Grandaddy have released ‘Cabin in My Mind’, the latest offering from their forthcoming LP Blu Wav. Following lead single ‘Watercooler’, which we named one of our Songs of the Week, it arrives alongside an accompanying video. Check it out below.
“A while back I was traveling with a friend, doing some shows and just riffing, and he came up with this phrase,” Jason Lytle explained in a statement about the track. “It made so much sense to me and had so many things just within the title itself: shutting off and just, like, going inward. It’s fun to imagine literally a cabin inside your mind. ‘I’m out of here, see ya, guys’ and you walk in the front door, shut the door and disappear for a while.’ It was perfect like an old country song where the title says everything. I remembered the phrase, and it was easy for me to pick it up and just make it work.”
Blu Wav, the follow-up to 2017’s Last Place, is set for release on February 16 via Dangerbird Records.
Peter Gabriel has returned with his first album in over 20 years, i/o. All 12 of the LP’s tracks have two stereo mixes: the Bright-Side Mix handled by Mark ‘Spike’ Stent, and the Dark-Side Mix courtest of Tchad Blake. “We have two of the greatest mixers in the world in Tchad and Spike and they definitely bring different characters to the songs,” Gabriel said in a statement. “Tchad is very much a sculptor building a journey with sound and drama, Spike loves sound and assembling these pictures, so he’s more of a painter.” i/o features contributions from Brian Eno, regular collaborators Richard Chappell, Oli Jacobs, Katie May and Richard Evans, as well as the Soweto Gospel Choir, Oprhei Drängar, the New Blood Orchestra led by John Metcalfe, Richard Russell, Tom Cawley, Josh Shpak, Paolo Fresu, Linnea Olsson, Melanie Peter, and Ríoghnach Connolly (The Breath).
Full of Hell and Nothing have shared their new collaborative album, When No Birds Sang, via Closed Casket Activities. “Both Full of Hell and Nothing deal with the same genre-phobia,” Nothing’s Domenic ‘Nicky’ Palermo said in a press release. “We’ve been called any style you can think of, but we’re both simply intent on making soul crushers.” Dylan Walker of Full Of Hell added: “We’re beyond limiting ourselves to a genre. There aren’t any rules, but there’s clearly an identity. No matter what Nothing does, I can tell it’s them. We’re meeting in the middle where it’s lush and beautiful, but also sad and ugly if you look closely at it. Out of mutual respect, we just decided to go for it.”
Soft Rock is the debut full-length from Thy Slaughter, the collaborative project of A. G. Cook and EASYFUN. Out now via PC Music, the album includes the previously shared songs ‘Sentence’, ‘If I Knew’, ‘Lost Everything’, and ‘Reign’. ‘Lost Everything’ was co-written with SOPHIE and features vocals from Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell, while PC Music associates Charli XCX, Caroline Polachek, and Alaska Reid also guest on the project.
Gabby Smith has released a new LP under the moniker Gabby’s World titled GABBY SWORD. Out now via Carrot All Records, the follow-up to 2018’s Beast on Beast was written, recorded, and co-produced with Smith’s wife and frequent collaborator Barrie Lindsay (aka Barrie) in makeshift studios during Smith and Lindsay’s final months in Brooklyn before they moved to Southern France. “There was an itchy, uncomfortable feeling that I couldn’t escape that led me to take a step back to get a good look at it all,” Smith said, reflecting on the circumstances leading up to the making of the album. “I discovered that I was queer and was not being true to myself. I had to pull the plug on everything and start over. It resulted in a lot of loss, and a kind of ‘career death.’”
Christopher Clark, the British producer who records music as Clark, has released Cave Dog via Throttle Records. It’s a companion album to this year’s Sus Dog, which was executive produced by Thom Yorke. “I felt like I was coming to the end game of a very specific palette of synth / Sus Dog music,” Clark explained in a statement. “I was searching for intense, rich detail that sometimes only reveals itself on the thirtieth listen, but also flow, simplicity and memorable melodies that just can’t be any other way otherwise they’re wrong. Making it really cohere was fun but fackin ‘ell, I’m done. Happy and time to call it quits. I sussed it. The dog needs to leave the house now, go and play with new friends.”
Jonathan Rado, the singer-songwriter and producer known as one half of the indie rock duo Foxygen, has released his first solo LP in over a decade. Out today via Western Vinyl, For Who The Bell Tolls For was written as a way of processing the loss of two close friends and mentors, producer Richard Swift and illustrator/animator Danny Lacy, who passed away the same year. “I didn’t know I was even making an album. And I guess I couldn’t even express anything into words then,” Rado said in a statement. “Just expressing whatever with production and a musical language.”
Harp, the project of former Midlake singer Tim Smith and his wife Kathi Zung, have released their debut LP, Albion, via Bella Union. While he’d been working on a set of new tracks for years, Smith’s approach shifted when he started drawing inspiration from ’80s music. “I knew of bands and I had heard the odd song, but I had never dug deep into Joy Division, Cocteau Twins, The Smiths, Tears For Fears before,” he explained. “The major album for me though was The Cure’s Faith, which I listened to non-stop for three years. That music really resonated with me, so I was led in a different direction, which took a long time to figure out, because I was on my own, learning how to record better, mix better, write better.”
Other albums out today:
Love Minus Zero, L’Ecstasy; Dowsing, No One Said This Would Be Easy; Trevor Horn, Echoes – Ancient & Modern; Codeseven, Go Let It In; Static Cleaner Lost Reward, Breathing Under Honey.
Have you heard of the dead internet theory? The theory goes that as AI takes over and more content and online activity tends to gather around centralized spaces, such as Twitter and other social media platforms, the internet becomes increasingly filled with websites that are no longer operational, no longer being run by humans, and more and more made of automatically generated content. The age of StumbleUpon and the organic discovery of entirely new websites that become trending hits seem to be on the way out, so where does a person go for some distraction, entertainment, or fun nowadays? Here, we’re going to look at a few examples.
The best places to listen to music
Most of us do not discover new music through the radio or through music videos like we might have, once upon a time. Instead, now most of us hear that music online for the first time. Spotify and YouTube are the two biggest streaming services, but it’s also worth looking around Bandcamp and SoundCloud to discover those indie or niche artists who might be playing with sounds that you’ve never heard before, but are much more up your alley. Of course, virtual concerts are now a thing, too, so we might even be enjoying most of our live experiences through the digital world, too.
Video places other than YouTube
While YouTube might be the indisputable king when it comes to hosting and sharing video content, it’s not the only place to find it, either. Dailymotion has been around for almost as long as YouTube but when you go there, it can feel almost like you’re back to those early years of video hosting. It’s not as heavily algorithm-driven, nor is it as relentless in pushing big content from big publishers, such as trailers and official deep dives. It’s one of the most interesting places on the internet to go hunting for videos of the new, the strange, and stuff that you have never seen before. There are a few other smaller video hosting sites out there still providing much the same kind of thing.
Puzzling your brain online
If you’re looking to get a quick break from work, to get your brain ticking as it should in the morning, or you simply love a good puzzle, then the internet is absolutely full of them. Take a look around and you can get your fill of crosswords, sudoku games, trivia quizzes, and more. Of course, the biggest trend at the moment is the worldwide domination that Wordle has brought with it. There is no shortage of Wordle clones to spend some time playing, whether you’re trying to guess the song, guess the game, guess the logo, the author and book, and much, much more. Plenty for curious minds that are looking to tease themselves to get up to these types of sites.
Exploring the world in your browser
It’s a big, wide world out there, and most of us are never going to get to see more than a few percent of it. Even if you travel often, there’s just so much to see that it is impossible to fit it all in a lifetime. Of course, you can see a lot more if you’re willing to do it through the screen of a browser. Google Maps can become a real rabbit hole of curiosity for those who want to take a look at what the world is like in an entirely different place. Another site, WIndowSwap, allows you to take a look out windows around the world, which can give an oddly peaceful and intimate look at the view that people entirely remote from you get when they glance outside.
Getting some gaming in
If there’s one market of online denizens not content to let their pastimes be taken over by dead websites and AI, it’s the gamers. There is never a shortage of free games that you can play in your browser. You can explore classic sites like Newgrounds and Kongregrate, you can explore a wide host of indie gems through sites such as Itch.io, or you can go for one of the most simple and enduring gaming experiences of all time and dig into some online solitaire. Free games are as easy to find as ever, and they can provide all of the variety as well as those familiar faves as ever.
Finding the weird and wonderful
StumbleUpon truly was one of the best online tools of our time, and it was greatly underappreciated before it was gone. For those who aren’t aware, it was basically a giant archive of a very wide range of super interesting websites and online experiences curated by a large userbase, and you could simply click the “stumble” button to jump to a random one, with the ability to set preferences on what kind of sites you wanted to see. Cloudhiker is setting itself up as something of a successor and is fast growing, with 13,000 sites, trying to always provide the most interesting online experiences for those looking for something new.
Going down a Wiki rabbit hole
Wikipedia is, by no means, some maverick new site, it’s the most well-established online source of information, period, on top of being the biggest encyclopedia ever put together by humans. But, if you’re looking for something new and interesting, there is always something to be said for exploring new topics on Wikipedia. You can start at just about any page, start clicking on the links that interest you, and end up spending hours reading about something you’ve literally never heard of before. There are even a few ways to make a game of your time on Wikipedia, as well
It’s important to take the time to really explore the internet, to enjoy what it has to offer, and to share it where possible. The future of the dead internet seems like more and more a prophecy than a theory nowadays, and only we can hold it back.
Holly Humberstone has enlisted MUNA for a new version of ‘Into Your Room’, which appears on her debut studio album, Paint My Bedroom Black. “I’m obsessed with MUNA and have been wanting to work with them for ages, I’m so thankful that I finally get to have them bring their magic to one of my songs,” Humberstone said in a statement. Give it a listen below.
Lana Del Rey has shared a cover of John Denver’s ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’. Her rendition was produced by frequent collaborator Zach Dawes. Listen to it below.
Earlier this year, Del Rey released her most recent album, Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, which referenced Denver in its opening track ‘The Grants’. She recently performed ‘Unchained Melody’ for the NBC TV special Christmas at Graceland.
Beyoncé has released a new song called ‘MY HOUSE. It’s her first new music since last year’s Renaissance and appears in the credits of her new Renaissance movie, which is out in theaters today. The track was written and produced with The-Dream. Listen to it below.
A trailer for Netflix’s upcoming series, The Manny, 10 episode drama, provides a glimpse into Jimena’s chaotic yet heartwarming life. When Jimena crosses paths with Gaby, a charming rancher with an unanticipated skill set – the perfect nanny for her three kids – her life takes an unexpected turn. Her world takes an unexpected turn as she balances parenthood, a career, and a strained marriage.
The Manny promises to deliver a fresh take on conventional gender roles as Gabriel, affectionately known as Gaby, becomes an integral part of Jimena’s life, bringing joy and an unconventional solution to her overwhelming responsibilities. As the two navigate the intricacies of parenting and professional ambition, a surprising love story unfolds, challenging societal norms and celebrating the beauty of unexpected connections.
The cast and crew of the show includes Carolina Rivera (Writer/Showrunner/Executive Producer), Fernando Sariñana (Showrunner/Producer/Executive Producer), Sebastian Sariñana (Director), María Torres (Director), Magaby García (Director), José Ramón Chávez (Director), Carlos Gonzalez Sariñana (Director), and actors such as Sandra Echeverría (Jimena), Iván Amozurrutia (Gabriel), Diana Bovio (Brenda), José María Torre (Joaquín), Anthony Giuletti (Leo), Alexander Tavizon (Santiago), Cassandra Iturralde (Sofía), Moisés Arizmendi (Rogelio), and Eugenio Montessoro (Ernesto).
The Manny will be available on Netflix from the 24th of December, 2023.
Fancy a game of cards? Don’t worry if you don’t have a pack of cards handy. And don’t worry if you have no-one to play with either. There are plenty of card games that you can play online on your computer or phone. And many of them are free! Such games can not only be a great way to occupy yourself, but a way of testing your brain. You can also use these online resources as practice for real life games.
Just which card games can you play online for free? Below are 10 examples of games that can be found online and that don’t cost anything to play.
Spades
In this trick-taking game, players aim to win as many tricks as possible while avoiding specific cards, particularly the Queen of Spades and any hearts. It’s commonly played with four players, forming two partnerships. Spades requires strategic bidding and careful card play to outmaneuver opponents and achieve your bid. Many online platforms offer free Spades games, allowing you to play against computer opponents or with friends, maintaining the competitive spirit of the game.
Hearts
This classic evasion-type card game requires you get the least amount of points by avoiding hearts cards (which are worth 1 point each or 13 points for the Queen). It’s typically played with four players, but there are variants that can allow you to play with more players. Hearts can be played online for free on many websites and via several apps. You can play hearts against a computer or play against real players. ‘Shoot for the moon’ rules still apply in many of these games.
Rummy
Rummy is a game that challenges you to get rid of all the cards in your hand by creating sets (such as A♦, A♥, A♠) and sequences (such as A♦, 2♦, 3♦). You can play Rummy free online against a computer or with friends. If you’re used to the Gin Rummy variant where you can draw from the deck instead of the discard pile, you’ll be happy to know that there are also free versions of this game available.
Solitaire
Solitaire is one of the most well-known solo card games, challenging players to create stacked sequences of cards by rearranging piles. If you’ve ever owned a computer with Microsoft Windows installed on it, you may already be aware that solitaire comes included as a standard featured program. But what if you’re not using a Windows device? Well, there are many sites that allow you to play solitaire online for free – including spider solitaire and klondike. Solitaire is a great patience-building game that can be made harder or easier through various online variants.
Pairs
Pairs is a simple memory-testing game using a deck of cards. All the cards are arranged face down. You must then pick two cards and try to make a pair, remembering each card that you or another player subsequently picks up. There are many free online versions of pairs that you can play, including unconventional versions of pairs using different types of cards to traditional playing cards. This includes picture card versions for kids.
Poker
Poker is the most popular card game that people gamble money on. However, you don’t have to play with money. There are many free versions of online poker – including variants like Texas Hold Em and 7-Card Stud – which allow you to compete against real players while using virtual chips. The aim of poker is to build the best five card hand using the two hole cards that you are dealt and the five community cards on the table which are slowly revealed. Whether you’re learning to play poker for the first time or trying to build your bluffing skills without betting real money, these free online versions can prove valuable.
Blackjack
Blackjack (also known as Twenty-One or Pontoon) is another popular card game often played at casinos with real money. But like poker, you don’t have to play with real money. The aim of blackjack is to try to get the value of your hand as close to 21 as possible without going over (at which point you go ‘bust’). There are free versions of blackjack online that can allow you to compete against real players or a computer.
Bridge
Bridge is considered one of the hardest card games to master. It is a four player game that is played in pairs (called ‘partnerships’) in which you must place bids and win tricks using combinations of cards (there are 13 tricks up for grabs). The best way to get to grips with bridge is to play it – and because you cannot always find people who know how to play it, online bridge games can be a great place to start. Of course, if you know how to play bridge, online bridge sites and apps can also be a fun place to practice. While you can play bridge while betting real money, there are many free versions of this game that you can play.
Uno
Beyond traditional playing cards, there are many other card games that you can play online – including Uno. The objective of Uno is to get rid of all the cards in your hand by playing the same number or color as the previous player. It’s a very simple and fun game that can be played with 2 to 10 players. It’s also a game that you can play online for free by downloading the Uno app or by visiting the Uno Online website.
Cards Against Humanity
Cards Against Humanity challenges players to fill in the blank with the funniest (or most outrageous) word or phrase chosen from cards in their hand. It’s ideal for those that want to play a light-hearted card game (just make sure you’re not easily offended). Cards Against Humanity is free to play online. There is even a Cards Against Humanity lab where you can test new cards with random internet strangers.
Magic: The Gathering
Magic: The Gathering is one of the few trading card games that is available to play online for free. You won’t be able to access every card – some of these can only be accessed by playing. But you still get access to many of the cards and are able to play games with strangers of all levels. Online Magic: The Gathering is a great tool for practicing and developing your skills. Try playing it today if you’re a fan of the original card game.
The fentanyl crisis is having a huge impact on the USA at present. In fact, as a fourth wave hits the country more people are dying than ever before. In 2021, it took over 100,000 lives, and this year that number could be surpassed.
Naturally, it’s an issue that’s in the news every day, and it’s no real surprise to see that the drug addiction crisis is finding its way onto the silver screen and streaming platforms too.
Dopesick is one of the more notable to do that, a scripted drama that has picked up multiple awards and enjoyed a good reception from the critics in its portrayal of the crisis, how it’s affecting people and the legal complications around the pharmaceutical companies in the middle of various scandals.
However, when Netflix released Pain Hustlers recently, it brought a lot more intrigue. Not because it’s another crime drama, but because it’s almost a comedy crime drama.
Is that ok?
Hundreds of thousands of people are dying. Now.
So I watched on. Watched the entire 123 minutes of the Chris Evans and Emily Blunt picture. And feelings were mixed, much like the reviews.
There is humour within the film. And it works well, in a shock factor kind of way, but then there’s the story itself. Without wanting to give away spoilers, it almost glorifies the characters behind the pharmaceutical company that the movie is based around. Which is perhaps a little tone deaf in today’s society, even when they do get their comeuppance.
We should add that the pharmaceutical company in question is fictionalised. It’s not based upon the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma like Dopesick and Painkiller, but rather a start-up, who introduce the hard sell to get their company off the ground.
Selling to anyone and everyone, it is perhaps a realistic depiction of how the opioid crisis has got so out of hand. However, the movie makes it almost seem fun.
There’s just a real feeling that Pain Hustlers is slightly misjudged. It’s a Hollywood storytelling version of the fentanyl crisis that perhaps should be for a period when the USA, and perhaps even western world has slowed the damage that opioids are causing to so many people.
I get that it’s important to highlight an issue, and film can play a huge part of that. But this film isn’t particularly shocking, it doesn’t tell the stories of real people in a way that would make us sit up and take note. It’s just all a bit meh, during a period where the real story is much more vital to be aware of than the Hollywood version of it.
Shane MacGowan, the lead singer and songwriter of Celtic punk pioneers the Pogues, has died. His wife, Victoria May Clarke, confirmed the musician’s death in a statement on Instagram. MacGowan was 65.
MacGowan was born on Christmas Day, 1957, in Kent, England, but spent the first six years of his life in Tipperary in Ireland. The family then moved to London, where he won a number of poetry contests before being expelled from school for possessing drugs. After attending concerts by the Sex Pistols and the Clash, MacGowan formed his own band, the Nipple Erectors, later renamed the Nips, whose debut single, ‘King of the Bop’, was released in 1976. The Nips disbanded in 1980.
MacGowan then took a job in a record store and occasionally filled in with his friend Peter ‘Spider’ Stacy’s band the Millwall Chainsaws. After the band split, MacGowan and Stacy formed the Pogues, originally dubbed Pogue Mahone (Gaelic for “kiss my arse”), in 1982. They released their debut album, Red Roses for Me, in 1984, and followed it up with 1985’s Elvis Costello-produced Rum Sodomy & the Lash and 1988’s If I Should Fall from Grace with God, the latter of which featured the classic Christmas single ‘Fairytale of New York’.
The Pogues went on to release four more albums: 1989’s Peace and Love, 1990’s Hell’s Ditch, 1993’s Waiting for Herb, and 1996’s Pogue Mahone. By the end of the ’80s, though, MacGowan’s alcohol consumption caused problems for the band as he missed several live performances, including a series of 1988 dates supporting Bob Dylan. He was asked to leave the group but reunited with them in 2001 before parting ways again around 2015.
In 1992, MacGowan teamed up with Nick Cave for a cover of ‘What a Wonderful World’. Outside of his work with the Pogues, Shane MacGowan and the Popes released two studio albums. In 2020, it was reported that McGowan had returned to the studio to record several new songs with Cronin, the Irish indie band led by brothers Johnny and Mick Cronin.
“I don’t know how to say this so I am just going to say it,” Victoria May Clarke wrote in her post. “Shane who will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love ❤️ of my life and the most beautiful soul and beautiful angel and the sun and the moon and the start and end of everything that I hold dear has gone to be with Jesus and Mary and his beautiful mother Therese. I am blessed beyond words to have met him and to have loved him and to have been so endlessly and unconditionally loved by him and to have had so many years of life and love ❤️ and joy and fun and laughter and so many adventures. There’s no way to describe the loss that I am feeling and the longing for just one more of his smiles that lit up my world. Thank you thank you thank you thank you for your presence in this world you made it so very bright and you gave so much joy to so many people with your heart and soul and your music. You will live in my heart forever. Rave on in the garden all wet with rain that you loved so much ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ You meant the world to me.”
Peter Gabriel has returned with his first album in over 20 years, 
Full of Hell and Nothing have shared their new collaborative album, When No Birds Sang, via 
Soft Rock is the debut full-length from Thy Slaughter, the collaborative project of A. G. Cook and EASYFUN. Out now via 
Gabby Smith has released a new LP under the moniker Gabby’s World titled 
Christopher Clark, the British producer who records music as Clark, has released Cave Dog via 
Jonathan Rado, the singer-songwriter and producer known as one half of the indie rock duo Foxygen, has released his first solo LP in over a decade. Out today via 
Harp, the project of former Midlake singer Tim Smith and his wife Kathi Zung, have released their debut LP, 
