ‘222’, and I’ve never said yes more quickly. Around the same time, she asked me to contribute some parts for her album Preacher’s Daughter, and my lapsteel track for ‘House In Nebraska’ and her vocals for ‘222’ were recorded just days apart in her Alabama home.”
Jack Antonoff and his band Bleachers stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night (November 1), where they delivered a performance of their recent single ‘Modern Girl’. Antonoff also sat down for an interview with Fallon to discuss working with Taylor Swift, the state of the music business, and more. Watch it below.