Earlier this year, the legendary producer Madlib reconnected with past collaborators Blu and Med for March’s joint record “The Turn Up.” Now after spending the better part of 2017 laying low, the West Coast perfectionist is back with more incredible new sounds.
Rock bands used to be mysterious organizations. Fandom was an exercise in extreme patience. You whiled away the hours in monk-like private study of records, lyrics, and liner notes. A new song or video or interview hit like a scientist’s “eureka” moment, offering a new lens through which to explore familiar worlds more closely. But there were weeks and months where you heard nothing and pure enthusiasm and hope had to suffice.
WHILE EVERYONE SEEMS to be getting back to their regular lives again after a long and languid summer, we’re about to change up our schedule a bit after spending most of the summer working. We’ve been planning trips and wondering where we might go this Fall, and places like Melrose, Scotland; and Yorkshire keep coming up again and again. Somewhere a little quiet and out of the way, out of the city for a bit — to think and plan and dream, somewhere perhaps, like this thatched cottage-lined place of magic in Dorset.
Never the kind of band to do things by the book, Brand New’s career the last two decades has felt like a series of mazes. The Long Island-bred rockers, a product of the early aughts pop-punk/emo scene, became known for receding into the shadows and shying away from the public eye.
As far as indie duos go, Stalgia is at the top of our list. They haven’t put out a bad song yet, or even a mediocre one. Their latest lands itself in either the awesome or incredible category. “Talk To My Skin” will give you goosebumps all over your body from start to finish.
Perennial UK-rock instigator Liam Gallagher has released the second single from his upcoming debut solo album As You Were, a title which is also the way he signs most of his tweets. “Chinatown” is a number driven by acoustic guitars and a thumping bass drum, drenched in monolithic reverb.
IT WAS ONE OF THOSE sipping rosé in the sun kind of weekends, hazy and hot and filled with the quiet languidness and melancholy that comes with the knowledge that these days must be savoured before they fade away. The city is empty save for tourists busily bicycling through the streets and parks; ordering glasses of sangria, folded maps and guide books and cameras strewn across tables and wicker café furniture. While things seem to have settled down for most in these last days of summer, for us, it has been the craziest, busiest, most stressful time yet, with the all the new projects we’ve taken on and the expansion of The Shop, so we’ve been taking a little extra time on weekends for summery things. Perhaps in September we’ll be able to get away for a little while, while the world goes back to school and work …
This week’s links include the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris and a recipe for Breakfast Buckwheat Florentines; a perfectly pretty pink overdyed rug much, much more.
IT IS A MILLION DEGREES lately, and we’ve been eating watermelon for breakfast and gazpacho for lunch in an attempt to cool down, in addition to the many sunlit dates on terraces, the only civilized way to endure the heat. The city is emptying out as it does every August, and the evenings have already begun to get quiet.
