Chvrches have shared ‘Talking in My Sleep’, a previously unheard track that will appear on the 10th-anniversary reissue of the group’s debut album, The Bones of What You Believe. Listen to it below.
“It feels quite strange that Bones is almost a decade old,” Lauren Mayberry said in a statement. “In some ways, it’s like it just happened, but also like that era was a lifetime ago. We are very grateful to all the fans who gave that album a special place in their heart, and still show us so much kindness today.”
“Some of the main sources of inspiration for our first album, including ‘Talking In My Sleep’ were artists that we all share a love for, and a lot of stuff from the 80s,” Iain Cook added. “Kate Bush (particularly the Hounds of Love album), Depeche Mode, Prince, Michael Jackson, and also a bunch of the blog-led indie pop music that was around in 2010. Martin particularly was really invested in that stuff and was bringing a lot of fresh sounds and ideas mixed with the classic 80’s pop influences that we all loved.”
The new edition of The Bones of What You Believe is out October 20. Chvrches previously unveiled another unheard song from the record called ‘Manhattan’.
GUTS, the much-anticipated follow-up to 2021’s Sour, has arrived. Olivia Rodrigo previewed the LP, which was recorded with Sour producer Dan Nigro, with the singles ‘vampire’ and ‘bad idea right?’. “I feel like when you’re making the album, you can’t really see the forest through the trees a little bit about what’s about or what you’re trying to get across,” Rodrigo said in an interview with Apple Music. “Sometimes you just wake up and go into the studio and see what comes out of you. In hindsight, I think that a lot of this album is about the confusion that comes with becoming a young adult and figuring out your place in this world and figuring out who you want to be and who you want to hang out with and all of that stuff.
The xx’s Romy has released her debut solo album, Mid Air, via Young. Featuring the previously shared singles ‘Enjoy Your Life’, ‘Strong’, ‘Loveher’, and ‘The Sea’, the record finds her working alongside Fred again.. and Stuart Price. In press materials, Romy described Mid Air as “an album about celebration, sanctuary and salvation on the dance floor. It’s an album that deals with love, grief, relationships, identity and sexuality and is a love letter to the queer clubs where Romy found community and connection.”
James Blake has returned with a new album, Playing Robots Into Heaven, out now via Republic. The follow-up to 2021’s Friends That Break Your Heart sees the producer returning to his electronic music roots, as teased by the singles ‘Loading’ and ‘Big Hammer’. “I think this album is actually the most confident I’ve been putting an album out for quite a long time, because it’s not trying to be good at anything,” Blake said in an interview with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe. “I feel like with Friends that Break Your Heart, I was trying to be good at songwriting and coloring anything a little bit the same. There was a lot of pursuit of something great that I didn’t have yet, and almost a desire is suffering. It’s that thing of, it’s over there and it’s very difficult to, when you’re thinking about something in those terms of acquiring a skill or trying to get to a certain imaginary spot. You are taking yourself out of the moment.”
Deeper have dropped their latest album and first for Sub Pop, Careful!. Recorded at Palisade Studios in Chicago with producer/engineer Dave Vettraino, the follow-up to 2020’s Auto-Pain was previewed by a string of singles, including, ‘Sub’, ‘Build a Bridge’, ‘Tele’, and ‘Fame’. “I wanted these to be interesting songs, but in a way where a two-year-old would vibe out to it,” the band’s Nic Gohl remarked in press materials. “It’s pop music, basically
Tinashe is back with a new album called BB/ANG3L. The singer-songwriter previewed the follow-up to 2021’s 333 with the songs ‘Talk to Me Nice’ and ‘Needs’. Talking about the album title, Tinashe told Dazed: “I was really inspired by screen names and avatars, and how we’re able to create our own personas online. We’re able to name ourselves in that way and take control of our identity. I wanted to create something similar to a screen name, or some type of tag that I could put on this era that would represent the persona or the energy that I was embodying for this particular project.”
Róisín Murph’s new LP, Hit Parade, is out now through Ninja Tune. Produced in collaboration with DJ Koze, the Róisín Machine follow-up was preceded by the singles ‘The Universe’, ‘Fader’, ‘CooCool’, and ‘You Knew’. “It’s a joyful record, I’ve never been happier, that is partly down to personal reasons but also in my work I’ve been very fulfilled,” Murphy said in a press statement. “For me the record is about love and sensuality but also it’s about music itself and how it’s always been there for me. There are tinges of darkness, of the abyss, as well as all the joy. There’s contemplation of mortality which is meant to serve as reminder to me (and perhaps you the listener) to really live while we can.”
Anjimile has unveiled his new album and 4AD debut, The King. The musician worked with producer Shawn Everett on the follow-up to 2020’s Giver Taker, which features contributions from Justine Bowe, Brad Allen Williams, Sam Gendel, and James Krivchenia of Big Thief. “If Giver Taker was an album of prayers, The King is an album of curses,” Anjimile said in a press release. The album inludes the advance singles ‘Father’, ‘Black Hole’, and the title track.
Manchester-born, London-based songwriter and saxophonist Alabaster dePlume has issued a new full-length, Come With Fierce Grace, today via International Anthem. Following last year’s GOLD, the 12-track LP features contributions from Rozi Plain, Tom Skinner of the Smile and Sons of Kemet, Falle Nioke, Donna Thompson, and James Howard, among others. The album’s title originated from dePlume’s first trip to perform in the US in March 2022, when he collected messages from individuals, asking them if there is anything they would like him to share with his audiences. “Come with fierce grace,” responded one person, who preferred to remain anonymous.
Angel Du$t have dropped their latest LP, BRAND NEW SOUL, via Pop Wig Records. With bandleader Justice Tripp helming the production, the LP was recorded with Paul Mercer and mixed by Rob Schnapf and Steve Wright. It features the current live band lineup of Daniel Star and Steve Marino on guitar, Zechariah Ghostribe on bass, and Thomas Cantwell on drums, as well as contributions from longtime collaborators Daniel Fang and Pat McCrory and vocal appearances from Mary Jane Dunphe and Citizen’s Mat Kerekes. “The band has always centered around me, but I’ve never written the music just for me,” Tripp explained in press materials. “It always felt like it was meant to be played by a band, I love the team effort. Angel Du$t isn’t about me – it’s about the spirit of rock music and the energy that that gives off. It’s like we’re committed to a cause.”
Courtney Barnett, End of Day (Music From the Film Anonymous Club)
Courtney Barnett has put out a new instrumental album, End of Day. The collection started taking shape in May 2021, when Barnett and producer Stella Mozgawa had just handed in the masters for Barnett’s third album, Things Take Time, Take Time. The pair met filmmaker Danny Cohen in a Melbourne studio, improvising as he showed them the final edit of his documentary Anonymous Club based on one guiding principle: “nothing too maudlin, obvious, or instructive, nothing to tell the future audience how they should be feeling about Barnett’s life onscreen.” Barnett then decided to come back to the improvisations and flesh them out into a cohesive project.
Protect Your Light is the latest full-length by Irreversible Entanglements, the band composed of the poet/vocalist Camae Ayewa (aka Moor Mother), bassist Luke Stewart, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro, saxophonist Keir Neuringer, and drummer Tcheser Holmes. Out now via their new label home, Impulse!, the album was primarily recorded over three days in January 2023 at Rudy Van Gelder Studios in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. It features contributions from pianist Janice A. Lowe, cellist Lester St. Louis, and vocalist Sovei, as well as the singles ‘Free Love’ and ‘Our Land Back’.
Other albums out today:
Kristin Hersh, Clear Pond Road; The Chemical Brothers, For That Beautiful Feeling; Jonathan Wilson, Eat the Worm; Pain of Truth, Not Through Blood; Kristin Hersh, Clear Pond Road; Kvelertak, Endling; The Coral, Sea of Mirrors; Tyler Childers, Rustin’ in the Rain; Teezo Touchdown, How Do You Sleep At Night?; Yussef Dayes, Black Classical Music; Fotocrime, Accelerated; cursetheknife, There’s A Place I Can Rest; Allison Russell, The Returner; caro♡, wild at <3; Joan Osborne, Nobody Owns You; GAIKA, Drift; Noah Gundersen, If This Is The End; Jalen Ngonda, Come Around and Love Me; The Handsome Family, Hollow; Royal Blood, Back to the Water Below; Puddle of Mudd, Ubiquitous; Holm, Alien Health; Mick Harvey & Amanda Acevedo, Phantasmagoria in Blue; Heavy MakeUp, Heavy MakeUp; Somni, Gravity; Talking Kind, It Did Bring Me Down; Catherine Christine Hennix, Solo for Tamburium.
London group Ezra Collective’s Where I’m Meant to Be have won this year’s Mercury Prize, making them the first jazz act to receive the award. Hosted by Lauren Laverne, the ceremony was held at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith in London on Thursday evening (September 7).
Other acts to be shortlisted for the award included Arctic Monkeys, Fred Again, J Hus, Jessie Ware, Jockstrap, Lankum, Loyle Carner, Olivia Dean, Raye, Shygirl, and Young Fathers.
Accepting the award, drummer Femi Koleoso said, “This is not just a result for Ezra Collective, or for UK jazz, but this is a special moment for every single organization across the country, ploughing efforts and time into young people playing music.”
Last year’s Mercury Prize winner was Little Simz for her fourth album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert.
Cardi B has teamed up with Megan Thee Stallion for a new song, ‘Bongos’. Their first collaborative single since 2020’s ‘WAP’, the track arrives with a video directed by Tanu Muino. Check it out below.
Cardi B discussed ‘Bongos’ in an interview with DJ Whoo Kid on his Whoo’s House SiriusXM show, saying, “I wonder how people are gonna react to this vibe because they’re really like expecting ‘WAP,’ like, ‘oh, here they go again talking this and that… We are talking a little, you know, about some pussy, but not like ‘WAP’-type of stuff.”
“The part where Megan is kind of at in the song, because we chopped the song a lot, like the part where like she’s at, it be like ‘Bong, bong, bong’, and I was planning for that to be the hook, but it just sounded so incomplete,” she explained. “Then, we just like, ‘This song needs a feature,’ so it’s like a lot of people wanted it to go the Spanish route with it and I’m like, ‘I could see that.’ I could see that, definitely. Of course, like you could feel it, but I was like, ‘I feel like I hear Megan on this.’ It’s like, ‘Really? You don’t think that It’s more like of the Latin part,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, but I hear her on this. Like, I know it. I know I could hear her on this.'”
Of working with Megan Thee Stallion, she added: “It feels good [to get back into the game]… it makes me feel good that she trusts me. I’mma give my all. Not only am I doing this for myself, [but] ‘I want you to trust me.’ We trust each other.”
‘Bongos’ follows Cardi B’s 2022 single ‘Hot Shit’. Her debut album, Invasion of Privacy, was released in 2018.
Water From Your Eyes’ Rachel Brown has released a new song under their solo moniker thanks for coming. Named after the Red Hot Chili Peppers album, ‘Unlimited Love’, will appear on the upcoming EP What Is My Capacity to Love? alongside the previously shared single ‘Loop’. Check it out below.
In a statement about the new song, Brown explained:
I wrote ‘Unlimited Love’ when I got home from my first tour to Europe,” Brown explains to NYLON. “I’m in another band called Water From Your Eyes and we had just done a full US tour right into a Europe tour, and I had sort of completely lost my mind and my footing on our first tour from the pressure and from a situation I had put myself in with another person. It was my first time touring extensively and there were so many growing pains, things really hurt for a bit there. But I had gone to Europe and I had never left the country before and I had never played so many shows in a row before or been so uncomfortable and uncertain and it started to feel really freeing to be so untethered to the places I was finding myself in. It was really nice to be able to be in a moment and really be in it and not have any memories of it or understanding of what people were even saying around me. It was so easy to be grateful at every moment because I had never had the chance to see the world like that. Everything is so awe inspiring and typical at the same time, it’s nice to know that life is life everywhere you go. It was nice to be meeting people and connecting and just experiencing the world so far outside of where my life had taken me so far. I felt a really universal sense of love, while at the same time feeling really heartbroken about such a small relationship in my life. I don’t write a lot of music that feels positive, but writing this song made me feel like I was actually learning something about how I wanted to move about the world and that I was growing into someone I wanted to be. I felt hopeful about love, not that relationship, but love as a concept, as a way to live, as a way to connect myself to everything and everyone everywhere. The song is also named after the album by the Red Hot Chili Peppers which was a very prominent topic between myself and my friends at the time.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers happened to come up in our interview with Water from Your Eyes, whose latest album, Everyone’s Crushed, dropped earlier this year.
“I’m tired of anger,” Sadie Dupuis declares on ‘Ghostwriter’, the closing track on Speedy Ortiz’s new album Rabbit Rabbit. “How to move on?” And then, “How do I let go?” Throughout the LP – the band’s first in five years – the frontwoman rarely lays her feelings bare in such a direct manner, but these are questions folded at the core of its songs, which are captivating as ever but hardly a departure sonically. Featuring returning guitarist Andy Molholt and two touring members who are now full-time contributors, bassist Audrey Zee Whitesides and drummer Joey Doubek, they wander down winding paths, reconciling poetic lyrics and indie rock hooks while showing no cloying reliance on either. Dupuis pierces through and gnaws at familiar subjects – old trauma, climate catastrophe, workaholism, hypocrisy of all sorts – in ways that make the exhaustion she expresses at the end sound, if not contradictory, then worth it: she hasn’t figured it out, for herself or anyone, but she has been moving on and letting go. Sometimes, you need to ask for change to realize you’re already facilitating it.
On the surface, Speedy Ortiz songs can seem emotionally and musically tangled, even detached. The titles of some of these tracks, often applied retroactively, find Dupuis referencing pop culture and media (TV shows, actors, the Dismemberment Plan) in ways that might only seem tangentially related to their content, which could muddy their impact; others are sharp reflections on an industry that avoid actively exploring the singer’s role or experiences within it. But Dupuis works with an ability to write through, not always about, and her personal voice shines through even the most unpredictable arrangements. Against tumbling guitars and remarkably fluid drumming, her confidence breezes through the noisy ‘Kim Cattral’, which stands in direct opposition to the burnout-fuelled uncertainty of the closer but begins to tackle the same questions around devoting yourself to art – or any cause. On ‘Ballad of Y & S’, which alludes to Yoko Ono and Sylvia Plath, she reconnects with the power of confessional art by considering and including herself in its lineage: “I am an artist and I am for hire, taking materials out of the pyre/ Working for lovers hunting for meaning/ You can take it from me.”
Even if Dupuis left herself entirely out of the narrative, her commentary would still be compelling. The LA type she targets on ‘You S02’ is just one of many manipulative, self-righteous characters, but she sneers at them with the sort of attention that almost resembles sympathy – “It’s no small claim to say your acolyte is a voice in your head you drown out when your work’s not sitting right/ Head to your weekend home, pass out for the strike” – but only drives the sting deeper. ‘Scabs’ was inspired by overhearing customers at the post office berating a USPS employee at a time of significant budget cuts, in line with the general theme of personal convenience ultimately trumping (performative) ethics. Though seething with a hunger for revenge that’s never satisfied, the song offers a little piece of wisdom: “If we’re adults then why macromanage every conviction?” Even when Dupuis’ perspective is murky, the instrumentation illuminates it; on ‘Who’s Afraid of the Bath’, which explores the complicated relationship between projecting violent fantasies for the sake of art and real instances of violence, it’s dissonant, almost damaged in its evocation of that same music.
More than staring down her demons, Dupuis tends to swim alongside them. But it’s the songs that display an open-hearted, bracing vulnerability, especially towards the end, that take Rabbit Rabbit to another level. ‘Cry Cry Cry’ brings to mind another song Sarah Tudzin of illuminati hotties co-produced, Pom Pom Squad’s ‘Crying’, though this one unpacks an inability to tap into such overt expression of feeling: “Make my way down the path of pain but I never stop to see it.” From an early age, though, she’s strived to make good use of other outlets. “I want the power and my beat is dangerous, puncturing the sky,” she sings on ‘The Sunday’, remembering when she first started playing drums as a teenager. To capture the memory – to really remember and trace it down the present – she quiets the music and makes it glisten. “Sunday’s becoming Monday,” yesterday becomes today, you’re becoming an adult. You grow – there’s no point asking how. But there’s magic in it, and Sadie Dupuis is a witness.
In the ever-changing landscape of the entertainment industry, casinos have stood the test of time, continuously adapting and evolving to remain a popular choice for millions of patrons worldwide. Over the decades, casinos have leveraged technological advancements, changing consumer preferences, and emerging trends to not just sustain but thrive. Let us delve into how casinos have metamorphosed to stay at the pinnacle of popularity.
Technological Innovations
Digital Transition
The biggest change in recent years has been the transition from brick-and-mortar establishments to online platforms. The digital era ushered in online casinos, bringing the casino experience to the fingertips of players globally.
Mobile Gaming
With the advent of smartphones, casinos swiftly moved to mobile platforms, offering apps and mobile-friendly websites to cater to the on-the-go lifestyle of modern players.
Live Dealer Games
Live dealer games have bridged the gap between traditional and online casinos, providing a real-time gaming experience from the comfort of one’s home.
Diversified Game Libraries
Innovative Slot Machines
Slot machines have undergone a remarkable transformation, with modern slots offering exciting themes, interactive bonus rounds, and progressive jackpots.
Expanded Table Game Varieties
Casinos have introduced various versions of classic table games, including different roulette and blackjack variants, to keep the gaming experience fresh and exciting.
Emphasis on Experience
Themed Resorts
Many land-based casinos have morphed into themed resorts, offering a comprehensive entertainment package, including restaurants, shopping malls, and theatrical shows, to enhance the customer experience.
Loyalty Programs
Casinos introduced loyalty programs to reward regular customers, enhancing customer retention through perks such as free plays, complimentary meals, and VIP services. Goldenbet is a key example of this, with one of the best VIP programs and some incredible exlcusive bonuses available.
Responsible Gaming Initiatives
To counter the adverse effects of gambling and foster a sustainable gaming environment, casinos have adopted various responsible gaming measures, including setting betting limits and offering self-exclusion options.
Engaging Marketing Strategies
Bonuses and Promotions
Casinos have devised attractive bonus schemes and promotional offers to entice players, providing added value and enhancing the gaming experience.
Collaborations with Celebrities
Collaborations with celebrities for endorsements and themed games have become a popular marketing strategy, helping to attract a wider audience.
Incorporating Emerging Trends
Esports Betting
To cater to a younger demographic, casinos have embraced esports betting, offering wagering options on popular video game tournaments.
Cryptocurrency Transactions
Many online casinos like Mystake have started accepting cryptocurrencies, leveraging the benefits of secure, anonymous, and low-fee transactions.
Conclusion
Casinos have demonstrated a remarkable ability to adapt and reinvent themselves to remain a popular choice for entertainment seekers. By leveraging technological advancements and aligning with changing consumer preferences, casinos have created a dynamic and ever-evolving space that caters to a diverse audience.
As we forge ahead, it will be interesting to observe how casinos continue to morph to maintain their allure, embracing new technologies and trends to offer an entertainment experience that is both thrilling and inclusive. The casino industry stands as a testament to the fact that with innovation and adaptation, it is possible to remain at the helm, riding waves of changes with grace and agility.
As we take a step back to assess the trajectory of the gambling industry over the last decade, it is evident that a sea change has occurred, altering not only how games are played but also how they are perceived. From unprecedented technological advancements to shifts in regulatory landscapes, the past decade has been revolutionary for gambling globally. Let’s delve deeper into the multifaceted evolution that the gambling sphere has undergone.
Technological Advancements
Mobile Gaming
Mobile gaming emerged as a powerhouse, with smartphones becoming the primary tool for accessing gambling platforms. Operators adapted to this trend by optimizing their sites for mobile use, creating apps, and introducing features that enhance the mobile gaming experience.
Live Dealer Games
Live casinos brought the brick-and-mortar casino experience to players’ living rooms, offering real-time gaming experiences with live dealers, thus merging the best of both worlds.
VR and AR Technologies
Towards the latter part of the decade, VR and AR technologies started to gain ground, promising to revolutionize the gaming experience by creating immersive 3D casino environments.
Regulatory Shifts
Stricter Regulations in Established Markets
Markets like the UK saw the introduction of more stringent regulations aimed at promoting responsible gambling, including measures like stake limits and advertising restrictions. However, this has brough about issues across the UK market, with non Gamstop casinos at bestnongamstopcasinos.net now opening up, which are allowing players to still keep to non-restricted betting and less verification requirements.
Legalization in Emerging Markets
Conversely, many regions started to open up to gambling, with countries legalizing various forms of gambling, thereby fostering new markets and opportunities.
Diversification of Payment Methods
Cryptocurrency
The introduction of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin brought about a fundamental change in the transaction methods, offering anonymity, lower fees, and enhanced security.
Digital Wallets
Digital wallets and other modern payment solutions became popular, providing quick and hassle-free transaction processes.
Industry Consolidation
Mergers and acquisitions became a common phenomenon, leading to the formation of gambling giants and a more consolidated market landscape.
The Rise of Social Gambling
Social gambling, which encompasses free-to-play games on social media platforms, grew exponentially, bringing the joy of gaming to a broader audience without the risks associated with real money gambling.
Esports and Sports Betting
In-Play Betting
Sports betting evolved with features like in-play betting, which allows players to bet on events as they unfold in real-time.
Esports Betting
Esports betting surged, riding on the popularity of competitive video gaming and attracting a younger, digital-savvy audience.
Enhanced Focus on Responsible Gambling
Responsible gambling became a focal point, with operators introducing tools to help players control their gambling behaviour and prevent addiction.
Conclusion
The last decade has been a period of dynamic change for the gambling industry, marked by technological innovations, regulatory shifts, and the emergence of new gaming avenues. As the industry stands on the threshold of a new era, it carries forward a legacy of innovation, a commitment to responsible gambling, and the promise of an exciting, inclusive future for both new and seasoned players alike.
Drawing lessons from a decade rich with developments, it sets a fertile ground for a future replete with innovations that aim to make gambling safer, more entertaining, and more accessible to a global audience. It will be fascinating to witness the trajectories that the next decade will carve in the ever-evolving landscape of gambling.
Indigo Sparke has put out a new single, ‘In the Garden’, alongside an accompanying video. The track was co-written by Charlift’s Patrick Wimberly and produced by Jake Portait of Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Check it out below.
“This song was born out of a mystical connection to Mary Magdalene,” Sparke explained in a statement. “To her grace and myth in a time when there were only unanswered questions and chaos. To all the different faces of her through time. The mother, the whore, the healer, the maiden, the crone, the priestess. I was astounded by how she manifests through women now in the 21st century and how more and more women are rebelling to be trapped by the limiting boxes of just playing one role. What is the myth of sinning? How did we separate from nature after the story of Eve and the apple? What knowledge did the seed contain? It seems that women were often the bringers of consciousness and that the patriarchy monopolized off this connection to the void and all creation. I wanted to explore this in the song and create a sphere and portal for all archetypes to be explored without prescriptive commentary. Something to move to and feel free in.”
Hotline TNT, the project led by Brooklyn-based musician Will Anderson, has announced their new album and Third Man Records debut, Cartwheel. It arrives on November 3, and it includes the previously released track ‘Protocol’, which made our Best New Songs roundup. New single ‘I Thought You’d Change’ is out today alongside an Eric Rahill-directed video. Check it out find the album cover and tracklist below.
“This song is about wanting a friendship to turn into something more, seeing it happen against all odds, wondering if it was the right thing to do, then wanting it to change back to a friendship or even a secret third style of attachment that I can’t identify or hold onto,” Anderson explained in a statement. “This is the first time I’ve written a song that switches back and forth between two narrators, and I’m not sure which words are supposed to be mine and which are from my lover.”
Cartwheel Cover Artwork:
Cartwheel Tracklist:
1. Protocol
2. I Thought You’d Change
3. Beauty Filter
4. History Channel
5. I Know You
6. Son In Law
7. Out of Town
8. Maxine
9. That Was My Life
10. Spot Me
11. BMX
12. Stump
GUTS, the much-anticipated follow-up to 2021’s Sour, has arrived. Olivia Rodrigo previewed the LP, which was recorded with Sour producer Dan Nigro, with the singles 
The xx’s Romy has released her debut solo album, 
James Blake has returned with a new album, 
Deeper have dropped their latest album and first for 
Tinashe is back with a new album called 
Róisín Murph’s new LP, 
Anjimile has unveiled his new album and 
Manchester-born, London-based songwriter and saxophonist Alabaster dePlume has issued a new full-length, 
Courtney Barnett has put out a new instrumental album, 
