My Bloody Valentines official Instagram suddenly became active again after nearly a year of silence to tease something new releasing on March 31st.
The cryptic teaser in question, features visuals lifted from their album Loveless, as their song Only Tomorrow plays in the background. Text in their iconic rounded typeface spells out, “M B V 31 03.” A link to their website is in the caption for the video which has become a mostly blank page where an email sign up is available. Many fans believe this is the band promoting an official release of their 2013 album MBV to streaming services.
Due to the album being self released it has never seen any outside of their personal website since its debut. Much of the rest of their catalog has also practically disappeared from streaming services up till recently.
With all that being said some eager fans have also come to the conclusion that the band is gearing up to release a brand new project. The band has reportedly been working on new material since 2018 but has since not met any deadlines promised. The most recent lead comes from Writer and Producer Andy Savors biography on his personal website which states he has “been recording the new album for MY BLOODY VALENTINE and worked with KEVIN SHIELDS on remastering ‘loveless’ and ‘isn’t anything’ for Vinyl.”
With all their info currently being updated on streaming services fans will have to wait a very short amount of time to figure out what it all means for the iconic act.
Her’s was an indie rock band from Liverpool, England consisting of Stephen Fitzpatrick on vocals and guitar and Audun Laading who played bass and sang backup vocals.
The band was known for their unique sound blending dream pop and indie rock to creating an innovative mix between the two that dazzled audiences for years. This was achieved thanks to Fitzpatrick’s creative guitar riffs, Laadings smooth bass grooves, and their collective choice to use a drum machine rather than regular drum kit.
Their subject matter also ranged across a wide spectrum of topics. “Cool with You” from their compilation album Songs of Her’s is a heartfelt ballad about a person wanting to call someone’s name, a song meant to be about companionship. Meanwhile the opener to their debut album, Invitation to Her’s while admittedly similar to the former is dedicated to “a six-foot, three-and-a-half-inch tall invisible rabbit,” according to the band themselves.
Their debut single, “Dorothy,” was released in April 2016, and met with favorable reception. Jamile Milton of DIY compared their sound to that of Beach Fossils and Ariel Pink. Others would go on to name Mac DeMarco as well. Their compilation album was met with positive scores as well
Their first and only record was released in Aug. 2018 and was met with generally positive reviews from critics. It was certainly enough to send the band touring around the world. The band had several successful touring dates in Europe and the United States following the release of their debut album. It went over so well the band announced a second batch of North American tours in October 2018. The band was supposed to perform across the United States with venues Washington, Texas and even New York.
All was well at the beginning of the tour. The band even made a tongue-in-cheek tweet to celebrate their sucsessful landing. “
We’re officially on US soil, and your American air is tasting delicious, crisp with a hint of freedom. We’ll soon be truckin into Texas to participate in the @sxsw festivities. Come see us all five times or just the once, depending on how eager you are,” wrote the band.
We’re officially on US soil, and your American air is tasting delicious, crisp with a hint of freedom. We’ll soon be truckin into Texas to participate in the @sxsw festivities. Come see us all five times or just the once, depending on how eager you are 🤟🇺🇸🤟 pic.twitter.com/AxKCYT7QUN
However, despite such an optimistic start the band would not be able to complete their North American tour. On March 27th 2019, their label, Heist or Hit, would announce their passing due to a “road accident” that occurred that Wednesday morning as the band was driving from Phoenix to to perform a show on that evening in Santa Ana, California.
“We are all heartbroken…Their energy, vibrancy and talent came to define our label. As humans, they were warm, gentle and hilarious. Each time they stopped by the office made for an uplifting experience. To say they were close would be an underestimation of a friendship that was genuinely beautiful to witness; they loved one another like brothers,” said the label in an official statement.
Many people from the Liverpool music scene would go on to share their grief about the bands unfortunate passing sharing statements about the bands genuine bond and charismatic image. An image that will never fade so long as their name echoes through listeners ears.
After many teasers, boy-band BROCKHAMPTON is ready to start rolling out singles in anticipation for their forthcoming album ROADRUNNER: NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE.
Word on the new single began on Tuesday. Kevin Abstract posted to his Instagram account asking for 5000 comments and in return BROCKHAMPTON would release a new music video. After quickly, surpassing the 5000 comment threshold they confirmed a new single and music video would release the next day. What came was “BUZZCUT” their newest track after a year of relative silence from the group.
The track features a verse from Danny Brown a rapper the group looks up to greatly. The rest of the song prominently displays BROCKHAMPTON front man Kevin Abstract and an outro delivered by JOBA and Merlyn Wood. The track is very self referential, Kevin interpolates many themes from his previous verses in the song and Danny Brown even makes a passing reference to a Nas verse. According to Romil Hemnani, one of their producers, the track is also heavily inspired by the Beastie Boys.
The music video is full of weird trippy visuals similar in style to their work from their 2018 studio album iridescence, complete with the same, thermal vision and saturated color palette. If that wasn’t enough its in their trademark 4:3 aspect ratio and every member is seen sporting a blue varsity jacket. The video mostly features the members horsing around riding in a red sports car, until Danny Brown emerges from JOBA’s mouth and turns into monster. The video ends with heartfelt coos from JOBA as his hair blows in the wind.
While their newest record has no set release date its safe to assume what’s sure to follow are more updates from the boy band as the year continues leading up to their eventual release.
This morning Krispy Kreme announced their Sweet Support program, which rewards customers who’ve received the COVID-19 vaccine with a free original glazed doughnut.
As of today, anyone who shows their COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card will receive the doughnut up until the end of 2021. As if the deal could not get any sweeter, the offer is not one-time only, and can be redeemed every single day.
All guests who have received at least one or two of the shots of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccination or one shot of the Johnson and Johnson vaccination qualify as “vaccinated.”
The new program aims to show support those who choose to get vaccinated and for the U.S. as it continues to roll out COVID-19 vaccinations. With that being said, the offer is only available in the United States.
A recent press release revealed that Krispy Kreme also plans to support health care workers and volunteers administering vaccines, delivering them free doughnuts to various vaccination centers throughout the country. For their own employees, the iconic restaurant is offering up to four hours of paid time off to encourage their staff to get vaccinated.
“We all want to get COVID-19 behind us as fast as possible and we want to support everyone doing their part to make the country safe by getting vaccinated as soon as the vaccine is available to them,” Krispy Kreme Chief Marketing Officer Dave Skena said in a statement.
Krispy Kreme also plants to roll out other promotions as the year continues related to COVID-19 safety and joy.
Electronic duo Justice sent a cease and desist letter to Justin Bieber following the release of his newest record under the same name, according to Rolling Stone.
The duo claims the album cover and subsequent merchandise makes use of their “cross” logo which has been trademarked in both France and the European Union.
Justice’s co-manager Tyler Goldberg in a statement to Rolling Stone said, “Aside from seeing it all over the internet ourselves, we heard from hundreds of people throughout the day — industry people, Justice fans — and the Justice guys received a ton of messages, not only compelled to point out the similarities between the Justice Justin Bieber album, but confused. ‘Is this a Justice collaboration?’”
In the letter, Justice alleges that the use of the logo was intentionally designed to “deceive” and “confuse” customers. The letter also includes an email conversation between a Bieber representative and Justice representative, about how they would go about finding the original designer of Justice’s logo. However, after a meeting was proposed Biebers team ceased contact.
“Not only was Bieber’s team actually aware of Justice’s use of the Mark, they sought to use the same artist to essentially duplicate it for the Album.,” the letter reads.
As of now, Justin Bieber has made no official statement regarding the cease and desist.
Artists who monetize from SoundCloud will be able to enjoy a brand new fan-powered payout method innovated by Soundcloud themselves beginning in April.
Fan-powered Royalties is the new way SoundCloud plans to payout artists who use their monetization features. They explain it as a more “equitable” and “transparent” way for independent artists to get paid. “The more fans listen on SoundCloud, and listen to your music, the more you get paid,” said the platform.
This is SoundCloud’s newest system designed to pay more artists fairly and create more full-time musicians.
Before this new model, payout was divided up from a giant pool of money that was later paid out based on artists share of total streams. It was a model that as SoundCloud described, “mostly benefits mega stars.”
However, now artists are going to be paid directly based on fans’ actual listening habits. A model meant to benefit independent artists.
On their page they noted two artists, Chevy and Vincent who both saw an outstanding increase in payout after switching to Fan-powered Royalties.
Last year, SoundCloud introduced Repost, a new avenue for artists to spread their music to major streaming platforms, gaining a wider audience. It would seem Fan-powered Royalties are yet another way SoundCloud is trying to innovate their systems in order to better support their massive independent user-base.
Fan-powered Royalties will begin rolling out April 1st, 2021.
The Weekend is officially boycotting the Grammy’s according to a statement given to The New York Times.
“I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys,” said the popstar in regards to the most recent Grammy’s which did not nominate his hit single “Blinding Lights” which broke the record for most weeks spent in the top five on the Hot 100 chart.
The Weeknd has been upset with the lack of transparency of the Grammy’s since the nominations were announced November of last year. Initially tweeting, “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency…”
The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency…
The Toronto-born crooner then followed up alleging that he wasn’t even invited to the Grammy’s in a second tweet that read, “Collaboratively planning a performance for weeks to not being invited? In my opinion zero nominations = you’re not invited!”
Collaboratively planning a performance for weeks to not being invited? In my opinion zero nominations = you’re not invited!
The artist cites the “secret committees” as his reason for boycotting one of the music industry’s most esteemed awards and joins a plethora of other artists who have all spoken out against the Grammy’s and their lack of black representation.
The last black artist to win album of the year was Herbie Hancock in 2008. However, in total since the inception of the Grammy’s in 1957, only ten black artists have won the award.
With that being said, Recording Academy chief Harvey Mason Jr. said there was no ulterior motives to The Weeknd’s snub. “Y’know, it really just comes down to the voting body that decides. We have eight nomination slots to fill in [the “Big Four” categories: Best Album, Song, Record and New Artist], five in others, and the voters vote for their favorites. It’s really interesting, though,” Mason said to Variety.
However, the voting bodies that choose the nominations are most often what is criticized during the nominations process. Many including the Weeknd allege a lack of transparency between them and the committees that make nominations despite being composed of industry artists, producers and other executives.
“We look at it every year and make tweaks and revisions to the process; we did it this year, last year, we’ll do it next year. And I don’t think this calls it [The Weeknd’s Snub] into question, honestly….. I was in the “core room” this year [which decides the Big Four] and I observed, and the people that were in it are music professionals…,” said Mason.
Regardless, the 63rd annual Grammy awards are set to air on Sunday, March 14 remotely from the Los Angeles Convention Center.
A recent statement from Gap Inc.’s CEO, Sonia Syngal revealed that Kanye West is still hard at work, developing their anticipated Yeezy Gap collaboration.
Syngal spoke to Business of Fashion last Thursday and said, “I spoke to Yeezy last night and he’s very, very focused on this incredible opportunity.”
The official 10-year-deal between the Yeezy brand and Gap was announced back in June 2020. The deal involves the YEEZY studio designing a brand new clothing line of “elevated” basics for men, women and kids at “accessible” prices, but overall the partnership is meant to expose both brands to new audiences.
It’s a partnership come full circle for West as he used to work for a Gap store in Chicago when he was a teen.
The deal also comes at the perfect time for Gap Inc. as according to Sourcing Journal the brand plans to shut-down approximately 100 Gap and Banana Republic stores globally. This includes 75 in North America alone. However, West’s commitment to the collaboration has already created buzz for the 52-year-old brand and Gap anticipates a very strong start to 2021.
“The brand is back in a conversation at the zeitgeist of culture where it belongs,” said Syngal.
The official release of Yeezy Gap is set to release during the first half of 2021.
Today is international women’s day in celebration of women all over the world. To properly commemorate this day, I thought I would release a small article detailing a few of my favorite albums created by incredibly creative and genius women. In no particular order here are some of my favorites along with a small synopsis of each:
Fetch the Bolt Cutters is the cutting edge of singer songwriter. It’s a complete rejection of traditional instrumentals opting for a harshly percussive track to contrast her throaty voice. It’s a very theatrical album each song often following a three act structure or in one case leading into one another. The album itself heavily examines Apple’s condition and personal life experiences. There’s no stone left unturned with Fetch the Bolt Cutters and that’s what’s so interesting about it. A lot of the time its hard to fathom the depths Apple had to go to reach these shattered memories. You’d think the general public doesn’t deserve to hear them but I’d say were very fortunate to say we can.
Solange’s love letter to her hometown ended up being the best project of 2019. There’s far too many references to Houston to recount in one synopsis, but its fair to say Solange put a lot of care into each and every one of them. She had a hand in every avenue in this project even creating a short film to go along with it. She’s the definition of an everyman (or woman in this case) and this project perfectly exemplifies that.
This is a strange little project created by one of the most creative artists to ever walk this Earth. Each track plays out like a sucker punch, every one more unexpected than the last. However, Bjork still manages to tie each subject matter into the next so deftly you don’t mind the whiplash you get going through the album. Her voice soothes the deepest part of your cochlea, despite her unnatural cadence and inflection. Certainly an album you should listen to before you die.
The debut album from the late singer Aaliyah influenced the future of R&B more than the media gives her credit for. While a lot of the meanings behind each track remain shady at best the record itself has inspired thousands of artists musically. Frank Ocean even made an official cover of “At Your Best (You Are Love)” on his album Endless. Aaliyah will be known as one of music’s greatest what ifs, plaguing the minds of thousands who wistfully lament a beautiful artists career cut far too short.
Faye Webster’s third studio album manages to blend so many genres and concepts together its hard to draw the line between styles. As Pitchfork’s Anna Gaca said “Few R&B albums have a pedal steel; few alt-country albums have a rap feature. Faye Webster’s Atlanta Millionaires Club somehow has all of the above.” There’s a whole lot to love about this project and dare I say the cursed phrase “it has a little something for everyone.”
Lana Del Rey takes the tried and true form of female vocalization and makes it that much more interesting on this project. Despite it being her first official record there are many risks taken that set her apart from her contemporaries. Changes in her vocal performance, instrumentals that flip pop on its head, and lyrics exploring the fragility of the feminine form while simultaneously empowering it. What’s not to enjoy?
Kaleidoscope is yet another endlessly influential record created by an under appreciated artist. Among the greats like Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill, Kelis has created her very own spot in the R&B sphere. I genuinely don’t want to spoil anything more about the album so I would say just listen to it and appreciate it.
Lush is the indie album by artist Snail Mail which has seen a meteoric rise in recent times. However, once you listen to it its very easy to understand why. Snail Mail has the perfect vocal range for her style of music and often provides the benchmark for how these albums should truly be done. Each guitar strum and drum beat is wonderfully curated by her soft woeful voice. For her first project its a wonderful indicator of things to come.
Garbage is the band spearheaded by Shirley Manson who would become one of the most influential female voices experimenting on the already established grunge scene during the 90’s. Her distinct deep toned voice made her lyrics far more poignant and would compliment the bands synth-infused rock sound. This record completely capitalizes on that creating a deeply paranoid yet morbidly fascinating character behind Manson’s voice. She’s inspired plenty of voices heard today and will likely continue as time goes on.
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Turn off the Bright Lights 