Death Cab for Cutie have shared an acoustic version of ‘Foxglove Through the Clearcut’, taken from their upcoming LP Asphalt Meadows (Acoustic). They previously previewed the collection, a stripped-down reworking of the band’s latest album, with a new take on ‘Pepper’ and a cover of Low’s ‘The Plan’ in tribute to the late Mimi Parker. Listen to ‘Foxglove Through the Clearcut (Acoustic)’ below.
Foyer Red Announce Debut Album, Share New Single ‘Plumbers Unite!’
Foyer Red have announced their debut LP, Yarn Away the Hours, which will arrive on May 19 via Carpark. Today, the Brooklyn outfit has shared the single ‘Plumbers Unite!’. Check it out and find the album’s cover artwork and tracklist below.
“My first few lines in this song reference a predetermined goal and the act of running in place; it places the character in a side-scroller video game,” the band’s Elana Riordan explained in a statement about ‘Plumbers Unite!’. “It’s the everyday grind taken literally but augmented in the context of a game with objectives, points, a finite amount of lives, etc. When the day is done however, the protagonist exits the simulation and ponders the sentience of the console, feeling strange about the possibility after several hours of manipulation. When I was little I was obsessed with my gamecube, but after entering cheat codes on my Harvest Moon game, I felt sooooooo guilty. I impulsively deleted my game data and later had recurring nightmares about my gamecube’s anger towards me, something I knew was unrealistic but felt so creepy and real.”
Yarn Away the Hours was recorded with producer Jonathan Schenke at Figure8 Studios in Brooklyn. It will include the previously released single ‘Etc’.
Yarn Away The Hours Cover Artwork:
Yarn Away The Hours Tracklist:
1. Plumbers Unite!
2. Unwaxed Flavored Floss
3. Wetland Walk
4. A Barnyard Bop
5. Etc
6. Gorgeous
7. Blue Jazz
8. Pocket
9. Oh, David
10. Time Slips
11. Big Paws
12. Toy Wagon
Wednesday Share Video for New Single ‘Bath County’
Wednesday have shared another single from their forthcoming album Rat Saw God. ‘Bath County’, which follows previous offerings ‘Chosen to Deserve’ and ‘Bull Believer’, arrives with an accompanying video directed by the band’s Karly Hartzman. Watch and listen below.
“This is a song I wrote on a porch in Bath County, Virginia when me and [lead guitarist] Jake [Lenderman] were visiting Jake’s moms hometown,” Hartzman explained in a statement. “It includes some imagery I saw on that trip as well as a description of a guy we saw overdosed in a parking lot early one morning on our way to Dollywood.”
“The video I made myself is an homage to PJ Harvey’s video for ‘Man-Size’,” she added. “I’ve never seen someone emit as much confidence as she does in that video. I wanted to pretend for a minute I possessed that attitude but it was harder than it looks! Endless respect for Peej.”
Rat Saw God is set for release on April 7 via Dead Oceans. Revisit our Artist Spotlight interview with Wednesday.
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily Announce New Album ‘Love in Exile’, Unveil New Song
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily have announced a new collaborative album titled Love in Exile. It’s set for release on March 24 via Verve. To mark the announcement, they’ve shared the lead single ‘To Remain/To Return’, which you can check out below, along with the album artwork (by Curry Hackett), tracklist, and the trio’s upcoming tour dates.
Discussing the collaboration in a press release, Iyer said: “Our music is a process. This fragment of ‘To Remain / To Return’ reveals not just the melody but the birth of a song. I hear Shahzad and myself establishing these haunted cycles, then slowly and delicately transforming them, as Arooj glides across like a dark moon.”
“This piece holds, at its core, the delicately unfolding emotion of separation anxiety induced fury (see: love, self exile) between two people who are deeply connected,” Aftab commented. “One is leaving and the other is asking them to stay. The former is saying ‘I will leave but I will also return’; in better form for the both of us.”
Ismaily added: “We all provide the best we can,” adds Shahzad Ismaily. “In my case it’s euclidean rhythms, crystals to hold the oceanic beauty of Vijay’s keys and the silent raven of Arooj’s voice. We grow to the company that we keep; I am both fortunate and grateful.”
Revisit our Artist Spotlight interview with Arooj Aftab.
Love in Exile Cover Artwork:
Love in Exile Tracklist:
1. To Remain/To Return
2. Haseen Thi
3. Shadow Forces
4. Sajni
5. Eyes of the Endless
6. Sharabi
7. To Remain/To Return (Excerpt)
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily 2023 Tour Dates:
Mar 31 Knoxville, TN – Big Ears Music Festival
Apr 14 North Bethesda, MD – The Music Center at Strathmore
Apr 28 Burlington, VT – UVM Recital Hall
May 7 Krems an der Donau, Austria – Donaufestival, Minoritenkirche
May 9 Brussels, Belgium – Les Nuits Botanique Festival, Notre Dame Church
May 11 Luxembourg, Luxembourg – Neimënster
May 13 Berlin, Germany – XJazz! Festival, Emmauskirche
May 25 Hamburg, Germany – Elbphilharmonie
May 29 Zürich, Switzerland – Moods
May 30 Utrecht, Netherlands – Tivoli Vredenburg
Jun 2 London, England – The Barbican Centre
Jun 26 Vancouver, British Columbia – Vancouver Jazz Festival
Jun 28 Ottawa, Ontario – Ottawa Jazz Festival
Jun 29 Montréal, Quebec – Montreal Jazz Festival
Jul 27 North Adams, MA – Bang on a Can’s: Loud Weekend 2023 at Mass MoCA
Jul 29 Katonah, NY – Caramoor Center for the Arts
Sep 14 New York, NY – Venue TBA
Sep 19 San Diego, CA – Epstein Family Amphitheatre
Sep 20 Los Angeles, CA – Venue TBA
Sep 21 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
Sep 28 Tempe, AZ – Tempe Center for the Arts
Sep 29 Austin, TX – Venue TBA
Sep 30 Denver, CO – Venue TBA
Oct 4 Cleveland, OH Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art
Oct 5 Princeton, NJ – Venue TBA
Oct 7 Blacksburg, VA – Venue TBA
Oct 8 Boston, MA – Institute of Contemporary Art
Oct 10 Minneapolis, MN – The Cedar
Oct 11 Chicago, IL – Venue TBA
Oct 12 Iowa City, IA – Infinite Dream Festival
The National Share New Single ‘New Order T-Shirt’
The National have shared a new song called ‘New Order T-Shirt’. It’s the second single from their upcoming album First Two Pages of Frankenstein, following lead cut ‘Tropic Morning News’. To accompany the release, they’ve teamed up with New Order for a limited edition T-shirt, with a portion of the proceeds going to a charity of their choice. Check out a video for ‘New Order T-Shirt’ below.
“To me, the line ‘I keep what I can of you’ means something about everyone I’ve ever known or loved,” Aaron Dessner said in a statement. “There’s a simplicity to ‘New Order T-Shirt’ that reminds me of our earlier records, but with the full maturity and experience we have now. It feels like a really important song for the future of our band.”
First Two Pages of Frankenstein lands on April 28 via 4AD.
Manchester Orchestra Announce New EP ‘The Valley of Vision’, Share New Song ‘Capital Karma’
Manchester Orchestra have announced a new EP, The Valley of Vision, with the new single ‘Capital Karma’. The six-track collection, which will follow their 2021 LP The Million Masks of God, arrives March 10 via Loma Vista. It was co-produced by the band’s frontman Andy Hull and guitarist Robert McDowell. Check out ‘Capital Karma’ below.
“Making The Valley of Vision was an exciting idea of what the future could be for us in terms of how we create,” Hull said in a statement. “None of these songs were written with the band being in the same room in a live setting. They were really like science experiments that started from the bottom and were added to gradually over time. We’re intrigued by doing things the wrong way, or attempting things we haven’t done before and getting inspired by them.”
The Valley of Vision will be accompanied by a film from director Isaac Deitz. Following screening events in Los Angeles tonight (February 23) and New York City on March 1, the visual will premiere on Manchester Orchestra’s YouTube channel March 9.
The Valley of Vision Cover Artwork:
The Valley of Vision Tracklist:
1. Capital Karma
2. The Way
3. Quietly
4. Letting Go
5. Lose You Again
6. Rear View
The Blessed Madonna Releases New Single ‘Shades of Love’
The Blessed Madonna has shared a new single, ‘Shades of Love’, which features the South African five-piece The Joy. It follows the recently released ‘We Still Believe’, a collaboration with Chicago house pioneer Jamie Principle. Listen to it below.
Speaking about the track in a press release, Marea Stamper explained: “’Shades of Love’ is about the one thing that we all truly share in common as humans. We need to be loved. That might be a different kind of love for every person but it’s still love and it’s what ties us together.”
David Bowie’s Massive Archive Acquired by V&A Museum
London’s Victoria & Albert Museum has acquired David Bowie’s extensive archives, the Associated Press reports. The collection contains more than 80,000 items, including handwritten lyrics, letters, sheet music, original costumes, fashion, photography, film, music videos, set designs, album artwork, awards, and more, which will be on display in 2025 at The David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performing Arts. The new building is an extension of the V&A’s East Storehouse and will be located in Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
The archive’s acquisition and the new Bowie center are made possible thanks to the David Bowie Estate and a 10 million pound donation from the Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group. “With David’s life’s work becoming part of the U.K.’s national collections, he takes his rightful place amongst many other cultural icons and artistic geniuses,” Bowie’s estate said in a statement. “David’s work can be shared with the public in ways that haven’t been possible before, and we’re so pleased to be working closely with the V&A to continue to commemorate David’s enduring cultural influence.”
We are thrilled to announce that the exceptional archive of legend @DavidBowieReal is coming to the V&A! Spanning 80,000 items across his 60 year career, you can explore Bowie’s life’s work in ways never possible before at @vam_east Storehouse from 2025 #DavidBowieArchive pic.twitter.com/sTGtJnydKB
— V&A (@V_and_A) February 23, 2023
Welcome to the Marvel Cinematic Universe – Here are the films you should not miss
Based on some of the most admired comic books, the movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have left millions of fans worldwide on the edge of their seat. And this is not surprising at all.
Exhilarating action scenes, deep relationships between characters, and intense storylines are the norm in the MCU set of films and series. So, are you craving intergalactic adventures, pulse-pounding political thrillers, or perhaps earthbound heroics? A Marvel marathon might be the answer to this desire. Now, you should know that there are 14 years of MCU existence, which means dozens of movies. There are so many titles that a newbie to this saga may find it hard to watch them in the right order, which is why Marvel’s set of movies is that kind of thing that requires a bit of research before indulging in it. From Captain America and Thor to Black Panther and Black Widow, Marvel Studios has brought some names to the screens that fans find impossible to forget.
However, here is a useful roundup of titles that newcomers and long-time Marvel lovers alike will certainly find helpful. It comprises some must-see movies in the order everyone should watch them, so read on!
Iron Man (2008)
The Iron Man trilogy is one of the fans’ favourites, and for a good reason. After all, this is where it all began. Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr., will go down in history as one of the most famous heroes portrayed in this sort of genre. Iron Man, especially the first Iron Man film, has changed the way audiences perceive adaptations based on comic books despite the lowest budget and graphics. Tony Stark’s charisma is one of the leading reasons the movie continues to be praised and watched, so if you do not know where to start, our advice (obviously) is to start with Marvel’s first film ever.
Thor (2011)
Thor is where MCU’s one of the most iconic heroes is introduced. Thor, played by the one and only Chris Hemsworth, is the titular God of Thunder and is about to become the ruler of Asgard. However, things get spicier when the Frost Giants intervene. Thor fights the leader of these monsters, a supervillain named Laufey, along with his brother Loki. However, Loki is believed to be the real villain in the series, and some folks even consider him one of the best villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, this film is not just about Thor fighting monsters in order to save Asgard. If you watch the movie, you will see that Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) appears, too, as well as clues about the legendary Infinity Stone.
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Captain America is another beloved series pertaining to Marvel Studios, and it should not go unnoticed. First of all, this is where the leader of the Avengers appears for the first time, so watching the other films from the Avengers set would be confusing. In the role of the Cap, Chris Evans acts with talent and charisma, making thousands of people worldwide fall in love with his character. A lot of what happens in The First Avenger gets you ready for the rest of the show, so if you have nothing scheduled this Sunday evening, consider immersing yourself in The Avengers saga.
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
The Guardians of the Galaxy movies are considered some of the best in the MCU’s collection and some of the best space films out there. But this should come as no surprise since each movie comes with its own intriguing story, so if you want to watch Guardians of the Galaxy without continuing with another film that comes before or after, you are welcome to do so. The 2014 movie, in particular, has managed to lure space enthusiasts, featuring everything from interstellar criminals to romantic relationships. It starts with the story of Peter Quill, who is kidnapped by aliens and eventually becomes a thief. Peter’s numerous conflicts and escape attempts will lead him to meet fellow guardians, Groot, Rocket, and Gamora. The film also gives viewers more details about the Infinity Store, which became a symbol in Marvel movies. All the main characters from this saga are beloved, so do not be surprised if any of your friends want to boast about their impressive collection of figures. If you have such a Marvel enthusiast in your life and do not know what to give them on their birthdays, the Marvel Funko Pop collection is all the rage now.
Black Panther (2018)
Black Panther is another iconic Marvel movie, which, just like Guardians of the Galaxy, exists in its own bubble. Its story revolves around the Prince of Wakanda, T’Challa, who is to take the throne. However, there is so much responsibility when it comes to the Wakanda nation – and so many secrets – that the prince finds it hard to deal with. He has to fight his cousin Erik, who wants to steal the throne and does not hesitate to use all means in this sense. What will happen with Wakanda and its source of indestructible material (which criminals are in search of) only remains to be seen. We won’t give you any spoilers!
Black Widow (2020)
Between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, Scarlett Johansson, in the role of Natasha Romanoff, has to face the ‘red in her ledger’. Fans get to see her reuniting with her Russian family, including her father Alexei (David Harbour), mother Melina (Rachel Weisz), and sister Yelena (Florence Pugh). It has been a delight for Marvel lovers to watch Natasha Romanoff in her own film, and even if its release was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was received with applause. Natasha appeared in several MCU movies, but none focused on her – until now. If you have watched the other films on this list, ensure you give Black Widow a chance too – the storyline and Scarlett’s acting talent make it worthwhile.
Doctor Strange, Spider-man, and Ant-Man are also worth watching. However, the MCU’s collection of movies is so vast that it’s impossible to discuss it all in one article.
Tong Wang’s Interpretation of Minimalism: Minimalist But Not Minimal
Visual artist Tong Wang found his niche in his exploration of minimalism. One of the most popular aesthetic styles, minimalism is appreciated not just by celebrities but by individuals in various industries. The biggest challenge for artists who work in this style is to create minimalist designs that are not too minimal.
Wang was taken aback when he was approached to design a visual identity for Bad Monster, a skateboard brand from China. On the surface, the brand name and product seemed incongruent. The skateboard market is dominated by brands from Canada, America, and Australia, which made the client’s desire to launch a distinctive Chinese brand with an eye-catching name and design more intriguing.
“I know I have to find a connection between the monster and the skateboard. I can’t just pick a monster face randomly and use that as the logo,” Wang explains, “Monster is a very attention-grabbing word so it’s necessary to highlight the monster itself in the design.”
After conducting a comprehensive examination, Wang noticed the prevalence of screws on skateboards. On average, there are four screws on each side of the board, with more screws being added for skateboards with more intricate designs. It was from this observation that Wang derived his original inspiration.”
The arrangement of screws on the skateboard reminded Wang of human eyes, with the smaller screws being encircled by larger ones, resembling pupils. He leveraged this connection to create a monster’s eye design based on the shape and structure of the screws. Wang also incorporated elements of balance into the design, reflecting the importance of maintaining balance in skateboarding.”
Wang then provided the brand with several different color combinations. Both sides eventually came to an agreement on black and red, which closely relate to the theme of the monster as well as the positivity and energy of skateboarding.
(Bad Monster Logo Design, by Tong Wang)
The final result came out super satisfying. Wang is glad to have the opportunity to enrich the brand image and generate an active and dynamic vibe for today’s young generation, motivating them to always stay up-to-date with the latest trends.
Wang’s creativity of minimalism lies in his practice toward the space, colors and shapes. Artists grow up in different backgrounds and thus have different approaches to portray art. But Wang sees minimalism as a unique method to keep himself focused on the right track to avoid distraction when it comes to the goals that he is looking to achieve.
The great art in history is always rooted in pain and sorrow. Wang sees that as a reflection of people’s desire for love and happiness, which is the message that he is trying to convey in his presentation of minimalism.
