Father John Misty is back with a new single called ‘The Old Law’. The track was produced by Drew Erickson and Josh Tillman, mixed by Michael Harris and Jonathan Wilson at Fivestar Studios in Los Angeles, and mastered by Adam Amyan at Ayan Mastering. Previously known to fans as ‘God’s Trash’, it was debuted live in the fall of 2024. Check out the studio version below.
Father John Misty’s most recent album, Mahashmashana, came out in 2024.
The Science Museum presents Water Pantanal Fire, a photography exhibition documenting Brazil’s Pantanal wetland as it faces increasing environmental threats. Opening 6 February, the exhibition runs through 31 May.
Brazilian leading documentary photographers Lalo de Almeida and Luciano Candisani capture the Pantanal – the world’s largest wetland spanning Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay – in two contrasting states. Over 60 images demonstrate the region’s thriving biodiversity, including jaguars and abundant birdlife, alongside scenes of devastation from recent droughts and wildfires driven by deforestation and the climate crisis.
Water Pantanal Fire marks the photographers’ first UK showing as part of the UK/Brazil Season of Culture 2025-26. The exhibition, curated by Eder Chiodetto and produced by Documenta Pantanal, is accessible to all museum visitors at no extra cost.
Water Pantanal Fire will be held at the Science Museum, Exhibition Road, South Kensington, SW7 2DD.
In this segment, we showcase the most notable albums out each week. Here are the albums out on January 9, 2026:
Dry Cleaning are back with their Cate Le Bon-produced album, Secret Love. Grounded by Florence Shaw’s imaginative, increasingly expressive lyricism, the follow-up to 2022’s Stumpwork was preceded by the singles ‘Hit My Head All Day’, ‘Cruise Ship Designer’, ‘Let Me Grow and You’ll See the Fruit’, and ‘Joy’. The album took shape at Jeff Tweedy’s Chicago studio the Loft, with Gilla Band’s Alan Duggan and Daniel Fox in Dublin, and finally with Le Bon in the Loire Valley. “We’re very confident about our identity,” Shaw said in press materials. “It doesn’t seem to be possible to break it down.” Read our review.
Jenny Hollingworth, half of Let’s Eat Grandma, has come out with her debut solo album, Quicksand Heart, as Jenny on Holiday. Packed with glowing synths and soaring choruses, it was written in the stillness of Norwich summers and completed in London with producer Steph Marziano (Hayley Williams, Nell Mescal). “My voice is the instrument I enjoy expressing myself most on,” she said in press materials, and it animates Quicksand Heart.
Zach Bryan has released a new album, With Heaven on Top. It spans 25 tracks, putting it somewhere between 2024’s The Great American Bar Scene and 2023’s Zach Bryan in terms of runtime. It was written, recorded, and produced by Bryan over the last several months in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “Hope you don’t hate it,” Bryan wrote upon announcing the album on Instagram earlier this week. It’s too pleasant to hate, but way too monotonous make it worth revisiting.
Winged Wheel is a band that includes Whitney Johnson (Matchess, Circuit des Yeux), Cory Plump (Spray Paint), Matthew J. Rolin (Powers/Rolin Duo), Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth), Lonnie Slack, and Fred Thomas (Idle Ray, Tyvek). You could practically them a supergroup. The patient, exploratory Desert So Green is their third album, following 2024’s Big Hotel. Working out of a studio on the outskirts of Chicago, the band embraced a more cohesive approach, foregoing some of the jammy tendencies of their previous records for deeper experimentation.
The Cribs, Selling a Vibe; French Montana, Coke Wave 3.5: Narcos; Robert Stillman, 10,000 Rivers; Home Star, A Binding Life; The Kid LAROI, Before I Forget; Alter Bridge, Alter Bridge; Pullman, III; Lasse Lokøy, & The Roommates; Tim Handels, Liminal Spaces.
Bruno Mars has shared ‘I Just Might’, the first preview of his just-announced album The Romantic. The unsurprisingly retro jam arrives alongside a music video directed by Mars and Daniel Ramos. Check it out below.
The follow-up to 2016’s 24K Magic comes out February 27. In April, Mars is set to embark on The Romantic Tour, which will take him to stadiums across North America, Europe, and the United Kingdom through October.
Digital culture transcends borders, yet geographical restrictions can still limit what we experience online. Using a free VPN on PC can help reduce invisible barriers and support more consistent access to cultural content. In its latest version, UFO VPN introduces updates to its encryption, privacy protections, and one-click connection features, helping users explore the world more safely and quickly.
Though we have many options today, finding the one that truly meets our needs is not always seasy. A reliable tool like UFO VPN can offer a smooth surfing experience by offering features such as:
Bonus/Tips: UFO VPN is also compatible with/supports other OS systems including
Free tools are appealing. But be cautious – free stuff doesn’t always guarantee high quality. When choosing a free VPN for PCs, check whether the service fits your actual needs. To find a perfect solution, you have to consider:
Some free VPNs cut corners on service quality. They may lack basic security measures or fail to follow standard internet protocols. Even worse, poor protection can expose user data, put online accounts at risk, or lead to unwanted attention from network security systems.
Some free VPNs start without charge but later introduce limits that affect normal use. These may include restricted speed, capped usage, or extra fees to unlock basic features.
A VPN that disconnects often interrupts browsing, streaming, or work. A good free VPN for PC should at least maintain a steady connection during regular use.
Privacy is a main reason to use a VPN. A free VPN should clearly explain what data it collects. If it doesn’t, it may not be safe for long-term use.
UFO VPN is known for its ease of use. With only 4 steps, you can connect to the whole world. Here’s how you can use UFO VPN on your PC:
Step 1. Download the app from the UFO VPN Official Website.
Step 2. Log in or register for an account.
Step 3. Choose a server, or use the one-click feature to select the best server automatically.
Step 4. Turn on the kill switch to enhance security and keep your connection protected.
After these steps, you’re connected and ready to explore the content you like.
Choosing the best free VPN for PC from various options can be hard. If you want a perfect option, go with UFO VPN. It ensures safe, fast, and easy access to the whole world. The least thing you should worry about is security and privacy. The enhanced encryption levels will protect all your data and information.
If you’re a social media marketer these days, you probably know the struggle of turning ordinary visuals and dull content into scroll-stopping masterpieces. The truth is, the digital landscape moves crazy fast, and the pressure to create high-quality content consistently is unreal.
That’s where AI-powered tools come in, giving marketers, content creators, and small business owners an edge that used to take teams of designers or hours of painstaking edits to achieve. From generating unique images to enhancing blurry photos with an AI image enhancer, AI can seriously step up your game, if you know which tools to pick. Here’s a breakdown of the essential AI tools every social media marketer needs in 2026.
When it comes to making low-quality photos look professional, nothing quite hits like Artguru. This AI enhancement toolkit is like having a digital Photoshop wizard in your pocket. Whether you’re a hobbyist taking bird photos or a small business owner needing high-res product images, Artguru’s suite covers all the bases.
Artguru isn’t just a photo enhancer. It’s a full-blown visual transformation engine. Artguru uses generative AI and super-resolution tech to bring your images to life; it can increase resolution of image up to 8K and enhance text so blurry PDFs become readable masterpieces. Old photo? No worries – its restoration feature removes scratches and revives faded colors like a time machine. Even videos aren’t left behind, with an HD video enhancer that’s surprisingly fast.
Some real-world uses include:
Artguru works on web, iOS, and Android. It has a free plan with daily credits and watermarked downloads, while premium plans unlock batch processing, high-resolution downloads, and faster speeds. If you’ve ever struggled with fuzzy visuals slowing down your content production, Artguru is basically your personal AI content assistant to unblur image and make it look professional.
Wrizzle is an AI writing tool that feels like it’s made for actually getting stuff done, not just casual tinkering. Its slogan, “write smarter, not harder,” isn’t marketing fluff—it shows up in practice through more than thirty AI writing tools designed to tackle everyday content headaches.
Instead of one generic text generator, Wrizzle organizes tools into categories: general writing, text optimization, marketing and business, and personal communication, which oddly ends up saving a lot of time. It can handle everything from SEO articles, emails, and stories, to headlines and titles, and it also sharpens existing content with paraphrasing, summarizing, and grammar fixes. The output feels polished but slightly imperfect, just enough to feel natural and human-like.
For marketers, this is a game-changer. Drafting social posts, blog entries, or email campaigns becomes less of a chore because Wrizzle produces content that’s immediately usable while leaving room for your own brand voice.
You may be familiar with Canva – however, the new AI-powered features elevate it more than just a simple drag-and-drop editor. The AI image generation along with the design suggestions allow you to convert concepts into high-quality visuals within minutes. The templates not only adapt to your brand colors and fonts but also to the different post sizes for the various platforms.
Canva’s AI operates with powerful features, such as background removal, offering color palettes, and even creating design elements based on the provided text. All this is a huge step for the marketing team as it means less editing, faster approvals of the same content, and maintaining a similar look across marketing campaigns.
On occasion, stock images fail to meet the required standard. Google’s Nano Banana enables marketers to produce one-of-a-kind, premium-quality pictures using Artificial Intelligence. You are able to provide imaginative writing and immediately get visuals that are designed according to your brand’s look and feel.
The flexibility of Nano Banana is what differentiates it from others: you can produce unreal imagery, lifelike pictures of products, or even social media banners without engaging professionals in photography or modeling. This is indeed a great option for micro-businesses that have limited funds or those who are testing the waters of content creativity.
Photoroom is a service that transforms unprocessed photos into smooth and professional images. It brings together background elimination, artificial intelligence object recognition, and composition tools. Picture a case where an ordinary product photo is transformed at once into a neat e-commerce picture that is ready to start selling in your online store.
Photoroom is a great tool for influencers and small business proprietors who require a lot of quality visuals that are consistent with the brand but do not possess a full-fledged design team. The user-friendly interface of Photoroom renders complicated editing tasks nearly validation.
Even with AI generation and enhancement, stock photos still play a vital role. Unsplash provides a vast library of high-quality, royalty-free images. Many marketers use these as a base, then enhance or customize them with AI tools like Artguru or Nano Banana.
The combination of AI tools and Unsplash means you’re not limited by your own photography skills. You can start with a strong visual foundation and tweak it to perfectly fit your brand voice.
The real magic happens when you combine these AI tools in a workflow. For example:
This combination turns what used to take hours—or even days—into a streamlined, efficient process. Social media marketers can create professional content consistently, even with small teams or solo.
The utilization of AI tools is a must in social media marketing. Artguru, Wrizzle, Canva, Nano Banana, Photoroom, and Unsplash are among the platforms that assist in image improvement, visual creation, and creative copywriting. In case of individual use or working as part of a brand, these applications assist in the process, reduce the time taken, and improve the quality of the content, thereby making your social media strategy cleverer and quicker.
Australian actors are continuing to make waves in Hollywood, from leading blockbuster films to headlining major streaming series. While talent and opportunity play a role, one acting coach believes there’s something deeper behind their success.
According to Billy Milionis, founder of The Actors Pulse in Sydney, the reason Australian performers are standing out comes down to the kind of training they receive at home which focuses on emotional truth rather than technical perfection.
“Australian drama schools teach actors to access genuine emotions rather than just mimicking them,” says Milionis. “This creates performances that feel raw and authentic to audiences and casting directors alike.”
Australian acting education takes inspiration from several global traditions but the emphasis on connecting to real emotion gives local performers a unique edge.
“We take the psychological depth of American methods like Meisner Technique and combine it with the technical precision and voice work from British traditions,” Milionis explains. “This gives our actors incredible versatility.”
By encouraging students to tap into genuine emotional responses rather than rehearsed reactions, Australian training develops actors who can adapt quickly and deliver performances that feel grounded, spontaneous and believable.
Milionis says another key factor is mindset. The competitive nature of Australia’s entertainment industry means actors often have to work harder for fewer opportunities and that builds both skill and resilience.
“Australian actors don’t take opportunities for granted,” Milionis points out. “They arrive on set prepared and professional, which makes them popular with directors and producers.”
This professionalism, combined with emotional availability, makes a strong impression on international sets. Directors often notice that Australian performers bring authenticity and generosity to every scene – qualities that lift the entire cast.
“Many actors here put in thousands of hours of practice before they ever step onto a major set,” Milionis adds. “That creates a depth of skill that’s immediately apparent when they audition internationally.”
While acting technique remains essential, Milionis believes too much focus on mechanics can limit emotional truth. He says the balance found in Australian training – between technical mastery and raw authenticity – is what makes local performers so adaptable to different screen styles.
“Acting ability is important for many reasons but performers have learned that too much technique can actually be bad for creating believable characters,” he says.
That blend of depth and realism continues to set Australian actors apart in an increasingly global market.
As global audiences demand more emotionally grounded storytelling, the approach championed by Australian actors is resonating in Hollywood and beyond.
“This creates actors who make everyone around them better,” says Milionis. “Hollywood recognises and values that quality.”
Streaming platforms, in particular, have expanded the demand for authenticity, opening doors for performers who can connect with diverse audiences across cultures and genres.
For emerging performers, Milionis says the lesson is clear: trust your training.
“The industry isn’t looking for more of the same,” he says. “They want the freshness and authenticity that Australian actors bring.”
With a foundation built on emotional truth, technical skill and collaboration, Australian actors are proving that great performances don’t come from imitation – they come from honesty.
Olivia Rodrigo has tapped David Byrne to cover ‘Drivers Licence’ in honour of her debut single’s fifth anniversary. It’s strange in a way I suppose might fit Byrne’s oddball personality, but I struggled not to turn it off before the chorus. It’s rather awkward, but you can make up your own mind about it below.
According to a press release, Byrne’s cover is “just the first in a series of covers tied to the fifth anniversary of Sour.” It’lll be out as a 7″ vinyl single on April 3 alongside Rodrigo and Byrne’s version of Talking Heads’ ‘Burning Down the House’, which was recorded at the 2025 Governors Ball.
Rodrigo’s last album was 2023’s GUTS.
VIAL have announced a new album, Hellhound. The burnout follow-up is set to land on March 20 via the band’s own Trout Hole Records. Listen to the lead single ‘Never Been Better’ below.
In a press release, the Minneapolis-band punk band said:
Today was supposed to be the day we were supposed to tell you about our new record HELLHOUND, but our minds are now 100% on our neighbor who was shot and killed by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis yesterday.
This was NOT self-defense. This was MURDER. FUCK ICE!
Please donate to the Go Fund Me if you have the means, and watch out for your immigrant neighbors. Love you all.
Check out our Artist Spotlight interview with VIAL.
Hellhound Cover Artwork:
Hellhound Tracklist:
1. INFECTED
2. SCORPIO MOON
3. CREEP SMOOTHIE
4. IDLE HANDS
5. SOB
6. NEVER BEEN BETTER
7. HELLHOUND
8. UNDERMINE ME
9. BLAH
10. PUKE
11. TALKTALKTALK
12. BOREDOM/COMBUSTION
13. BLOOD RED
Lala Lala has announced a new album, Heaven 2, which will be out February 27 via Sub Pop. It follows I Want the Door to Open, which came out on the label’s Hardly Art imprint in 2021, and includes the recently released ‘Does This Go Faster?’. Today, Lala Lala has shared two ethereal tracks from the LP, ‘Heaven2’ and ‘Even Mountains Erode’. Take a listen below.
Heaven 2 was co-produced by Lala Lala, aka Lillie West, and Jay Som’s Melina Duterte. It features contributors from Sen Morimoto, Macie Stewart, and Porches’ Aaron Maine. “Resistance is the root of all suffering, and I did not know that,” West reflected in a statement. “I thought that I could dictate the course of my life.” Her discovery, as she puts it, is that “wherever you go, there you are.”
Following a residency in a tiny Icelandic town, West released an instrumental album, If I Were a Real Man I Would Be Able to Break the Neck of a Suffering Bird, in 2024. Revisit our Artist Spotlight interview with Lala Lala.
Heaven 2 Cover Artwork:
Heaven 2 Tracklist:
1. Car Anymore
2. Even Mountains Erode
3. Arrow
4. Tricks
5. Scammer
6. Heaven2
7. Anywave
8. Does This Go Faster?
9. This City
10. Wyoming Dirt
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