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Ed Sheeran Announces New Album ‘Subtract’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Ed Sheeran Announces New Album ‘Subtract’

Ed Sheeran has announced a new album, Subtract (stylized as –). It will mark his final mathematical-themed LP, following 2011’s +, 2014’s x, and 2017’s ÷. Produced by Aaron Dessner, to whom Sheeran was introduced by mutual friend Taylor Swift, Subtract comes out May 5 via Atlantic. Check out its cover artwork and tracklist below.

“I had been working on Subtract for a decade, trying to sculpt the perfect acoustic album, writing and recording hundreds of songs with a clear vision of what I thought it should be,” Sheeran wrote in a statement. “Then at the start of 2022, a series of events changed my life, my mental health, and ultimately the way I viewed music and art.” He continued:

Writing songs is my therapy. It helps me make sense of my feelings. I wrote without thought of what the songs would be, I just wrote whatever tumbled out. And in just over a week, I replaced a decade’s worth of work with my deepest darkest thoughts.

Within the space of a month, my pregnant wife got told she had a tumour, with no route to treatment until after the birth. My best friend Jamal, a brother to me, died suddenly and I found myself standing in court defending my integrity and career as a songwriter. I was spiralling through fear, depression and anxiety.

I felt like I was drowning, head below the surface, looking up but not being able to break through for air.

As an artist I didn’t feel like I could credibly put a body of work into the world that didn’t accurately represent where I am and how I need to express myself at this point in my life. This album is purely that. It’s opening the trapdoor into my soul. For the first time I’m not trying to craft an album people will like, I’m merely putting something out that’s honest and true to where I am in my adult life.

This is last February’s diary entry and my way of making sense of it. This is Subtract.

Subtract Cover Artwork: 

Subtract Tracklist:

1. Boat
2. Salt Water
3. Eyes Closed
4. Life Goes On
5. Dusty
6. End Of Youth
7. Colourblind
8. Curtains
9. Borderline
10. Spark
11. Vega
12. Sycamore
13. No Strings
14. The Hills of Aberfeldy

Evan Rachel Wood Denies Pressuring Marilyn Manson Accuser Who Recanted Claim

Konstantinos Pappis
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Evan Rachel Wood Denies Pressuring Marilyn Manson Accuser Who Recanted Claim

Evan Rachel Wood is refuting Ashley Morgan Smithline’s claim that Wood “manipulated” her into making allegations of rape against Marilyn Manson. According to new court documents obtained by Rolling Stone, Wood submitted text messages, DMs, screenshots of Instagram comments, and voicemails dating back to 2019 that, she says, serve as evidence that Smithline was lying when she claimed Wood pressured her into accusing Manson.

“I never pressured or manipulated Ashley Morgan Smithline to make any accusations against Plaintiff Brian Warner, and I certainly never pressured or manipulated her to make accusations that were not true,” Wood said in a statement filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday. “It was Ms. Smithline who first contacted me in March 2019.”

Wood referred to a comment Smithline made on Wood’s Instagram on March 11, 2019, at which time Wood had not publicly named Manson as the alleged perpetrator, nor had she ever met or talked to Smithline. “When he had me captive in the stupid ballet studio, I cringed hearing him brag about replaying that scene from rules of attraction to you,” the comment said, according to the court filing. “I thought no one would ever talk about this.”

Furthermore, Wood submitted an Instagram DM from 2021, just after People published a cover story detailing the alleged abuse Smithiline suffered while in a relationship with Manson. It read, “I can’t breathe. I have no reason to make this up.” To which Wood replied, “Don’t let anybody get to you. Just sit in your truth.”

The filing also includes two June 2022 voicemails from Smithline to a friend in which she reports being contacted by Manson’s attorney, Howard King, who she believed wanted her to retract her allegations. “Don’t repeat this to anyone. I swear to God, don’t say this to anyone … but I did get a private message on my cellular telephone from Marilyn Manson’s lawyer saying, ‘I was wondering if we could just talk,’” Smithline said in the voicemail. “The only reason he’d be calling me… is that he thinks I’m the weak link and he might want to settle with me to turn on the other girls and say that it was all a ruse.”

“It is unsurprising that Evan Rachel Wood is desperately fighting to keep Ashley Smithline’s testimony out of court – because she knows the truth will expose her plot to manipulate the women who trusted her in order to destroy Brian Warner,” King said in a statement. “Brian Warner never abused anyone. Ashley Smithline has told the truth. It’s sadly predictable that Evan Rachel Wood – someone who has already filed a forged FBI letter under oath in other court proceedings – remains committed to not doing the same.”

King also denied that he had improperly reached out to Smithline in a statement to People, saying: “I never discussed Ashley Smithline’s claims against Brian Warner until after she had reached out to me and terminated her counsel. Moreover, when Ms. Smithline recently spoke with me for almost two hours, we taped the conversation in full and that recording proves that every single thing in her declaration was taken from her words, not mine.”

“Evan’s full of shit. That’s my comment,” Smithline told Rolling Stone. “She’s saying anything she can to discredit me.”

At a hearing on Tuesday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Teresa A. Beaudet denied Warner’s attorneys’ ex parte application to include Smithline’s declaration as evidence in the case. “There really is no explanation as to why this [declaration] is bubbling up at this time,” the judge said.

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Maximize Your Workouts for Incredible Health Results

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Maximize Your Workouts for Incredible Health Results

Are you looking for ways to maximize your workout routines in order to achieve better health results? If so, you are on the right track! Working out is an essential part of any healthy lifestyle and can help lead to improved physical fitness and emotional well-being.

That being said, there are many different approaches one can take when it comes to an exercise routine. Here, we will discuss some tips and tricks that you can use to make your workouts more effective for better health results.

Listen to Music:

Music can be a powerful motivator during your workouts. Not only does it keep you entertained, but it also helps to increase your heart rate and keeps you motivated and energized throughout the entire exercise session.

Experiment with Strength Training:

Strength training is a great way to increase your overall strength and build muscle. It involves activities such as lifting weights, doing bodyweight exercises, or using resistance bands. This type of exercise will help you build a strong foundation and ensure you can keep up with any exercise you do in the future.

Stretch Before and After:

Stretching before and after a workout can help improve your flexibility and range of motion and reduce the risk of injury. It is essential to warm up by doing dynamic stretches before you start any type of exercise routine to get your body ready for physical activity. After finishing your workout session, make sure that you take time to stretch out your muscles and cool down properly. This will help avoid post-workout muscle pain and soreness.

Invest in High Compression Leggings:

High compression leggings are a great way to ensure your body is properly supported during workouts. They provide support for your muscles and joints, help reduce fatigue, and can assist in improving circulation. Investing in high compression leggings will not only make you look good but also add an extra layer of protection while you push yourself further into the workout session.

Wear the Right Workout Shoes:

Having the right pair of shoes is essential when it comes to exercise. Choosing the right shoe type for your activity can help support your feet and ankles, reduce the risk of injury, and increase your overall performance. If you’re unsure which type of shoes to get, speak with a professional at a running store or talk to a knowledgeable friend who can advise on what type would best suit your needs.

Make Sure to Eat a Nutritious Meal Afterwards:

Eating a nutritious meal after a workout is just as important as physical activity. Eating healthy food will help replenish your body’s energy stores and provide essential nutrients for muscle recovery and growth. Focus on foods that are high in protein, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats to get the most out of your post-workout meals.

By following these simple tips and tricks, you can ensure that your workouts are as effective as possible and maximize the health results of each session. In addition, don’t forget to listen to music, experiment with strength training, stretch before and after exercise, invest in high compression leggings, wear the right workout shoes, and make sure to eat a nutritious meal afterward! With a bit of effort on your part, you will be well on your way to achieving better health results.

Shalom Unveils New Single ‘Lighter’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Shalom Unveils New Single ‘Lighter’

Shalom has previewed her forthcoming album Sublimation with a new single, ‘Lighter’. Following previous entries ‘Soccer Mommy’ and ‘Happenstance’, the track comes paired with a visual animated by Rory Alene. Check it out below.

“This song is one of my favorite things I’ve ever made,” Shalom said of ‘Lighter’ in a press release. “I wrote it in 45 minutes and sent it to Ryan (Hemsworth), he sent it back with the guitars, and I fell in love with myself by making a song about wanting to be someone else.”

Sublimation is set to arrive on March 10 via Saddle Creek.

Yves Tumor Shares Video for New Single ‘Heaven Surrounds Us Like a Hood’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Yves Tumor Shares Video for New Single ‘Heaven Surrounds Us Like a Hood’

Yves Tumor has released ‘Heaven Surrounds Us Like a Hood’, the latest offering from their upcoming LP Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds). Following earlier singles ‘God Is a Circle’ and ‘Echolalia’, the track was co-produced by Noah Goldstein and Yves Rothman and arrives alongside a Cody Critcheloe-directed music video. Watch and listen below.

Yves Tumor’s new album, which follows 2020’s Heaven to a Tortured Mind, is set to arrive on March 17 via Warp.

Lael Neale Shares Video for New Song ‘In Verona’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Lael Neale Shares Video for New Song ‘In Verona’

Lael Neael has unveiled ‘In Verona’, the latest single from her forthcoming record, alongside a self-directed video. It follows the previously released track ‘I Am the River’, which landed on our our Best New Songs segment. Check it out below.

Star Eaters Delight, Neale’s follow-up to her Sub Pop debut Acquainted With Night, comes out on April 21. Revisit our Artist Spotlight interview with Lael Neal.

Water From Your Eyes Announce New Album ‘Everyone’s Crushed’, Share Video for New Single ‘Barley’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Water From Your Eyes Announce New Album ‘Everyone’s Crushed’, Share Video for New Single ‘Barley’

Water From Your Eyes have announced a new album, Everyone’s Crushed, the duo’s first since signing with Matador. It’s scheduled for release on May 26. Today, they’ve shared the lead single ‘Barley’, alongside a video directed by the band’s Rachel Brown. Check it out and find the LP’s cover art, tracklist, and Water from Your Eyes’ upcoming tour dates below.

“’Barley’ is a rhythmic sound collage experiment drawing from modern classical, classic rock, and dance music,” the band explained in a statement. “The lyrics suggest repeated futile attempts at attaining the unattainable and allude to Sting and Sonic Youth. The video mirrors these concepts in scope, texture, and variety – juxtaposing feelings of entrapment and late stage capitalism against the sense of freedom inherent to the vast American landscape. Despite all this heady bullshit the song is, at its core, fun.”

Everyone’s Crushed will follow the band’s 2021 record Structure. Late last year, Brown released the solo collection You Haven’t Missed Much under the moniker thanks for coming. More recently, the pair shared a remix of Winter’s ‘good’.

Everyone’s Crushed Cover Artwork:

Everyone’s Crushed Tracklist:

1. Structure
2. Barley
3. Out There
4. Open
5. Everyone’s Crushed
6. True Life
7. Remember Not My Name
8. 14
9. Buy My Product

Water From Your Eyes 2023 Tour Dates:

Mar 16 Brooklyn, NY Residency Night #1 – Secret Location
Mar 24 Brooklyn, NY Residency Night #2 – P.I.T.
Apr 7 Iowa City, IA – Mission Creek Festival
Apr 8 Omaha, NE – Slowdown *#
Apr 10 Fort Collins, CO – Aggie Theatre *#
Apr 11 Boulder, CO – Fox Theatre *#
Apr 12 Salt Lake City, UT – Soundwell *#
Apr 13 Las Vegas, NV – Area15 *#
Apr 14 Bakersfield, CA – Temblor Brew #
Apr 15 Oakland, CA – Eli’s #
Apr 16 San Luis Obispo, CA – Fremont Theater *#
Apr 18 Reno, NV – Cargo Concert Hall *#
Apr 19 Roseville, CA – Goldfield Trading Post *
Apr 20 Santa Cruz, CA – Rio Theatre *
Apr 21 Los Angeles, CA – Zebulon #
Apr 22 Phoenix, AZ – Trunk Space #
Apr 23 Flagstaff, AZ – Yucca North *#
Apr 24 El Paso, TX – Lowbrow Palace *#
Apr 25 Albuquerque, NM – Sister *#
Apr 27 Oklahoma City, OK – Jones Assembly *#
Apr 28 Fayetteville, AR – George’s Majestic Lounge *#
Apr 29 Memphis, TN – Black Lodge *#
May 1 Indianapolis, IN – The Vogue *#
May 02 Cincinnati, OH – Woodward Theater *#
May 04 Morgantown, WV – 123 Pleasant Street *#
May 05 Richmond, VA – Friday Cheers *#
May 06 Winston-Salem, NC – The Ramkat *#
May 07 Atlanta, GA – Shaky Knees
Jun 24 Calgary, Alberta – Sled Island

* with Snail Mail
# with Dazy

Youth Lagoon Announces New Album ‘Heaven Is a Junkyard’, Releases New Single

Konstantinos Pappis
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Youth Lagoon Announces New Album ‘Heaven Is a Junkyard’, Releases New Single

Trevor Powers has announced his first new album under the Youth Lagoon moniker in seven years. The follow-up to Savage Hills Ballroom is called Heaven Is a Junkyard, and it arrives June 9 via Fat Possum. Today’s announcement comes with the release of the new single ‘Idaho Alien’, alongside a Tyler T. Williams-directed video. Watch and listen below.

“Heaven Is a Junkyard is about all of us,” Powers said in a press release. “It’s stories of brothers leaving for war, drunk fathers learning to hug, mothers falling in love, neighbors stealing mail, cowboys doing drugs, friends skipping school, me crying in the bathtub, dogs catching rabbits, and children playing in tall grass.”

Discussing ‘Idaho Alien’, Powers explained:

I wait for good mistakes. I spend a lot of time feeling around in the dark. For every thousand ideas I have, I have one good mistake. I was fuckin’ around on the piano one day and found ‘Idaho Alien.’ It felt like it already existed and I just dug it up.

I’ve always loved old hardboiled crime novels. They’re twisted but pure. ‘Idaho Alien’ comes from that space. Home often feels like a Jim Thompson book. One of my neighbors smokes meth all day and mows the lawn at 2:00 am. Her boyfriend lived in a tent in her backyard, and one day she locked him out of the house so he went as far as trying to stab her. He got sent to prison for 10 years. She told me she still loves him, and I told her she deserves better. The last time I asked her not to mow the lawn at 2:00 am, we wound up talking about aliens and Subway sandwiches. Every November, a church group rakes her leaves and tells her about Jesus. I don’t think it’s working.

Heaven Is a Junkyard Cover Artwork:

Heaven Is a Junkyard Tracklist:

1. Rabbit
2. Idaho Alien
3. Prizefighter
4. The Sling
5. Lux Radio Theatre
6. Deep Red Sea
7. Trapeze Artist
8. Mercury
9. Little Devil from the Country
10. Helicopter Toy

Berlinale Review: Allensworth (2022)

Ryan Akler-Bishop
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Berlinale Review: Allensworth (2022)

Allensworth, the latest from American structuralist filmmaker James Benning, is divided into twelve five-minute static shots, each chronicling one month of a calendar year. Benning is an artist who, throughout his long-running career, frames American landscapes within a rigid temporal structure. His schematic approaches prompt inquires into the relationship between landscapes and the social formation built around them. In Allensworth, duration compels us—perhaps even forces us—to study the images closely. Allensworth is a film about surfaces and the truths we can or cannot gleam from their inspection. Spectatorship becomes a way of exploring the complex histories contained within seemingly unpolitical surfaces.

The community of Allensworth was established in the early-20th century as refuge from Jim Crow-era white supremacy. It was the first town in California run by Black people. The town’s namesake was co-founder Colonel Allen Allensworth, an ex-slave and clergyman who died six years after the town’s establishment. He was struck by a motorcyclist; no investigation determined whether it was a deliberate killing. In the time after Allensworth’s death, a deluge of misfortunes assailed the town, including a drought and insufficient water supply. Beyond that, the nearby railroad stopover refused to hire Allensworth residents, and then re-located to a predominantly white area, stranding Allensworth economically and geographically. In the mid-1970s, Allensworth had fallen into ruins with plans for future demolition. However, it was instead memorialized as a state park, with its derelict infrastructure reconstructed. None of this context is relayed in Benning’s movie. There’s no historical exposition whatsoever. Instead, Allensworth lingers on the plain, decontextualized images of modern Allensworth and poses the questions: do surfaces contain their histories? And how does the past imprint upon the present?

Most of the movie’s twelve shots cover landscapes composed with little-to-no staffage: exteriors of Allensworth’s buildings. For the first few shots, the images are so still they’re almost mistakeable for photographs. Sound offers a fuller panorama of the vicinity though, beyond the mono-directionality of the camera’s eye. Occasionally, cars cruise through the background. There’s even a James Benning equivalent of a gotcha! moment when the recurring chug of a locomotive is finally matched by the train’s visual counterpart, reflected faintly in a building’s window. These faint, seemingly insignificant details would pass unnoticed in a non-durational version of Allensworth. Benning’s form highlights the little details which comprise a time and place.

The main outlier shot in Allensworth is a classroom interior where Faith Johnson reads poetry from Lucille Clifton. It’s a jarring addition. It feels constructed, whereas every other composition appears “natural” or, contradictorily enough (considering the entirety of modern-day Allensworth is a reconstruction), “untouched.” In another shot, Nina Simone’s “Blackbird” plays over a landscape. “Cause your mama’s name was lonely/And your daddy’s name was pain,” she sings. This is the movie’s closest tango with catharsis, explicitly pointing towards the aching sadness Allensworth holds. A space of dreams has become a museum of past dreams. Allensworth further this memorialization, bringing us further from the dreams of the past in the hopes of sparking more for the future.

How Paypal Helped the Gaming Industry to Grow

Our Culture Mag & Partners
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How Paypal Helped the Gaming Industry to Grow

The online casino industry is a multi-billion-pound market. Combined with the video gaming market, online gaming is valued at in excess of  £200 billion. There’s a lot of money involved, and the industry relies on safe and secure methods of moving it around. But just as importantly, they have to be fast!

Even if you’ve never been inside a real casino, you’ll be familiar with the games on offer thanks to popular culture, like movies and videos. But this online gaming industry doesn’t just include the typical online casino sites, but also includes more relaxed forms of games, like the ever-increasing online bingo sector, with Foxy Bingo being a leading online bingo site that has seen impressive growth.

At the start of it all, traditional electronic payment processors like Visa and MasterCard were about the only option for depositing and withdrawing from your account at a gambling site. But for a number of reasons, including speed and security, these were not ideal. A new solution was needed, one that could quickly transfer money between accounts while protecting users’ sensitive data from hackers and other suspicious online actors. Enter PayPal!

The company was originally launched as Confinity, way back at the birth of the Internet as we know it,  in 1998. It merged with Elon Musk’s X.com the following year and became the company we know as PayPal today. Fast-forward to today, and PayPal is the giant of the online payments world, with over £650 billion worth of transactions in 2020. The reason is speed and capacity.

Credit card deposit and withdrawals can take up to five working days to go through, and now they are not even legal payment options for online gambling in some jurisdictions, including the UK. Withdrawals made via a PayPal usually take hours or less. And PayPal is fully optimised for mobile devices, giving the company an advantage in the fastest-growing area of the iGaming industry; mobile gaming.

Of course, speed means nothing if your accounts are left vulnerable to data theft. PayPal ensures that all transactions are protected by utilising 128-bit SSL encryption technology. It also runs checks on your server to make sure SSL 3.0 or higher is supported before any transactions are approved. This means that your money is safe at all levels.

Finally, PayPal generates enough transactions to allow it to make minimal charges for transactions. There are no fees for using PayPal as a payment method levied by online casinos. And if you have a big enough win to notice the percentage it takes in commission, you won’t care anyway.

Of course, there is now a considerable range of e-wallet payment options, including Skrill and Google Pay, which offer the same advantages as PayPal. But it is this company that cracked the whole Internet payment problem. And because it’s the original, it is still regarded as the best, so the familiar blue logo is still the go-to option for online gamblers around the world. It’s a shame that Musk hasn’t had as much success with his other, recently acquired, famous blue logo!

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