Hannah Jadagu has shared a new single, ‘Admit It’, alongside an accompanying video. It’s taken from her forthcoming debut LP Aperture, which has already been previewed with the tracks ‘Say It Now’, ‘What You Did’, and ‘Warning Sign’. Check out the song below.
“‘Admit It’ is centered around being there for someone you typically lean on,” Jadagu explained in a statement. “It’s about the value of a certain strength and support that can come from family. I wanted that same idea to come across in the production of the song, which is inspired by music I listened to during my childhood.”
Alaska Reid has released ‘She Wonders’, the second offering from her forthcoming album Disenchanter. Check it out below.
“Personalities of touring artists are like nesting dolls. People reveal different elements of themselves to fans, the touring group, the rest of the band, and so on,” Reid said of ‘She Wonders’ in a press release. “I grew up playing a shit-ton of dive bars, just me and my guitar. I wanted the song to reflect how psychologically exhausting it is, treating the chorus like an inner monologue cornered by how lonely and uncool live indie music can feel.”
What does the dancefloor look and feel like on Fuse, Everything But the Girl’s first album in 24 years? The answer isn’t always clear. On opener and lead single ‘Nothing Left to Lose’, which buzzes with urgency more than any hint of nostalgia, it serves as a vast backdrop to the apocalypse and a vehicle for pathos: “Kiss me while the world decays/ Kiss me while the music plays.” On ‘No One Knows We’re Dancing’, it’s a sort of imagined space that threads the stories of different characters in the same hypnotic loop, as told from the perspective of a man shut out from the world. And what about the weary and desolate ‘Interior Space’, which finds Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn evoking an “alien place” inside one’s own mind? Could that be taking place inside the dancefloor, too, in the darkness surrounded by strangers?
Everything But the Girl make mesmerizing, carefully crafted songs that are easy to slip into and identify with, but the beauty is almost always what’s bristling beneath the surface, or what’s just out of view. You can trace Fuse’s emotional trajectory by simply skimming through the tracklist – the apparent defiance of early singles ‘Run a Red Light’ and ‘Caution to the Wind’ precedes the wistfulness of ‘When You Mess Up’ and ‘Lost’. But spend time with ‘Run a Red Light’ and you’ll find that the familiar need for escape (“Forget the losers, forget the morning, put a tune on, put your feet up”) underlies a deeper longing for something ineffable, but captured in the fractured melancholy of the piano-led instrumental. ‘Caution to the Wind’ ups the tempo, reaching for the celestial in light of Thorn’s imagery; but the more she sings of home, the more its steady, comforting groove feels like a cycle that keeps the hidden fire inside burning. “Let me in, let me in, let me in,” Thorn pleads, even though it sounds like she’s already there.
There’s barely any reminiscing here – as the writing flits between observational and introspective, it remains locked in the present, wary of veering into sentimentality but still awash with emotion. And even as they pick up more or less where they left off with 1999’s Temperamental, what’s more impressive is that the duo finds new ways of expressing it. Not only does the album begin with an admission of vulnerability – “I need a thicker skin/ This pain keeps getting in” – but Thorn allows it to seep into her vocals, an imperfect tremble left exposed as the music softens. To that effect, they also make the refreshing choice of manipulating her voice, which you can hear warped and eroded on songs like ‘When You Mess Up’ and ‘Interior Space’. Far from diminishing their impact, the experimentation creates a stronger alignment between Thorn’s presence and the woozy, haunting soundscapes it occupies.
Instead of signaling a triumphant comeback, the songs on Fuse favor a mindful, organic directness that can feel especially poignant. The messages aren’t simple, exactly, but nor are they too esoteric or obfuscated. “I hate people who give me advice,” Thorn sings self-consciously on ‘When You Mess Up’, after giving some of her best: “Have a drink, talk too loud/ Be a fool in the crowd/ But forgive yourself.” ‘Lost’ tackles grief by naming all the ways it displaces you, the day-to-day losses that echo down from the big one. The weight of it can hit you anywhere, anytime, so the song doesn’t give us those details. But on ‘Karaoke’, the final track, the setting is clearly laid out. The singer observes and then joins the crowd at a karaoke bar, just like one would on the dancefloor, losing herself in a moment before her voice rises back up. “Do you see me?/ I’m standing in the light/ Are we feeling something?” she wonders, not trapped but revitalized. For all that’s lost, it’s a sense of purpose they hold on to.
Mega Bog has shared a new single from her upcoming album End of Everything, which arrives May 19 on Mexican Summer. This one’s called ‘Cactus People’, and it follows the previously released tracks ‘The Clown’ and ‘Love Is’. Check out its accompanying video below.
“This song is a transparent call to practice addressing what lies at the feared feet of abandonment,” Erin Birgy explained in a statement. “All of a sudden I realized I was running away, with a black widow bite, collapsing on a trail several hours out of town, alone. Reacting to something inevitable, something I desired even, and taking notes of images arising while pitting emotionality against logic. At the time they felt like enemies, but somewhere in there was a seed wailing, ‘just watch yourself unfold.’”
Of the video, she added: “While making the video for ‘Cactus People,’ similar thrills and fears had me run to Greece, where I watched old patterns rear their noses once more, but with a brazen clarity – geographically, surrounded by new and inspiring friends, all with that ancient, echoing reminder of the stones we were born to bear, who we’ll have to embrace as company to find any peace throughout this life.”
Foo Fighters have announced But Here We Are, their first album since the death of Taylor Hawkins. Produced by longtime collaborator Greg Kurstin and the band, the follow-up to 2021’s Medicine at Midnight is out June 2 (via Roswell Records/Columbia Records), and its lead single, ‘Rescued’, is out today. Check it out below.
According to a press release, But Here We Are is “a testament to the healing powers of music, friendship and family” and “a brutally honest and emotionally raw response to everything Foo Fighters endured over the last year.” Hawkins passed away last year while on tour with the band in Bogotá, Colombia.
But Here We Are Cover Artwork:
But Here We Are Tracklist:
1. Rescued
2. Under You
3. Hearing Voices
4. But Here We Are
5. The Glass
6. Nothing At All
7. Show Me How
8. Beyond Me
9. The Teacher
10. Rest
Alabaster DePlume has released a new single, ‘Salty Road Dogs Victory Anthem’, via International Anthem. Featuring Rozi Plain on bass, Momoko Gill on drums, and Conrad Singh on guitar, the track marks the composer’s first new music since the release of GOLD last year. Check it out below.
“Even this very second, passing your eyes over these words, is a victory,” DePlume reflected in a statement about the song. “Breathing, you are victorious. Childishly standing with my flag and my anthem of ‘I’m alive’ I’m victorious. See inside, how you have your own permission, to be. Celebrated or not by others, in one moment, always, or never. You know you are here and you know this is a victory. We can always be more ourselves, and we can always be less so. But there is no ceremony we must wait for, no test, no judgement, before we can sing our victory anthem.”
‘Salty Road Dogs Victory Anthem’ will be available as a 7” flexi disc on May 19, with artwork from Raimund Wongand, and will be accompanied by a digital-only B-side called ‘Child Playing in the Forbidden Ruins’.
The Walkmen made their first public performance in 10 years on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert last night (April 18), where they played ‘The Rat’ from 2004’s Bows and Arrows. Check it out below.
“Ever since we started the Walkmen, we’ve done everything by the seat of our pants. We don’t ‘plan’ much,” the band wrote in a statement. “So during our Zoom ‘planning’ meeting, we decided the best way to play together for the very first time would be on national television without a single rehearsal. It will be the first time we all have played together in 10 years. I guess there will be a soundcheck but we don’t even know if this equipment works.”
The Walkmen’s 2023 reunion tour kicks off on April 24 at New York’s Webster Hall and includes dates in Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta.
Squid have released a new single, ‘Undergrowth’, which will appear on their forthcoming LP O Monolith. The track, which follows lead offering ‘Swing (In a Dream)’, arrives with a visual directed by the band’s Louis Borlaise, as well as its own video game made by Frank Force. Check out the visualizer below and the video game here.
“I really got into animism, the idea that spirits can live in inanimate objects,” vocalist and drummer Ollie Judge explained in a statement. “I was watching Twin Peaks, and there was the episode where Josie Packard’s spirit goes into a chest of drawers. So ‘Undergrowth’ was written from the perspective of me being reincarnated as a bedside table in the afterlife, and how the thought of being reincarnated as an inanimate object would be dreadful… Even though I’m in no way religious I don’t think anyone who isn’t religious is confident enough to not have had the fleeting thought of ‘Fuck, what if there is an afterlife? What if I’m going to Hell?’”
Force commented: “Imagine the game itself as an interactive music video where gameplay and animation is synched up to the music and changes as the song progresses, moving into different phases”.
Talking about ‘No One Knows We’re Dancing’, Tracey Thorn said in a statement: “I think we all missed the communality of nightlife and going out during the pandemic. The song is a eulogy to the heyday of packed Sunday clubs – the faces, the secret life, the clubs where Ben DJ’d in the early 2000s.”
“The tempo is deliberately dreamlike,” Ben Watt added. “Slowed-down disco, like a memory. We asked producer-DJ Ewan Pearson to add some body to the groove and he sprinkles some delicious extra synth lines and thickens the Italo-flavoured drums.”
At first glance, it seems that clothes made from natural fabrics should be environmentally friendly, while those made from synthetic fabrics should be harmful to nature. In fact, cotton clothes are not the same as eco-friendly clothes.
Sustainable production of clothes and accessories has become a trend, as well as taking care of a person’s health and organism. Many people go for a massage to make their body feel comfortable. Visiting a spa centre is no longer a fad of the rich, but a path to mental balance and a healthy body. Aroma massage centre offers a wide range of services, from European massage Abu Dhabi to Moroccan bath with massage.
In terms of the amount of resources consumed and hazardous emissions, the fashion industry can only compete with the oil industry. Therefore, the leading representatives of the fashion world are increasingly expressing the opinion that fashion should become more environmentally friendly. This is how the term “sustainable fashion” appeared.
Sustainable fashion is a new look at the fashion industry, that is based on the principles of conscious consumption, ethical production, orientation towards long-term use, and care for the world and people. In other words, sustainable fashion is not a fashion trend that is destined to last no more than a season, but a way of life, a radically new way of thinking.
The main principles of sustainable fashion include the following:
Sustainability, which includes the use of organic, eco-friendly or recycled fabrics, appropriate sustainable fittings, and packaging.
In response to the problem of environmental pollution, a variety of biomaterials have appeared on the market. Rose petal silk is used to make shirts, and coats are made from pineapple skin. Cashmere is made from soy. Now it is important to scale up these technologies to replace more environmentally hazardous materials.
Cruelty-free is a term for animal-humane production. For example, in the cosmetics industry, the cruelty-free label is a sign that the product has not been tested on animals and does not contain animal products; in the fashion industry, the principle is the same. Most fashion houses have already eliminated fur from their collections. A sustainable industry is about protecting the rights of not only people, but also their four-legged friends.
Ethics, consisting in the timely payment of a fair salary to employees, the refusal to use ethically obtained animal materials, etc.
Zero waste, which includes the use of only one material in the composition, separate collection of waste in production, customising, the ability to change the product for yourself and much more.
Transparency, confirmed by the presence on the eco-brand website of a section dedicated to ecology, a separate section on the brand’s social networks about its ethics and environmental friendliness.
The economy, expressed in supporting socially vulnerable segments of the population, also supporting the local economy, folk crafts, etc.
From the point of view of the buyer of things, there are several points that will help nature:
If you’re not ready to dress head-to-toe in eco-friendly brands just yet, you can help the environment by cutting back on clothing purchases. The concept of “carefully selected wardrobe” is gaining more and more popularity, which means the presence in the closet of a minimum of things that are perfectly combined with each other. Before you buy another t-shirt with a funny print, consider that it takes many litres of water and a lot of dye to create it. It is also worth taking proper care of things, which will prolong their lives.
Do not rush to throw away boring things. Clothing that has lost its presentable appearance can be recycled. Many stores have collection points for old items, where they give discount coupons for new collections in return. Things in good condition can be donated to charity, thrift stores, or second-hand shops.
It’s time to refuse the plastic bags that many people bring from every store. Most plastic bags break down in nature over hundreds or even thousands of years, poisoning water, soil, destroying wildlife, and releasing toxic substances into the atmosphere when burned. Good alternatives can be simple shoppers that you can use over and over, or eco-friendly designer accessories that replace factory stamping.
To sum up, sustainable fashion is changing the principles of consumption: it focuses on extending the life cycle of things, and also has the least impact on the environment.
A brand can be called sustainable if it uses such practices, and materials, as to minimise environmental damage. At the same time, the manufacturer of fabrics and clothing must pay taxes to support the local economy. Decent working conditions and wages, gender equality, and full transparency are still important things in the principles of a sustainable brand.
