The heart is arguably one of your most important organs, as it works nonstop to keep blood pumping around the body. Looking after your heart health is essential to feeling energised and living life to the fullest while preventing issues such as unusual blood pressure or blood sugar levels. This article takes you through three ways to care for your heart and prevent serious issues from developing.
3 Steps to Take Care of Your Heart
Consider Making Lifestyle Changes
While genetics can play a role, your lifestyle habits have the most significant impact on your heart. In addition to sleeping, it’s essential to be conscious of the other factors that keep blood pressure and blood sugar at their ideal level.
Some lifestyle changes may include:
Eating a balanced range of food;
Move your body regularly;
Quit smoking;
Cut down on alcohol.
Get a Biological Age Test
Understanding your unique biology is the first step to improving your health. Since wellness is a hugely complex area, it can help to get a clear picture of your overall health and identify which areas need improvement. An inner age test might be one way to better understand how your lifestyle choices impact your wellbeing.
A body age test can tell you the age of your immune system according to your lifestyle choices and biological factors. For example, a person aged 30 might have a biological age of 45. Their results will give them a clear plan for lowering their biological age. Rather than making generic changes that might help you care for your heart, you can test biological age and receive a personalised plan to improve your health.
Don’t Neglect Sleep
Sleep is crucial to overall wellness as it plays a role in muscle recovery, immune support, balancing moods, and so much more. Among this list is the support it provides your heart. Studies show that people can prevent cardiovascular disease by sleeping between 7-9 hours per night. Prioritising good sleep habits is one of the best things you can do for your wellbeing. There are several things to try and improve sleep quality, including:
Ensure you’re getting to bed at the same time every night;
Switch off electronic devices approximately one hour before sleeping;
Reduce alcohol and caffeine intake;
Avoid being productive in your bedroom; instead, keep it for sleep and relaxation.
Final Thoughts
The best way to support the functioning of your heart is to understand and identify which areas of your life could use improvement. While sleep, exercise, and diet are common areas to address, a biological age test can give you an accurate picture of your health and determine your unique areas of improvement.
Making small, daily changes is the best way to maintain proper wellness and care for your heart. Always ensure you’re consuming various balanced foods, moving your body in a way that feels good for you, and prioritising sleep as a necessary self-care activity.
Google Fitbit, sleep score, sleep cycle, and Sleep++ are a few of the popular sleep tracker apps that have flooded the market. These apps are touted to help users know how well and how much they sleep each night.
They have become a staple in society, with many relying on them to know what happens when they sleep and if they have sleep disorders.
But do sleep trackers work? And if they do, do they provide accurate information? Let’s find out.
What are Sleep Tracker Apps?
Sleep trackers are applications built with technology that claims to track the wearers’ sleep by collecting data throughout the night. Such applications cannot help you fall asleep like a sleep aid sounds app. Your average sleep tracker app can measure the duration of sleep, the quality of sleep, and the depth of sleep.
These apps use sleep-tracking technology based on motion sensors to gauge how deeply asleep a person is. Some sleep trackers also monitor other body vitals, such as heart rate, to give a clearer picture of the individual’s sleep.
Pros of Sleep Tracker Apps
Are sleep trackers worth it? Here are some advantages of using sleep trackers.
Sleep Trackers Could Detect Sleep Disorders
Sleep trackers measure the depth and quality of sleep to detect sleep disorders that typically manifest during sleep, like sleep apnea and restless legs syndrome. These disorders might be more difficult to pinpoint by the individual because symptoms occur when they’re asleep. However, a sleep tracker can only suggest the possibility of a sleep disorder. You should visit a doctor for an official diagnosis and therapy plan.
They Give Insightful Data
Sleep trackers can pinpoint environmental factors that affect your sleep. For instance, if your sleep is affected by an environmental routine noise, the data collected from the sleep tracker can help you note this disruption and make changes. A sleep app for iPhone and Android also measures heart rate and oxygen levels during the night, and these data can provide deep insights into the user’s health.
Sleep Trackers Can Improve Bedtime Routines
Sleep trackers keep you aware of your sleep health. You can’t improve what you can’t measure, so most people who track their sleep improve their sleep in the long run. Most of them also have a sleep schedule and bedtime routine.
Cons of Sleep Tracker Apps
According to a study published on February 15, 2017, in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, the major con of sleep tracker apps is sleep anxiety. Where sleep trackers make users aware of their sleep health, some users develop sleep anxiety. They worry so much about “perfecting” their sleep that they often develop sleep disorders like insomnia and orthosomnia.
Do Sleep Tracker Apps Work?
Sleep tracking technology used to collect sleep data is largely based on movement. According to some specialists, movement isn’t an accurate measure of sleep quality. Some loopholes could distort the data collected. For instance, sleep tracker apps measure little movement as a sign of deep, healthy sleep. So, if a person lay down quietly without moving, the sleep tracker would note that they had a deep, restful sleep.
On the other hand, movement isn’t entirely a wrong parameter for measuring sleep. The body tends to relax and have limited movement during sleep, so in typical situations, sleep tracker apps can give correct data on the quality of sleep.
Should You Have A Sleep Tracker?
Given the pros, cons, and questions around the efficiency of sleep tracker apps, should you get a sleep tracker app?
Absolutely. The technology behind sleep tracker apps is still developing and getting better. From motion sensors to heart rate monitoring, sleep trackers are getting more accurate with their data collection and interpretation.
Music festival attendees travel 433 miles to get to their event on average. Between travel and expenses, preparing for music festivals properly is a must if you want an enjoyable experience.
Common music festival mistakes can turn these events from the best time of your life into a total nightmare. Are you planning to attend a music festival but don’t know what to expect or how to prepare?
The following guide will explore how to avoid typical mishaps that occur at all types of music festivals. Read on to ensure that your time and money are well spent!
Not Hydrating or Using Sunscreen
Make sure to pack a water bottle before anything else when preparing for your festival. Festivals usually let attendees bring in an empty water bottle that they can fill after passing through security.
You’ll risk dehydration if you forget a water bottle and probably end up spending way too much money on bottled water. Heat isn’t the only issue, you’ll most likely do a lot of walking and dancing as well.
Know your limits and pay attention to your body during a music festival. Some symptoms of dehydration include feeling light-headed, headaches, dry mouth, and urinating less. If possible, try to eat water-rich fruits and veggies in addition to drinking water.
Next, pack broad-spectrum sunscreen so a sunburn doesn’t ruin your festival experience. Other than being uncomfortable, sunburns can lead to serious skin damage, skin diseases, and cancer. Apply it every hour or so because you’ll probably sweat it off.
Bring a pair of sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat in addition to sunscreen for added protection. You can also consume extra vitamin D and saturated fats beforehand to help protect your skin. Remember that nothing ruins a music festival outfit like sun-scorched skin!
Taking Random Drugs and Drinking Too Much
It’s not uncommon for music festival attendees to come across some questionable drug offerings. Using or ingesting unknown substances can be an awful and potentially life-threatening mistake.
It might be tempting to take drugs from another friendly festival goer, but resist the urge at all costs. There’s no way to tell if the substance is actually what it’s supposed to be, even if the person offering them has good intentions.
If you drink too much, you’ll end up more likely to make bad decisions like taking drugs from strangers. You might also irritate the people you came with if they have to babysit you and deal with your drunkenness.
Too much booze can ruin your music festival budget because of high concession prices, too. Alcohol also makes you get dehydrated faster and leads to bad hangovers.
Losing Your Friends and Belongings
With so much going on at world music festivals, it’s easy to get separated from the group you came with. Make sure to keep your phone charged and consider bringing a portable power pack for backup.
Develop a plan with your group if you intend to separate at a festival. Set a time and location to meet back up and try not to keep your friends worried and waiting for you.
Keep your money and valuables secured and on you at all times. Many festival goers bring backpacks or fanny packs to carry and protect their belongings. Consider wearing things like sunglasses, keys, and vapes around your neck so you don’t misplace them. For an extra layer of convenience and personalization, you might also explore options to order custom polyester lanyards, ensuring your essentials stay within easy reach throughout the festivities.
Also, stay aware of your surroundings and don’t keep money in your back pocket. Unfortunately, theft happens even at the most free-spirited festivals. If possible, rent a locker for the most secure way to protect your valuables.
Forgetting the Location of Your Car or Tent
Dude, where’s my car and tent? Walking around and endlessly searching for your vehicle or tent can be a frustrating experience.
Try to remember permanent landmarks near your car or tent to easily find them after a long day. It’s not uncommon for festivalgoers to let the excitement overwhelm them and head off to the stage without thinking.
Before you even arrive, be sure to study the venue’s map and layout for a few minutes. It will help you know where everything is including parking lots and camping areas. You’ll also know where to find bathrooms and a first-aid tent in case of an emergency.
Both Google Maps and Apple Maps have features to help you find your car or tent, too. Simply pin and save their locations so that you can navigate back to them later. Just keep in mind that this technique becomes useless if your phone dies!
You can also take a bus to most festivals or have someone drop you off so that you don’t have to worry about parking or finding your car. It’s also a great way to help cut down on gas emissions at the event.
Having Poor Festival Hygiene
No one wants to be the smelly person at a festival, so plan accordingly. Bring extra deodorant so that you stay smelling as fresh as your dance moves.
You can pack baby wipes to help boost your festival hygiene game between showers. It’s also helpful to use bring dry shampoo and use leave-in conditioners to maintain your hair over the weekend.
Some festivals have onsite showers but check ahead of time and don’t assume they’ll be there. Some festivalgoers even bring portable showers to their campsites. Of course, a jug of water might do the trick if you don’t have any other options.
A travel-sized toothbrush and toothpaste should easily fit into a fanny pack or backpack. Drinking and smoking can especially take a toll on your breath after a night of partying.
Pack some extra clothes if you’re attending a multi-day festival. It’s a great way to stay fresh and also an opportunity to switch up your wardrobe each day.
Having a Lack of Respect for Others
This should go without saying, but don’t be a jerk to your fellow festivalgoers. Be aware of your festival etiquette and always stay respectful.
Heat, hunger, and exhaustion might make you feel irritable and prone to arguments or fights. Remember that music festivals are all about togetherness and positivity. Take a deep breath and avoid confrontation with other attendees at all costs.
For example, you might get frustrated if someone pushes past you in a crowd or cuts in front of you in a line. Try to let it go and remember not to do those things yourself.
Keep in mind that everyone paid money and scheduled time to be there just like you did. No matter how annoyed you might get with an individual, try not to let it ruin your mood and potentially affect others in your group or around you.
Regrettable Hookups
Often at festivals, you’ll find that love is in the air. It’s a party, there’s drinking, and inhibitions get loosened. Don’t let that be a recipe for regret or possible diseases!
Bring plenty of condoms and a level-headed friend to look out for you if possible. At Lollapolooza, 30 percent of attendees planned to have sex with a stranger. That might sound like a spectacular adventure, but you don’t want to take home an unwanted souvenir.
Unfortunately, a high percentage of women have reported sexual harassment or assault during music festivals. While festivals have done more to improve safety in recent years, it’s important to take precautions and be careful who you trust.
Not Knowing the Schedule
Music Festivals feature a ton of great artists and you might not have time to see them all. Make sure to prioritize your favorite musicians and find out exactly when and where they’re performing.
It’s easy to get sidetracked so you might want to set reminders on your phone so that you don’t miss out on a show. You also don’t want to show up too late or you might not get a good spot.
With all that being said, don’t sweat it if you’re not feeling up for a headliner or get distracted by something else that’s fun. Music festivals are a great way to discover new artists that you’ll love in addition to seeing your favorites.
Don’t Litter
Nothing kills a music festival vibe quite like piles of trash on the ground. Remember to pick up after yourself and leave no trace behind as if you were in a national park. Keeping the festival grounds clean shows respect for the environment and those around you.
If the grounds already have a lot of trash thrown about, you might get tempted to join in the littering. Instead, try picking up some trash even if it isn’t your own. Others might see your generous act and follow in your footsteps.
Big festivals like Coachella can generate over 200,000 pounds of trash daily. Volunteers usually do their best to keep the grounds clean at these large festivals, but it’s important not to make it more difficult for them.
Remembering to bring a water bottle helps cut down on disposable plastic bottles and reduces waste. Also, you won’t have to ingest any harmful microplastics while you vibe out.
Some careless festivalgoers straight up ditch their tents after the event ends which creates a ton of plastic waste. If you think you’d like to leave your tent behind, consider more eco-friendly cardboard tent options.
Have you thought about incorporating glitter into your festival outfit? Make sure it’s bio glitter so that it can decompose naturally instead of polluting waterways.
Running Out of Money
Budgeting doesn’t end after you’ve bought your festival wristband or after you’ve arrived. You still need to worry about how much cash you have for things like merch stands and food.
Novice music festival attendees need to work out their budget before they leave home. There are usually ample ATMs to use at festivals, but the fees can add up quickly.
Determine how much food you’ll need and research menu prices ahead of time. Chances are you’ll come across merch that catches your eye, too. Decide how much you’re willing to spend on things like t-shirts and vinyl records and stick to that number.
It’s also important to note that some festivals offer financing options. But these might be risky investments with expensive interest rates, so make sure to read the fine print.
Sometimes you can get a discount on your festival tickets via early bird specials. The drawback is that these deals usually occur before the full lineup gets announced. But it’s a great way to save money and leave extra cash to use at the festival itself.
If you’re planning on going to a festival with a bunch of your friends, check to see if there are any group discounts available. Some credit cards even offer discounts for music festivals so make sure you don’t miss out on potential savings.
Make sure you look at the lineup for each day of a festival to ensure that you want to see those artists. For instance, maybe you save money and skip one of the days if you don’t see anything that interests you.
Avoiding Common Music Festival Mistakes
Now you know 10 easy ways to prevent common music festival mistakes from ruining your good time. Remember to study the lineup schedule and the festival layout thoroughly before you arrive.
Keep track of your belongings and friends throughout the event and keep your phone charged. Always be aware of your surroundings and avoid heavy drinking and unknown substances.
We hope this guide helps you stay safe and satisfied during your music festival experience. Check out the rest of our site for more information about live music and other helpful tips.
This year, I read more books than any other, whether it be due to increased free time I had in post-graduation life, or signing onto Our Culture to interview authors of new books. Either way, there have been some incredible debuts, follow-ups from notable authors, or fun novels that we were just glad to spend some time with.
Our Culture’s Svetlana Sterlin and Sam Franzini count down their favourite books of the year.
Svetlana’s Picks
Heartstopper: Volume Four by Alice Oseman
The fourth volume of Alice Oseman’s hit graphic novel series. Heartstopper, is a continuation of the heartwarming love story between teenagers Nick and Charlie. This instalment deals with some heavy topics, but approaches them with the same tactfulness and sensitivity as the first three volumes do. In particular, Charlie is facing some mental health struggles while realising that he’s in love with Nick—but he’s unsure if Nick feels the same way about him. As always, Heartstopper: Volume Four retains the comic’s sense of levity and wholesomeness, making for a well-rounded and enjoyable reading experience.
Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors
This debut novel is a New York-set romance that begins on New Year’s Eve of 2006. 24-year-old British artist Cleo meets Frank, a forty-something marketing executive, and within months, they’re married. But it’s not all smooth sailing for the pair as they begin to deal with the consequences of their age difference, their swift engagement, their peers’ opinions of their relationship, and their own past traumas. Written in gorgeous, evocative prose, this is a vibrant and ever-changing story, thanks to its use of multiple narrators and locations.
Exactly As I Am by Rae White
The second collection from Australian poet Rae white, Exactly As I Am is a celebration of gender euphoria written from a non-binary transgender perspective. These poems are playful, defiant, non-conforming, and critical. Witty and sharp, these poems are accessible for a range of readers, but experimental enough in their form to challenge more experienced consumers of poetry. Exactly As I Am pairs perfectly with White’s award-winning first collection, Milk Teeth, whichexplores similar themes.
Favourite of the Year: The Jaguar by Sarah Holland-Batt
Holland-Batt’s third poetry collection is a deep insight into grief, love, and life—specifically, its fragility and fleetingness. The Jaguar’s titular symbol sometimes acts as a metaphor, and sometimes is an idea as elusive as the creature that slinks through the book’s pages, making appearances seemingly at random, each time reincarnated in a different form. Death and illness permeate these poems; the opening and closing elegies mourn the loss of the poet’s father, even before his passing. The Australian poet utilises lyrical language, powerful imagery, and airtight mastery of poetic form to bring these verses to life and move the reader.
Sam’s Picks
Checkout-19 by Claire-Louise Bennett
Claire-Louise Bennett’s lurid, meandering second novel follows an unnamed narrator, through what the reader assumes to be her life, but to be honest, is not certain. Some of the parts of the novel — the first and last, specifically — are written in a stream-of-consciousness style, with sentences running for over a page and paragraphs that run for multiple. Be warned: it is definitely a book for a certain type of reader, one that doesn’t mind if there’s no logical conclusion, beginning, middle, end, or palpable logistics. However, its greatest strength is Bennett’s devourable writing style, going as in-depth to spend around 100 pages just about books the narrator has received as gifts or lent out. Odd, liminal, and blending fact and fiction, Checkout-19 is likely to be either one of your favourite or least favourites of the year.
Little Rabbit by Alyssa Songsiridej
Power and relationship dynamics are at the heart of Alyssa Songsiridej’s debut novel, Little Rabbit, following an unnamed novelist who falls into an intense relationship with an older choreographer. They travel to his home in the Berkshires, enjoying weekends away, and return back to Boston to face scrutiny from the narrator’s friends and family. No one seems to understand their relationship, but the narrator finds it impossible to describe that she just wants someone to meld into, to make her invisible. Sex with the choreographer achieves this goal, but sometimes, her quest to be erotically diminished goes too far.
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
After coming back from a vague encounter deep in the sea, explorer Leah emerges different. Her wife, Miri, notices she takes longer baths than usual, and drifts off while staring at the TV, different from her normal self. Miri tries to get past the couple’s new challenge — she calls Leah’s diving company, goes out with friends — but realizes that Leah, for some mysterious reason, is beyond saving. The book has several clever yet terrifying details, including the fact that each part’s name corresponds to an ocean layer, starting from the “Sunlight Zone,” eventually descending down to the terrifying “Abyssal” and “Hadal” Zones. Armfield pulls the reader into a horrifying world, smashing paranormal elements into mundane living, making her debut one of the most memorable novels of the year.
Across six interconnected stories, Jem Calder examines, with miraculous detail, what it means to be human in the age of technology. Often hailed as a ‘chronically online Sally Rooney,” Calder introduces us to Nick and Julia, characters that work together, and then are inseparable in each other’s minds. The idea of place is always vague, Calder only letting these characters inhabit some big city, lending the book a liminal quality: they could be floating in space, for all we know. The pandemic is included in the final story, but only as a basis for online communication, a natural progression of what we would have gone through, anyway. Calder examines the human psyche intimately, with a knowledge of awkwardness, longing, and ennui that comes with every restaurant job in your mid-20s.
At a sex worker brothel in the middle of Nevada not unlike the Playboy house, Lady Lane (neé Kate Burns) quickly finds a home amongst The Hop’s enigmatic workers. Protected by a mysterious ‘Daddy’, who acts as the boss, the Bunnies of the house are able to carry out their work for multiple clients discreetly, earning large sums of cash in the process. But news leaks out that within the town, sex workers are being targeted with violence for unknown reasons. Her fellow Bunnies assure Lady Lane is safest within The Hop, but she can’t help but wonder about the intricacies and dynamics she’s gotten herself into. Told from her roots in rural New Zealand to her eventual fame, and from multiple points of view, The Hop dissects sex work, capitalism, and violence with a sharp wit and a page-turning saga.
Favourite of the Year: The Candy House by Jennifer Egan
At first glance, I was skeptical of The Candy House: speculative fiction, for me, is severely hit-and-miss. But after I read Candy House’s Pulitzer-winning companion novel, A Visit From the Goon Squad, I knew I’d have to get to it immediately. Goon Squad, a sprawling and multi-faceted exploration of time, aging, and the music industry told from multiple viewpoints and times, reads like an interlinked short story collection. Egan’s strength, and what made the novel so compelling: her ability to inhabit the mindsets of the most random of characters. “I find it really boring to write about myself or my life or people I know,” she frequently says.
The Candy House follows the same format as Goon Squad, but the threshold where it takes place is shifted forward; it primarily follows the invention of ‘Own Your Unconscious’ in 2010, which allows users to access the memories of any other user who agrees to participate. Egan is unafraid to make bold, futuristic leaps — ‘Own Your Unconscious’ may be a far-fetched idea, but she basically predicted the rise of Instagram in 2001’s Look at Me. Candy House also features an anthropologist who travels to reclusive cultures to figure out the mathematical principles that determine human judgment, later exploited by big tech companies — an idea familiar to anyone living in the Age of the Algorithm.
Being a music journalist as well as a book journalist, I feel like I should have an abundance of new albums to listen to, but sometimes, I oddly feel myself reaching to listen to Candy House — not on audiobook — but its essence. I want to distill its explosive scenarios and time-switching abilities down to its candy-colored components, its electric prose into a listenable song. My mind is Egan-ified; I’ve read Manhattan Beach, her 2017 historical novel following a Brooklyn Navy Yard diver in the 1940s, and purchased her three previous novels and one short story collection. For better or for worse, The Candy House has changed the way I think, and I haven’t read a book this year like it.
EPs tend to be short and sweet, but some of this year’s best were just as ambitious and challenging as any full-length. A few on this list are even longer than some of the LPs that made our year-end albums list, from indie rock that relentlessly aims skyward to contemplative ambient experiments. Some are solitary and intimate affairs, others uniquely collaborative. There are, of course, EPs that may not stretch the limits of the format but still manage to leave a strong impression, and though many shorter releases often fall through the tracks, we believe these are definitely worth your time. Here are the 25 best EPs of 2022.
While Kathleen Frances’ music often zeroes in on themes of uncertainty and existential dread, she grounds her piano-based arrangements in moments of introspection and pure emotion, inviting you to sink into them. “As we lie in the park/ It’s my favourite in the dark/ Counting starts to feel how small we really are,” the Bristol artist sings on the gently enveloping ‘Shout Love’, an early single from her mesmerizing debut EP. On Through the Blue, which was made in collaboration with co-producer Ben Baptie (Moses Sumney, Little Simz, Cleo), her evocative melodies and stirring vocals are mostly foregrounded by spare, intimate production, although the electronic flourishes on the percussive closer ‘Baby Blue’ hint at how her sound may evolve in the future.
Though Dev Hynes has kept busy over the past few years, particularly with his soundtrack work, Four Songs marks his first solo project under the Blood Orange moniker since 2019’s Angel’s Pulse. It’s not the radical reinvention you might expect from an artist with such a strong penchant for experimentation, but rather a hazy, understated, and, as the title suggests, straightforward set of tracks. Its vague lyricism, reverb-soaked vocals, and softly hypnotic arrangements seep their way in even if you can’t quite wrap your head around them, evoking a sort of reclusive headspace that makes fantasy possible. The EP really comes alive on the final track, ‘Relax and Run’, in which Hynes is joined by Erika de Casier and Eva Tolkin to fight off inertia by dreaming, if only for a moment, of a different kind of escape.
Step by Step is home to one of the best pop songs of the year, which should be enough reason to check out the first-ever collaboration from cousins Alain and Stéphane Quême, aka French house pioneers Alan Braxe and DJ Falcon. Nothing ever really matches the pure magic of its title track, featuring an indelible vocal performance from Animal Collective’s Panda Bear, but that’s exactly what makes it a perfect opener. With decades of experience under their belt, the duo spends the rest of the EP finding wondrous and playful ways of extending that euphoria, keeping things simple while projecting an effortlessly luxuriant glow. The joy of discovery, it turns out, is the real pleasure.
After intricately weaving a wide range of influences on the first two Sis records, 2018’sEuphorbia and 2019’s Gas Station Roses, Jenny Gillespie Mason returned with a new EP calledGnani at the very beginning of 2022. Unlike previous, more collaborative releases, the six-song effort was mostly recorded at Mason’s home studio using an array of vintage instruments, and her sound has become more intimate and playful while remaining just as enchanting and immersive. Each track is its own ethereal journey brimming with strange, dreamlike detail, but their healing effect is palpable. “Came on this trip to find life/ And the way to find life/ Is to know it stops midair,” she sings on ‘Wooie’, yet the song keeps going for just as long before, naturally, it dissolves.
For a blackened doom EP (or mini-album, if you prefer) comprising four tracks, Bluenothing is a relatively slow-burning affair – the opening title track, a clear standout, trudges along eleven and a half minutes. Yet Worm have a way of breathing life into every minute through additional flourishes and dynamic shifts, and having mastered the rare balance of black and doom metal on previous releases, they toy with a more symphonic sound on their latest. Dispersed through the lush, nocturnal atmosphere are elements that might be familiar to fans, yet keenly delivered to disquieting effect: vicious guitar solos (traded between members Wroth Septentrion and Nihilistic Manifesto), ominous synths, ghastly growls. The first two tracks, lifted from the sessions behind 2021’s breakthrough Foreverglade, powerfully contrast the ones on side B, bringing this era of the band to a darkly foreboding, typically enigmatic conclusion.
Daniela Lalita’s unbound eclecticism is the driving force on Trececerotres, the mystical debut EP from the Peruvian model, visual artist, and musician. Grounding her sonic experimentation with a distinct pop sensibility, the 5-track offering has traces of early Björk, Rosalía, and Arca creeping into her unique production style, which melds the ancestral and the modern, the abstract and brutally raw. Lalita’s first job was doing different voices for TV commercials as a child, and though the bewitching soundscapes she strings together on Trececerotres would stand out on their own, her elastic vocals enfold the songs into unexpected emotional realms, particularly on ‘Pisoteo’, the guttural and transfixing closing track dedicated to her grandmother who survived cancer.
It takes very little time for Ganser’s latest EP to disarm the listener: “Yeah, the world is big/ And nothing you do matters/ You shake when you’re nervous/ But you should be flattered,” Nadia Garofalo sings on the opening track ‘People Watching’, her delivery neither apathetic nor totally sneering, perhaps even wickedly playful. The Chicago band tackle big questions on a short EP comprising two original tracks (plus a remix from the EP’s producer, Angus Andrew of Liars), but what’s more unnerving is the way their music engenders a very real sense of drama: ‘People Watching’ puts us all on the same rotten stage, while the following ‘What Me Worry?’ finds Alicia Gaines questioning her own role in the performance. There’s so much at play on these two songs alone that I never want to skip Andrew’s infectious spin on ‘People Watching’, just to get another peek at the chaos unfolding.
Blending free-flowing experimentation and pop hooks, Tomato Flower’s first two EPs – February’s Gold Arc and August’s Construction – showcase a band that’s not just versatile and playful in their approach to sound, but also rigorous and emotionally expressive when it comes to shaping it into something memorable. It’s hard to separate the two collections, both of which are marked by the Baltimore group’s joyously imaginative world-building, but Construction peels back some of the headiness of its predecessor to make way for more tuneful, direct melodies. Yet there’s still something ambivalent about the fantasies they invoke on songs like ‘Fancy’, and it’s that open-endedness that makes them so beguiling.
As delicately crafted as it is ethereal, Palaces of Pity elicits the sort of movement you might begin to trace by pairing verbs with the word “away”: fall, wash, fade. The follow-up to Malibu’s striking 2019 record One Life is the sort of project that compels the listener to keep sinking further rather than settling into its lush, quietly moving tapestry of synths and vocals, conjuring waves of feeling that can be both towering and disorienting. “i like the ocean and i make music sometimes,” the French ambient producer writes in their Bandcamp bio, and their ability to make vast, expansive soundscapes using the subtlest of textures suggests those two interests are interconnected. Malibu treats music as a space to stare and dissolve into, and Palaces of Pity encourages submersion even if it can never erase the pain and longing that simmers deep within.
The name of the Brooklyn quartet Jobber, which refers to a wrestler whose purpose is to routinely lose matches to make the big names look good, is rich with metaphor. On their debut EP, the group – formed by Kate Meizner (The Glow, Maneka, Hellrazor) and Mike Falcone (Speedy Ortiz, Ovlov) – use pro wrestling as an allegory for abusive workplace culture while underscoring just how much of what we do serves to enhance the spectacle. The songs themselves are infectious and gnarly, driven by heavy riffs as much as they tangle themselves up in dissonance. On the surface, Hell in a Cell might sound like pretty familiar indie rock – but dig a little deeper and you’ll find not just a compelling narrative but strong dynamics, with a grungy closing track that should get any Pablo Honey defenders amped up.
As early as on the opening track of her debut self-titled EP as Blunt Chunks, Caitlin Woefle-O’Brien’s warm, countrified brand of indie folk sounds incredibly honed in. Yet for the rest of the project, which features members of The Weather Station, Broken Social Scene, Scott Hardware, Luna Li, and more, the Toronto-based singer-songwriter widens her palette as she gnaws at the frustration that comes with heartbreak, drifting into jazzier, dreamier terrain on ‘Natural Actors’ before delivering a full-on rocker with ‘BWFW’. But it’s in the poignant melodies and tender vulnerability of songs like ‘Going Back’ and ‘Part of Me’ that she seems most at home, evoking a love that’s as stubborn as it is thrilling.
On their debut EP, NewJeans’ nostalgic Y2K aesthetic and innovative take on K-pop come together in impressive fashion. Elaborate promotional tactics aside – the four-track release was backed by several music videos as well as a mobile app encouraging fans to interact with the five members of the girl group – their creative ambition shines through the songs themselves, which sound as sleek as they are playful and sugary. The quality remains consistent even as the tone shifts, ranging from elegantly smooth on the R&B-inflected ‘Attention’, feverish and uplifting on ‘Hype Boy’, effervescent on ‘Cookie’, and heartfelt on ‘Hurt’. With a second EP titled OMG coming in just a few weeks, they’ll be sure to keep the momentum going.
For a project clocking in at over 40 minutes, it might seem strange that Antidawn is categorized as an EP. But listen to how the tracks deviate from his signature sound and the classification starts to make sense: as immersive and textured as it is, the EP hews closer to liminal ambient than electronic music, too formless to evoke the sort of nocturnal scenes so vital to the enigmatic producer’s previous output. But what’s more revelatory isn’t the way the Burial reorganizes his toolbox but the warmth that seeps into the compositions, a stark contrast to the cold, austere aesthetic he’s become associated with. His use of vocal samples in particular conjures a romanticism, almost sentimentality, that’s both hazy and comforting, eerie yet becalming. The release of Streetlands in October indicated Burial might be interested in occupying this lane for at least a little longer, but Antidawn sounds like it could stretch on forever.
Sputnik, the Swedish musician who records as Weatherday, and Seoul artist Asian Glow join forces on this collaborative EP, which sits at the intersection of emo, shoegaze, and indietronica. If that last descriptor throws you off a bit, rest assured that Weatherglow is stacked with way more frenetic riffs than lo-fi bedroom moments, and they spiral off each other in exhilarating ways. Each song has multiple choruses that blend and explode in different directions, reaching soaring heights on songs like ‘late time stroll’ (not quite the mellow electronic interlude its lowercase title suggests). “Something’s combusting messier than I remembered,” they sing on closer ‘Jet’, but somehow it turns into a source of catharsis.
Silvana Estrada’s Abrazo EP, which is composed of songs she recorded while making her stunning 2022 album Marchita, is serene and beautifully gentle. Resting on the delicate power of her voice, the Mexican singer-songwriter offers vibrant vignettes embraced with grace and gratitude, a lovely contrast to the isolation that haunts many of the songs that appear on the LP. Despite their sparse presentation, there is a fullness to each of the four tracks, and Estrada has a unique way of weaving her way around feelings both light and immense. When she performs over layers of strings and vocals on highlight ‘Se Me Occure’, it sounds like she’s stretching her own body rather than trying to hide it. It makes for a gorgeous companion to Marchita that’s also worth revisiting on its own.
peace places: kenyan memories, the debut EP from Kenyan sound artist Nyokabi Kariũki, captures the sounds of people, things, and natural environments that have been important to her growing up, letting them guide the music as well as the sometimes conflicted feelings that it invokes. Helping transport the listener in that journey are field recordings, traditional African instruments such as mbira, kalimba, and gyil, and varied experimental textures. In this process of remembering, a “peace place” becomes less of a metaphor than a vivid representation of a memory; the way it can be both specific and abstract at the same time, and how, even as time goes on and it changes shape, something about it remains profoundly resonant.
When New York-based producer DJ Python was commissioned by Ela Minus to remix a track from acts of rebellion, the Colombian electronic artist’s excellent 2020 debut LP, the pair started texting each other not just music recommendations but also films and book excerpts. When it came to making their EP ♡, they didn’t talk about how the music should sound – Piñyero describes the process as “unspoken communication” – but this back-and-forth did lead to philosophical discussions about love and life that are, in an organic way, reflected on its three spacious, strikingly intimate tracks. There’s a depth and preciousness in the space between DJ Python’s beats Minus’ vocals that belies their simplicity, making for a brief and quaint yet surprisingly profound response to pandemic era-isolation.
Before releasing their wonderful debut album Light Moving Time in October, Babehoven dropped the latest in a series of wide-ranging EPs and their first for Double Double Whammy, Sunk. The striking six-song collection finds the Vermont duo twisting the haunting introspection of last year’s Nastavi, Calliope EP into something forlorn yet delicately intimate, its starker instrumental backdrop influenced by slowcore and Elliott Smith’s Either/Or. Even at half the length of their LP, the mood is beautifully disparate, a reminder that the same thoughts that drag you down can also leave you breathless. Just when everything seems soft and pliable, you suddenly feel the sharp sting of a personal wound on the seven-minute closer ‘Twenty Dried Chillies’, whose grand presentation matches singer-songwriter Maya Bon’s stream-of-consciousness lyrics. “I’m at a loss at what happens in this world/ It is a cruel sensation, remembering I am human,” she sings, but it sounds less like sinking to the bottom than swimming through the pain.
Fear, panic, existential dread – these things tend to get mushed into one nondescript package in the doomgaze/slowcore genre that Greet Death operate in, but New Low is anything but. For a collection of songs originally released as standalone singles, the follow-up to 2019’s New Hell is both impressively consistent and an exciting testament to how the group has opened up its horizons. Greet Death are refreshingly sincere and self-aware about their miserablism, and they express different shades of it across these five songs, from the heavier shoegaze of ‘New Low’ to the deceptively upbeat ‘Panic Song’ and the mesmerizing slowcore of ‘Punishment Existence’. New Low evokes the sort of emptiness you mindlessly crawl into at the end of an exhausting workday, and Greet Death know how comforting that can feel.
The debut EP from Kero Kero Bonito’s Sarah Midori Perry is an exploration of the Greek myth of Icarus, which she was first exposed to through a songbook at school. The songs capture the many potentials the metaphor continues to hold for her; choosing to celebrate the fierce glory that defined the protagonist over his ultimate failure, but guiding us through the entire journey. It’s a bold concept to pull off over the course of five tracks, but the collection is by turns bright and vulnerable, glitchy and sweet, gentle and explosive, always managing to catch flickers of hope and catharsis in the midst of turmoil. It’s a world that’s distinct from the one she’s built with KKB, and it’s not hard to imagine it growing into its own musical universe.
Two years after his acclaimed 2020 album Karma & Desire, Actress returned in November with the Dummy Corporation EP, a mesmerizing work of ambient techno. Darren Cunningham has a knack for simultaneously layering and obscuring his soundscapes, and the four-track, 40-minute EP (which comes alongside two shorter edits) offers a window into his process of collaging, refining, and dismantling sonic sketches. Despite his subdued, fragmented production style, the resulting piece can take the form of an Odyssean journey, particularly on the 20-minute opening title track, which is as hazy as it is evocative. You might expect a track called ‘Dream’, which bookends the album, to be the most slippery of all, but it’s here that Actress turns up the heat, ceaselessly pulling you in even as it never achieves lift-off.
After making their live debut at ANOHNI’s Meltdown Festival in 2012, Sun’s Signature – the duo of Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser and her partner Damien Reece, who has been a member of Spiritualized, Echo and the Bunnymen, and Massive Attack – spent the following decade refining the material that appears on their self-titled EP. Press materials describe it as an “Alice in Wonderland journey through life and music,” which is a poetic way to put it, but it feels apt – Fraser’s musings on love and nature are resplendent with warmth and whimsy, resulting in songs that are as intricately rich as they are entrancing. Though the ethereal production and otherworldly vocals will be to familiar Cocteau Twins fans, something about the way the pair combines them feels blissfully down-to-earth.
The latest EP from Two Shell is both rapturous and dizzyingly hypnotic. Even on their most (club-)focused and cohesive release to date, the enigmatic UK duo refuse to scale back the boldness of their vision, immersing us into a digital world filled with ambiguous robotic voices and playfully cartoonish flourishes. Their world-building is as subtle as their beats are heavy and propulsive, which should be no surprise if you’ve followed Two Shell’s rise from the underground – but if the first four tracks on Icons can only be described as euphoric, their approach becomes knottier on the closer ‘Mainframe’, which slyly negates any sense of release even as it hints at where they might be taking their sound in the future.
On the follow-up to her 2018 debut album Premonitions, Miya Folick channels a range of everyday emotions with a similar intensity but places more emphasis on directness and experimentation, skirting the line between pop and indie. Many of the songs here zero in on a pivotal point in Folick’s life before offering a zoomed-out perspective. Full of yearning and regret but confident in carving a path forward, 2007 is a captivating 20-minute project that’s also refreshingly collaborative, with production from Gabe Wax, Mike Malchicoff, and Andrew Sarlo, among others. “Our life is small but it’s big enough for me,” Folick sings on ‘Ordinary’, a simple reminder not just of how magical those tiny moments can feel, but of all the joy, fear, loneliness, and hope that lives in between.
After making one of the most gloriously overwhelming debuts in recent memory with last year’s To See the Next Part of the Dream, the latest from Parannoul proves they can apply the same sweeping ambition to shorter, more collaborative releases. A joint effort with Asian Glow – the two Seoul artists previously contributed to a split EP with São Paulo screamo outfit sonhos tomam conta – Paraglow does a spectacular job of conjuring heavenly, cataclysmic beauty without wasting a single breath; it seems to care less about shifting between genres like punk, emo, and shoegaze than purging a shared, scorching desperation through an endless barrage of instrumentation. Moments of awe-inspiring clarity stand out amidst the noise – the transition from the brutal, blown-out outro of ‘The Light Side of the Eyes’ to the twinkly pianos of ‘Neoup’ is unlike anything else – but it’s ‘Wheel’, the 15-minute mammoth of a closing track, that overflows with the most astounding ideas, leaving you dizzy and breathless.
Winner of Second Place award in the National Political/Government Reporting, Qinling Li attended Richmond, Va. Black gun ownership movement in wake of Floyd tragedy
A TV producer and editor produced a YouTube video that highlights the struggles and concerns of Black gun ownership. Qinling Li, freelance journalist and contributor of Reason TV attended the Richmond, Va. Black Gun Rights Movements to speak with and film several activists for her documentary, “The Reawakening of the Black Gun-Rights Movement”.
During one of her field reports in Richmond, VA, she ran into a group of armed Black people demonstrating over the arrest and subsequent death of George Floyd. As a foreign-born journalist in the U.S, Qinling realized that Black voices about gun ownership were falling on deaf ears, so she sought to get some insights from those affected.
Before the project started, Qinling did tons of research on the topic. She found that the U.S. has a complicated history with black gun ownership. The laws became more strict each time when there’s a revolution, and even more definitive about who could and who could not carry arms. Free blacks were being unbelievably restricted especially for the enslaved. [1]
“The Ku Klux Klan and its white supremacist threatened black people from casting their vote, so armed Black groups like Deacons for Defense and Justice could guard people in the community,” she said. “I had never heard about the long history of organized black self-defense before working on this project.”
(Black Gun-Rights Protest)
Qinling and her production partner Arthur Nazaryan spent several months with a black gun-rights community. One of the more crucial movement activists and a firm believer in the Second Amendment, Brent Holmes, carried an assault rifle across his chest. According to Holmes, a white guy can walk up and down the street with his rifle on his back, but when black people do it, they are called animals. People automatically assume the worst of a black man with a gun.
Qinling noticed the strong motivation the community has to protect itself. During the COVID-19 pandemic, that sense of self-protection with guns was undeniable. According to one interviewee, he taught his eight-year-old child how to use guns. Black people, one said, were concerned about the lack of living supplies and their family’s safety during the pandemic. The community believes owning guns helps with that sense of self-protection.
Qinling came to the United States in 2015 as an international student from China. She grew up believing guns are detrimental to society. China’s civilian firearm ownership laws are strictly restricted. Most people are afraid to talk about guns. Qinling said her reporting experience in Virginia made her rethink gun culture in the United States.
“In a country where it is impossible to ban firearms and where there’s certain distrust in the police, isn’t it understandable that minority groups want to master knowledge about guns?”, says Qinling.
According to Qinling, owning a gun isn’t the only way to protect oneself, but their concerns are understood. It’s one of the ways to protect themselves, she said. You can check out the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2QcPWuIFOM.
Decisive Pink, the new project of Angel Deradoorian and Kate NV, have released their debut single. ‘Haffmilch Holiday’ was inspired by the daily ritual of ordering oat milk cappuccinos, representing “the desire to be free from the daily grind of societal pressures and to take in the little joys that all humans appreciate.” Take a listen below.
Decisive Pink’s debut album, which they wrote in Köln, Germany, is due for release next year through Fire Records. Kate NV recently will issue her next solo LP, WOW, on March 3.
Thanks for Coming – the project of Water From Your Eyes’ Rachel Brown – has released a new track, ‘Plagiarizer’, which will appear on the forthcoming compilation You Haven’t Missed Much. It comes out this Friday, December 16 via their new label home Danger Collective. Listen to ‘Plagiarizer’ below.
“This song is just summing up my existence as a vaguely Catholic songwriter who is always in the middle of making a mistake,” Brown explained in a statement. “Honestly, I feel like all the best songs have already been written and I’m just showing up late to the party because I have no other way to express my inner emotional world, which is unfortunately quite mundane and mostly revolves around falling in and out of love too quickly and my consistently losing battle against my insecurities and self-doubt. I’d probably be better off if I just texted my friends back or saw my therapist more regularly, but at the end of the day it’s all fine, because this is the body I’ve been born into and I’m fortunate to have my life and my friends and my family and the rest that comes with it, even the parts that make me feel a little too heavy sometimes. I’m coming to terms with being and I’m trying really hard to keep growing into myself.”
Thanks for Coming’s most recent album, rachel jr., arrived back in January.
You Haven’t Missed Much Tracklist:
1. Steven Hawking’s Goldfish Analogy (Demo)
2. Losing Touch (NYC)
3. My Name
4. Plagiarizer
5. Have a Good One
6. Missed Connections
7. My Keys Were in My Pockets
8. Panic
9. Yr Kind of Cool
10. Universe
11. U R Not Sick, Yr Electric (Demo)
12. Belief in a World of Doubt
13. Me, Missing You
14. Niagara Falls (Demo)
Marijuana is the only plant in the world that has gained incredibly wide popularity and found its fans. Compared to other drugs and products, weed is very harmless. Aromatic smoke and a pleasant aftertaste beckon to smoke it again. Many countries prohibit the distribution of weed because it is still a drug, but in some territories, marijuana is legalized and can be purchased freely. What about those who really like to relax but cannot buy weed? There is the greatest solution to this problem – for example, you can order weed online Canada is the country that just allows such fraud.
The best grade and useful prosperities
It sounds amazing, but marijuana contains many useful substances — which is why it is often used for medical purposes to help people with serious diseases. Studies identified by scientists have shown that this plant can be easily used for medicinal purposes. Also, they revealed one of the best varieties of marijuana, which is now very popular — this is the blue dream strain. Among the useful properties of weed, many note the following points:
The effect of a sedative. After a very strong tantrum and spent nerves, smoking weed becomes much easier. Marijuana introduces a relaxed state, which automatically lifts the mood.
The effect of an anesthetic. This is perhaps the best product that can relieve even the sharpest and most severe pain in the body. What can we say if weed is used in the treatment of cancer and Alzheimer’s disease?
Anti-inflammatory effect. Another serious advantage of weed because it is used during strong physical exertion so that overstrain does not happen to the body. For example, marijuana is often used in order not to develop inflammation of the ligaments and muscles.
The effect of constant activity. Smoking marijuana causes a rapid heart rate, which means that the body is saturated with oxygen; adrenaline begins to go off the scale. Often it is the athletes who smoke a cannabis cigarette before the competition in order to increase their efficiency and activity.
These 4 important benefits of weed indicate that it is not as harmful to humans as it seems.
Some important points
The most important thing is to allocate the right dose for you so that there is no overdose. Also, calculate the duration of taking weed because you can’t smoke it all day either, here, it will already begin to act to the detriment of your body. Since marijuana is one of the most popular drugs in the world, it should be bought carefully because it is precisely the distribution of the product that is closely monitored. Try to order weed anonymously if ordering online.
Try not to let even the most delicious varieties of weed turn your head so that you literally get addicted to smoking. Use marijuana in a way that makes it enjoyable, not an addictive addiction. And, of course, remember that weed is able to change consciousness and act on the psyche because, along with all its benefits and effects on the body, it still remains a drug.
“This song is about feeling grateful and appreciative for when you can actually feel your feelings,” Bruce explained in a statement. “Even if some of those feelings may not be positive, at least they turn on all your senses and remind you that you are still alive.”
While Kathleen Frances’ music often zeroes in on themes of uncertainty and existential dread, she grounds her piano-based arrangements in moments of introspection and pure emotion, inviting you to sink into them. “As we lie in the park/ It’s my favourite in the dark/ Counting starts to feel how small we really are,” the Bristol artist sings on the gently enveloping ‘Shout Love’, an early single from her mesmerizing debut EP. On 
Though Dev Hynes has kept busy over the past few years, particularly with his soundtrack work, 
Step by Step
After intricately weaving a wide range of influences on the first two Sis records, 2018’s
For a blackened doom EP (or mini-album, if you prefer) comprising four tracks, 
Daniela Lalita’s unbound eclecticism is the driving force on 
It takes very little time for Ganser’s latest EP to disarm the listener: “Yeah, the world is big/ And nothing you do matters/ You shake when you’re nervous/ But you should be flattered,” Nadia Garofalo sings on the opening track ‘People Watching’, her delivery neither apathetic nor totally sneering, perhaps even wickedly playful. The Chicago band tackle big questions on a short EP comprising two original tracks (plus a remix from the EP’s producer, Angus Andrew of Liars), but what’s more unnerving is the way their music engenders a very real sense of drama: ‘People Watching’ puts us all on the same rotten stage, while the following ‘What Me Worry?’ finds Alicia Gaines questioning her own role in the performance. There’s so much at play on these two songs alone that I never want to skip Andrew’s infectious spin on ‘People Watching’, just to get another peek at the chaos unfolding. 
Blending free-flowing experimentation and pop hooks, Tomato Flower’s first two EPs – February’s 
As delicately crafted as it is ethereal, 
The name of the Brooklyn quartet Jobber, which refers to a wrestler whose purpose is to routinely lose matches to make the big names look good, is rich with metaphor. On their debut EP, the group – formed by Kate Meizner (The Glow, Maneka, Hellrazor) and Mike Falcone (Speedy Ortiz, Ovlov) – use pro wrestling as an allegory for abusive workplace culture while underscoring just how much of what we do serves to enhance the spectacle. The songs themselves are infectious and gnarly, driven by heavy riffs as much as they tangle themselves up in dissonance. On the surface, 
As early as on the opening track of her debut self-titled EP as Blunt Chunks, Caitlin Woefle-O’Brien’s warm, countrified brand of indie folk sounds incredibly honed in. Yet for the rest of the project, which features members of The Weather Station, Broken Social Scene, Scott Hardware, Luna Li, and more, the Toronto-based singer-songwriter widens her palette as she gnaws at the frustration that comes with heartbreak, drifting into jazzier, dreamier terrain on ‘Natural Actors’ before delivering a full-on rocker with ‘BWFW’. But it’s in the poignant melodies and tender vulnerability of songs like ‘Going Back’ and ‘Part of Me’ that she seems most at home, evoking a love that’s as stubborn as it is thrilling.
On their debut EP, NewJeans’ nostalgic Y2K aesthetic and innovative take on K-pop come together in impressive fashion. Elaborate promotional tactics aside – the four-track release was backed by several music videos as well as a mobile app encouraging fans to interact with the five members of the girl group – their creative ambition shines through the songs themselves, which sound as sleek as they are playful and sugary. The quality remains consistent even as the tone shifts, ranging from elegantly smooth on the R&B-inflected ‘Attention’, feverish and uplifting on ‘Hype Boy’, effervescent on ‘Cookie’, and heartfelt on ‘Hurt’. With a second EP titled OMG coming in just a few weeks, they’ll be sure to keep the momentum going. 
For a project clocking in at over 40 minutes, it might seem strange that 
Sputnik, the Swedish musician who records as Weatherday, and Seoul artist Asian Glow join forces on this collaborative EP, which sits at the intersection of emo, shoegaze, and indietronica. If that last descriptor throws you off a bit, rest assured that 
Silvana Estrada’s 
peace places: kenyan memories
When New York-based producer DJ Python was commissioned by Ela Minus to remix a track from acts of rebellion, the Colombian electronic artist’s excellent 2020 debut LP, the pair started texting each other not just music recommendations but also films and book excerpts. When it came to making their EP 
Before releasing their wonderful debut album 
Fear, panic, existential dread – these things tend to get mushed into one nondescript package in the doomgaze/slowcore genre that Greet Death operate in, but 
The debut EP from Kero Kero Bonito’s Sarah Midori Perry is an exploration of the Greek myth of Icarus, which she was first exposed to through a songbook at school. The songs capture
Two years after his acclaimed 2020 album 
After making their live debut at ANOHNI’s Meltdown Festival in 2012, Sun’s Signature – the duo of Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser and her partner Damien Reece, who has been a member of Spiritualized, Echo and the Bunnymen, and Massive Attack – spent the following decade refining the material that appears on their self-titled EP. Press materials describe it as an “
The latest EP from Two Shell is both rapturous and dizzyingly hypnotic. Even on their most (club-)focused and cohesive release to date, the enigmatic UK duo refuse to scale back the boldness of their vision, immersing us into a digital world filled with ambiguous robotic voices and playfully cartoonish flourishes. Their world-building is as subtle as their beats are heavy and propulsive, which should be no surprise if you’ve followed Two Shell’s rise from the underground – but if the first four tracks on 
On the follow-up to her 2018 debut album 
After making one of the most gloriously overwhelming debuts in recent memory with last year’s 
