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Taylor Swift Adds 15 Tracks to ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ With ‘The Anthology’

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Taylor Swift Adds 15 Tracks to ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ With ‘The Anthology’

Two hours after the release of The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift has dropped an expanded edition of the album featuring 15 extra songs. “It’s a 2am surprise: The Tortured Poets Department is a secret DOUBLE album. ✌️,” Swift wrote online. “I’d written so much tortured poetry in the past 2 years and wanted to share it all with you, so here’s the second installment of TTPD: The Anthology. 15 extra songs. And now the story isn’t mine anymore… it’s all yours.” Listen to The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology below.

Produced by her frequent collaborators Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, the original 17-track features guest spots from Post Malone and Florence + the Machine. Four of the bonus tracks – ‘The Manuscript’, ‘The Bolter’, ‘The Albatross’, ‘The Black Dog’ – also correspond to different vinyl variants Swift announced ahead of the release.

 

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Taylor Swift Releases New Album ‘The Tortured Poets Department’: Stream

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Taylor Swift Releases New Album ‘The Tortured Poets Department’: Stream

Taylor Swift has released her eleventh album, The Tortured Poets Department. The pop star announced follow-up to 2022’s Midnights while accepting her 13th Grammy. Produced by her frequent collaborators Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, the 17-track LP features Post Malone on the opening track, ‘Fortnight’, and Florence + the Machine on ‘Florida!!!’. Stream it below.

A music video for ‘Fortnight’ is set to premiere at 8 pm EST on Friday, April 19. “I’ve been such a huge fan of Post because of the writer he is, his musical experimentation and those melodies he creates that just stick in your head forever,” Swift wrote on social media. “I got to witness that magic come to life firsthand when we worked together on Fortnight.”

Introducing the album, she said:

An anthology of new works that reflect events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time – one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure. This period of the author’s life is now over, the chapter closed and boarded up. There is nothing to avenge, no scores to settle once wounds have healed. And upon further reflection, a good number of them turned out to be self-inflicted. This writer is of the firm belief that our tears become holy in the form of ink on a page. Once we have spoken our saddest story, we can be free of it.

And then all that’s left behind is the tortured poetry.

Spiritual Cramp Enlist White Reaper for New Song ‘Whatever You Say Man’

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Spiritual Cramp Enlist White Reaper for New Song ‘Whatever You Say Man’

Spiritual Cramp and White Reaper have announced a new split-7″ that will be released on May 17 via Blue Grape Music. Today, we get to hear Spiritual Cramp’s ‘Say Whatever You Mean’, which features White Reaper. Check it out below.

“This is a funny song for me,” Spiritual Cramp’s Mike Bingham said in a statement. “I feel like I should start this blurb off with the disclaimer that I am not usually a depressed person. But, sometimes on a day where I start writing lyrics for a song, I am. Some days I wake up and I look around at all the beauty of the world and I’m moved to tears and overwhelmed with gratitude. Some days I wish I never woke up. This song is about what it feels like to wake up on the wrong side of the bed.”

Spiritual Cramp released their self-titled debut LP last year. White Reaper’s latest album, Asking for a Ride, also came out last year.

Alice Glass Shares Cover of the Smashing Pumpkins’ ‘Drown’

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Alice Glass Shares Cover of the Smashing Pumpkins’ ‘Drown’

Alice Glass has released a cover of the Smashing Pumpkins’ 1992 track ‘Drown’. Glass recorded her version of the song with producer and longtime collaborator Jupiter Keyes. Listen to it below.

“I believe in the power of art to transcend betrayal and disappointment,” Glass shared in a statement. “‘Drown ‘is not just a cover; it’s a testament to resilience and artistic integrity. This track was created after we were asked to be a part of an exciting compilation that ultimately didn’t end up happening. But I didn’t want that to stop us from sharing our interpretation of this iconic Smashing Pumpkins track. This release is a declaration of autonomy and a reminder that true artistry cannot be stifled by broken promises.”

Glass’ cover arrives ahead of a new project that’s set to arrive this summer. Her debut solo album, PREY//IV, was released in 2022.

Arooj Aftab Announces New Album ‘Night Reign’, Shares Video for New Song

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Arooj Aftab Announces New Album ‘Night Reign’, Shares Video for New Song

Arooj Aftab has announced the follow-up to 2021’s Vulture Prince. It’s called Night Reign, and it comes out May 31 via Verve. Lead single ‘Raat Ki Rani’ is out today alongside a music video directed by actress Tessa Thompson and produced by Kishori Rajan. Check it out below, and scroll down for the album’s cover artwork and tracklist.

“‘Raat Ki Rani’ is about a person whose allure, magnetism, and charisma floats through a beautiful evening garden party,” Aftab explained in a statement.

Last year, Aftab released a collaborative LP with Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily called Love in Exile. Iyer is one of the collaborators on Night Reign, along with James Francies, Cautious Clay, Kaki King, Maeve Gilchrist, Marc Anthony Thompson (Tessa Thompson’s father), Moor Mother, Joel Ross, and Chocolate Genius, Inc.

In 2022, Aftab won a Grammy for Best Global Music Performance for her Vulture Prince track ‘Mohabbat’. Check out our Artist Spotlight interview with Arooj Aftab.

Night Reign Tracklist:

1. Aey Nehin
2. Na Gul
3. Autumn Leaves [feat. James Francies]
4. Bolo Na [feat. Moor Mother, Joel Ross]
5. Saaqi [feat. Vijay Iyer]
6. Last Night (Reprise) [feat. Cautious Clay, Kaki King, Maeve Gilchrist]
7. Raat Ki Rani
8. Whiskey
9. Zameen [feat. Chocolate Genius, Inc.]

Winter Announces New EP, Unveils New Song ‘Sallow’

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Winter Announces New EP, Unveils New Song ‘Sallow’

Winter has announced a new EP, …and she’s still listening, along with the single ‘Sallow’. “The words came out through a stream of conscious improvisation as I stumbled upon the word ‘Sallow’ only to realize it meant ‘pale sun,’ which perfectly captured the song,” she explained in a statement. Listen to it below

“I had a beginner’s mindset when making the songs off the EP,” Winter said. “I allowed myself to explore and play with beats and styles of singing I hadn’t ever tried before. All the lyrics are written from the perspective of a female character who is somewhat an extension of me.”

…and she’s still listening arrives on May 24. It follows Winter’s 2022 album What Kind of Blue Are You?, which featured Sasami and Hatchie. Check out our Artist Spotlight interview with Winter.

…and she’s still listening EP Cover Artwork:

…and she’s still listening EP Tracklist:

1. Sallow
2. shaniatwainlovestory
3. the lonely girl
4. anything at all

Debby Friday Releases New Song ‘To the Dancefloor’

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Debby Friday Releases New Song ‘To the Dancefloor’

Debby Friday has returned with a new song called ‘To the Dancefloor’. It follows last year’s ‘let u in’, which came out a few months after her Mercury Prize-winning debut GOOD LUCK. Check out a self-directed video for the new song below.

Commenting on the video, Friday said: “I <3 the internet. I got the idea from watching Youtubers and TikTokers and thinking about how I used to spend hours playing games like Sims 3 and IMVU.”

Read our Artist Spotlight interview with Debby Friday.

Album Review: Pearl Jam, ‘Dark Matter’

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Album Review: Pearl Jam, ‘Dark Matter’

You can’t really labour over the kind of thunderous, sweeping rock music that’s become Pearl Jam’s bread and butter. One of the many promises the band made in promoting Dark Matter was that “it’s a lot heavier than you’d expect,” and the first singles that were released from the album, the title track and ‘Running’, seemed to be specifically selected as evidence. But what’s most refreshing about their 12th LP isn’t how ferocious it occasionally sounds – those songs are good enough, but they’re far from the record’s biggest standouts, and they tend to find the band at their most effortful, straining to prove a point that’s increasingly irrelevant. What all eleven tracks do showcase is a group that’s locked-in and working more loosely than they have in a very long time. You can compare Dark Matter to various moments in the band’s discography, but the thrill of it – who would have thought – is that it captures the energy of them being in a room together, which yields compelling results irrespective of what style or era they fit into.

That wasn’t the case with 2020’s Gigaton, which saw Pearl Jam return after a seven-year gap with an ambitiously introspective and spacious album the band pieced together over several sessions. That album’s experimental and vulnerable moments have grown on me, but it’s not an approach that would have worked for an album with a more unified vision like Dark Matter. Instead, the band recorded the new LP in just three weeks at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La Studios in Malibu; the first session actually took place at Andrew Watt’s Beverly Hills studio, where Eddie Vedder wrote and recorded his 2021 solo LP Earthling and was feeling so inspired that he invited the rest of the band come down from Seattle. ‘Waiting for Stevie’ literally came about while they were waiting for Stevie Wonder – a guest on Earthling – to show up at the studio, and it just so happens to be the best song on the album: at once raw and radiant, a balance Vedder masterfully handles in his vocals before Mike McCready delivers a piercing guitar solo over Matt Cameron’s uproarious drums.

That sense of urgency may come as a result not just of them being in the same room, but being in the studio with Watt, who is known as both a super-producer and a superfan of the artists he works with – a list that includes everyone from Iggy Pop and the Rolling Stones to Miley Cyrus and Post Malone. In the interview where McCready called Dark Matter “a lot heavier than you’d expect,” he also said Watt “really kicked our asses, got us focused, and playing, song after song,” which sounds like the truer statement. More importantly, though, Watt seems equally enthusiastic about every side of the band that manifests instead of steering them in the direction of a certain type of Pearl Jam record. Sure, mid-tempo songs like ‘Won’t Tell’ and ‘Wreckage’ may feel like an extension of Earthling, but they carry more charge than most of the material on 2013’s Lightning Bolt. ‘Wreckage’ is particularly stunning; though Watt’s production is a little too pristine, Vedder is still capable of pouring tons of emotion just by focusing on the phrase “holding on.” And though ‘Something Special’ only ambles by pleasantly, ‘Upper Hand’ veers into moodier, slow-burning territory while achieving a Pearl Jam ballad’s classic trick of kicking your guts and lifting your heart at the same time.

As rapidly as it was assembled, Vedder and company still take care to bring the album full circle. Opener ‘Scared to Fear’ is one of those rockers that could be a bit more fiery, but it’s fitting when Vedder sings, “We used to laugh/ We used to sing/ We used to dance/ We used to believe.” Rather than simply beginning the album on a defeatist note of nostalgia, it’s an admission that seems to power Dark Matter into life, which is where Watt’s gleaming touches feel apt. First, Vedder corrects himself by letting out a frenzied laugh on ‘React, Respond’, and towards the end of the album, he comes around to declaring, “Let’s get to the point/ We can believe.” You’re never fully convinced we’re there, but it’s the reaching, the ragged faith, that renders it the most invigorating Pearl Jam record in decades; that will always be more central to the band’s core than making heavy, or stripped-back, or vaguely experimental music. Emotionally, though, I will say that the closing track, ‘Setting Sun’, was a lot heavier, yet no less hopeful, than I expected. “We can become one last setting sun/ Am I the only one hanging on?” Vedder sings on ‘Setting Sun’. Instead of scrambling for evidence, he offers another plea to the collective: “Let us not fade.” You can’t help but take it to heart.

Prospects of New Casino Destinations: Investigating the Rise of Emerging Cities for Industry

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Prospects of New Casino Destinations: Investigating the Rise of Emerging Cities for Industry

The fascinating world of gambling has largely shifted to the online landscape as players migrate to Internet casinos. There is still tremendous interest in brick-and-mortar operators, with established locations such as Las Vegas and Macau thriving. In recent years, we have witnessed a growing interest in new casino destinations all over the world. In the paragraphs below, we investigate the rise of emerging cities for the gambling industry and highlight the strongest trends.

Factors Driving the Rise of Emerging Casino Cities

Las Vegas is widely regarded as the main destination for gamblers who want to enjoy the best of both worlds. In addition to playing their favourite slots, table games, video poker, and other popular genres, they can also enjoy the finest entertainment programs. Luxury hotels, amazing restaurants, and huge shopping centres provide alternative ways of spending their time beyond gambling.

However, in recent years, and especially in the wake of the pandemic, the vast majority of players have preferred online casinos. Some appreciate the convenience of Internet gambling, while others cherish promotions, such as 3 deposit casino – Slotozilla bonuses that allow you to try the best games from your device without hefty deposits.

Others have simply gotten used to the social distancing imposed by the COVID-19 crisis and no longer seek the company of their peers. Regardless of the reasons that push them towards online gambling, the trend seems irreversible.

Despite all these changes, the land-based casino industry is still finding ways to retain existing players and appeal to new gamblers. Furthermore, emerging casino cities tap into the local potential to offer something unique and appealing. There are many reasons why they thrive in this less-than-ideal environment, but these are the main five factors:

  • Economic Development
  • Tourism Diversification
  • Legislation Changes
  • Global Competition
  • Changing Consumer Preferences

Emerging Casino Destinations Around the Globe

Gambling has always been an important source of revenue for local and national governments. However, many nations have frowned upon the idea of creating gambling hubs, fearing the risk of addiction and rising crime. Some chose to bar local players from gambling while leveraging the casino industry to stimulate economic growth and development. Casinos become integral components of urban revitalisation projects, attracting investments and creating job opportunities. 

Emerging Cities Factors Driving Growth
Singapore Economic development and integrated resorts
Manila Legislation changes, and Entertainment City
Jeju Island Government focus on attracting international visitors
Biloxi Economic revitalisation through the casino industry
Macao Adapting to changing consumer preferences

Casinos supply an additional source of revenue while providing tourists with more ways to spend their time. Through proper legislation and regulations, governments can create a safe environment for players while mitigating the risks. Competition is strong, so compromises are sometimes needed, but the recipe for success has been, in most cases, the establishment of world-class facilities. As modern punters are not solely interested in gambling, casinos have broadened their horizons to include entertainment, dining, and wellness facilities.

At the time of writing, these are the top five emerging cities for the casino industry:

  1. Macao, China
  2. Singapore
  3. Manila, Philippines
  4. Jeju Island, South Korea
  5. Biloxi, Mississippi

Macau and Manila

Macau and Singapore compete for the title of the most appealing casino place in Asia, with the Chinese city having a clear advantage. It has been around for longer, and it is considered an established destination, yet it constantly evolves to adapt to the changing market dynamics. Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa have placed Singapore on the map of global gambling with an eclectic mix of gaming, luxury accommodations, and entertainment.

Jeju Island

Jeju Island is the place where travellers to South Korea can enjoy the best gambling experience, although locals are not accepted. The Jeju Dream Tower is the most iconic place, and it attracts travellers with its hotels and fantastic entertainment options. Manila has also emerged as an appealing destination for casino enthusiasts, thanks to growing support from the government. This huge city in southeast Asia is still behind the curve in terms of gambling but has tremendous potential for growth.

Atlantic City and Biloxi

In the United States, Atlantic City is regarded as the second-best option for gambling, although it trails Las Vegas at a great distance. However, in recent years it has lost much of its shine, and few investments have been made to revitalise the casino industry. Instead, Biloxi in Mississippi has emerged as a strong contender, with massive investments made in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The entire Gulf Coast region is experiencing a resurgence that positively reverberates across the casino industry.

Boosts and Challenges for Local Economies

When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, so people are entitled to be suspicious when the arrival of land-based casinos is hailed as a miraculous solution. There are pros and cons associated with such a decision, but overall, the advantages greatly outweigh the shortcomings. The obvious benefit of bringing casinos to new cities is the profound impact on local economies. Gambling operators stimulate other economic sectors in addition to the direct revenue generated from games.

Job Creation and Infrastructure Development

Job creation is a benefit that can’t be underestimated, as a lot of people work in casinos and for the associated businesses. As more tourists flock to the location, the demand for services is growing, and more people are needed to staff the places offering such benefits. The domino effect is obvious and for all the good reasons, with an influx of capital soon to follow such expansion. Even the infrastructure usually improves, as it is needed to serve a growing number of people coming to town.

Furthermore, there’s a far more convenient option for earning, allowing you to make money from anywhere in the world, regardless of your location. Yes, we’re referring to online casinos. Thanks to review platforms like FSND, you can significantly enhance your gambling strategy, which can also accelerate your income in the future.

Navigating Challenge

New casinos coming to cities that don’t have such an industry will enjoy the vacuum of competition and will grow at an accelerated pace. However, they face real challenges from established hubs such as Las Vegas and need to offer something fresh and original. This requires creativity and a lot of money to have a chance in this highly competitive environment. Everything is lost unless they also find a way to improve the public perception by highlighting the benefits of land-based casinos.

Conclusion

Major casino groups are always looking for new places to open shop, and emerging cities are obvious destinations. Those who embrace the gambling industry reap many benefits but also face unique and diverse challenges. In recent years, more cities have opened their borders to gambling groups, and some have tremendous potential for growth. With proper consideration of regulatory frameworks, community engagement, and sustainable practices, their future is quite bright.

Pom Poko Announce New Album ‘Champion’, Share New Single

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Pom Poko Announce New Album ‘Champion’, Share New Single

Pom Poko have announced their third LP, Champion. The follow-up to 2021’s Cheater drops on August 16 via Bella Union. Along with the announcement, the Norwegian four-piece have shared the album’s title track. Check it out below and scroll down for the album cover (by Erlend Peder Kvam) and tracklist.

“One of our collective favourite tracks from the album, so it was very fitting it became the title track,” the band shared in a statement. “I feel we trusted our songwriting a lot more in this album process, and this song feels like a step towards letting the songwriting speak for itself. Our mixer Ali Chant asked if Champion is the name of the car in the song, and we kind of like that thought. It’s also a homage to the community feeling you get as a band, we feel very safe when we’re all together in that tour van.”

“The word ‘champion’ was there from the beginning,” vocalist Ragnhild Fangel Jamtveit explained. “I built the lyrics around that title, just one evening, in my apartment. There’s a big parking lot in front of my building, and I was just sitting there and looking out at it. I was just struck with this image of being in our van, and touring, and all the parking lots we’ve ever been in. It’s a song about growing older and not feeling like you have to take over the world anymore. We’re just doing this for ourselves, really. If we can be in a band that lasts for 20 years, that’s amazing. We’re not champions, but we are at the same time.”

“Successful people have a reason to be confident,” drummer Ola Djupvik added. “The fact that we are just relaxed and doing it for the music and for the fun of it—that sort of helps fuel our success. I think this album feels pretty confident, in a good way. It’s not braggy, it’s more like, ‘This is what we are doing, and we’re comfortable.’”

In 2022, Pom Poko released the This Is Our House EP.

Champion Tracklist:

1. Growing Story
2. My Family
3. Champion
4. You’re Not Helpin
5. Pile Of Wood
6. Bell
7. Go
8. Never Saw It Coming
9. Druid, Fox And Dragon
10. Big Life
11. Fumble

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