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Spielbergs Preview 2022 Mad Cool Festival Performance: “We’re Going To Try and Make as Much Noise as Possible”
Norwegian rock trio Spielbergs were set to have a massive 2020. After their 2019 debut LP This is Not the End received some rave reviews, the band was scheduled to hit the road in Europe over the summer, complete with an appearance at Madrid’s Mad Cool Festival. Of course, everyone’s 2020 plans were diverted and postponed, but luckily, Spielbergs maintained their spot on Mad Cool’s 2022 lineup, which features Metallica, Florence + The Machine, The Killers, Jack White, Glass Animals, Muse, Alt-J, The War On Drugs, Carly Rae Jepsen, CHVRCHES, Nathy Peluso, and many, many more. Even better is the fact that Spielbergs have new music in tow — and they’re some of the most powerful songs the trio has ever released. The anthemic “When They Come For Me,” which we recently named as an honorable ment...
Ask Dr. Mike: Coping with the Mental Health Effects of Anti-LGBTQ+ Discrimination
Spinning out of the Going There with Dr. Mike podcast presented by Consequence and Sound Mind Live, the monthly “Ask Dr. Mike” column is here to answer listeners’ questions. As we wrap up Pride Month, Dr. Mike is here to guide us through the mental health effects of anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination. Over the last month of Pride, members of the queer community and allies alike have celebrated how wonderful and life-affirming it can be when people can freely explore, embrace, and express their authentic sexuality and gender identity. Being able to live openly as an LGBTQ+ person can radically bolster an individual’s sense of mental health and well-being. The spirit of Pride is to build a world in which everyone can live in a free and open way to embrace who they are and love wh...
Artist of the Month Momma Are a Household Name for the Coolest of Households
Artist of the Month is an accolade given to an up-and-coming artist or group who is poised for the big time. For July 2022, we’re celebrating Momma as they take a swing at fame with their new album Household Name. “I wanna be your next big thing.” So opens Household Name, the latest album from ‘90s revivalists and DIY champs Momma (out Friday, July 1st). And though they seem intimidatingly cool — like success in the music industry would be, like, totally whatever, man — the sentiment is far from ironic. Even if they don’t always take themselves too seriously, Momma is taking the namesake of their record very seriously. They’re going to be household names, or die trying. Inspired by endless label meetings headed nowhere, thousand-dollar-suit execs saying nothing, and a type of rock stardom ...
What We Do in the Shadows Glides By on Vampiric Charm in Its Fourth Season: Review
The Pitch: When we last left the Staten Island mansion of What We Do in the Shadows in Season 3, the house felt a little emptier — Nandor (Kayvan Novak) had just departed for his “Eat, Prey, Love” (sic) tour of self-discovery, and Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) swanned off to England in a wooden crate to join the Worldwide Vampiric Council, with Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) in unwitting tow. Laszlo (Matt Berry), for his part, chose to stay behind, not least because the dead body of Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) gave way to a new, childlike form (also Proksch, pasty round adult features grinning eerily atop a child’s body), which he had to take care of. Cut to a year later, and all that potential energy is lost: All Nandor got from his tour was an erstwhile friendship with a nice family from ...
8 Artists You Need to See at Wireless Festival This Year
We are now well and truly in the middle of festival season in the U.K. and the pre-pandemic days of counting down to freedom feel like an eternity ago. With Glastonbury Festival gone for another year, the country is now looking for the next place to attend. Britain has been blessed with some of the best festival lineups in years this time around, and some of the best are still yet to come. Wireless Festival has been a go-to spot for music fans for the last few years, with some of the most-watched and viral performances taking place on its main stages. This year, the festival is coming in the form of three different events across three locations. London’s Crystal Palace and Finsbury Park along with Birmingham’s NEC venue will be welcoming some of the biggest stars in the world over th...
Thailand’s Crypto Utopia — ‘90% of a cult, without all the weird stuff’
The story of how a Bitcoin OG set up a Libertarian crypto community and commune for digital nomads on beautiful islands in Thailand three times — and why he hasn’t yet given up on the dream. It’s a wild tale involving “unchecked merrymaking,” crypto-influencers, police grillings, seasteading, a reported $20,000-a-month burn rate, rumors about shamans and drugs — and a major collision between idealism and reality. It was also, by all accounts, a whole lot of fun. Cryptopia became the House of DAO, and a new version is planned. The spectacular Cape Residences in Phuket, Thailand are a world away from the bohemian backpackers and Full Moon parties of Koh Pha-ngan where I’ve spent the past few weeks researching Part 1 about crypto digital nomads living in paradise. If you’ve ever imagined how ...
Closer Looks: Sony PlayStation 5 Console Covers
Introduced last December, Sony Interactive Entertainment has now released its own official PlayStation 5 covers. Accompanied by DualSense wireless controllers, the replaceable panels are available in five colorways. The bright and bold color options for the console covers include “Midnight Black,” “Cosmic Red,” “Nova Pink,” “Starlight Blue” and “Galactic Purple.” The cases designed to add color to your gaming setup are centered around a galaxy-inspired theme. According to Sony, “Simply remove your original white PS5 console covers and click your new ones into place. The PS5 console covers will be available for both the PS5 with the Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive and the PS5 Digital Edition.” The PS5 covers are offered in for both the standard Console and Digital Edition Console. Priced at $55...
Chris Blackwell: The Man, the Myths and the Legends
The Islander: My Life in Music and Beyond, the newly released Gallery Books memoir from pioneering music executive and Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, would have been an amazing read even if it had stopped before Blackwell discovered a teenage Steve Winwood blowing minds in a London club in 1964, happened upon a struggling Jamaican musician named Bob Marley in the early 1970s or overcame initial doubts about the commercial potential of a nascent Irish rock group named U2 and signed it to a record contract. Indeed, Blackwell’s early years growing up between Jamaica and London feature one “I can’t believe this really happened” anecdote after another, from being punched by actor Errol Flynn in a jealous rage to befriending James Bond author Ian Fleming and being hired as a production ...
Steven Wilson on Porcupine Tree’s Unexpected, Slow-Simmering Reunion
By late 2021, the odds of a Porcupine Tree reunion seemed beyond slim. It had been 12 years since the alt-prog band’s 10th LP (and apparent swan song), 2009’s The Incident, and singer-songwriter Steven Wilson realized his rabid audience wasn’t counting on a follow-up. “Fans had probably given up on [us] ever making another record,” he tells SPIN, his polite eloquence downplaying a hilariously massive understatement. It’s also not like Wilson initially had Porcupine Tree on the brain. After The Incident, feeling trapped in a hamster wheel of expectations and unspoken resentments, he stepped aside to focus on other projects — including various collaborations (Storm Corrosion with Opeth‘s Mikael Akerfeldt), numerous remixing gigs (King Crimson, XTC), and a solo career...
The Mindset Needed for a Successful Digital Transition
Digital transformation is not a new concept, and South African businesses have steadily evolved and increased their inclusion of digital tools over time, with a faster influx happening over the past three years. The adoption rate has accelerated due to the pandemic. Businesses were forced to adopt new ways of working, and digital transformation forms part of that. In some industries, readily available client options have increased as internet speed has also improved. But how do companies determine what kind of digital intervention is needed for their business and who to partner with? According to Ian Nel, Strategic Planning & Programs Director at Canon Southern Africa, it comes down to people, process and then technology. “Digital adoption starts with understanding the needs of the env...
Westworld Composer Ramin Djawadi on That Epic Lana Del Rey Cover in the Season 4 Premiere: Exclusive
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Westworld, Season 4 Episode 1, “The Auguries.”] The return of Westworld for its fourth season means a whole new set of challenges for series composer Ramin Djawadi, who’s been with the series since the beginning, and thus responsible for the soundtrack’s compelling blend of classical and electronic sounds (not to mention its always exciting covers of pre-existing tracks). “I feel like the show always pushes forward,” he says, in the first of a series of episode-specific conversations with Consequence this season. “With the characters, musically speaking, we always talk about, ‘Okay, do we need new themes? Or are we staying with old themes, and should we arrange them differently?’” Advertisement The season premiere, “The Auguries,” a...
The Long Haul
In the late 1990s, on one of their earliest tours, the Drive-By Truckers nearly met a grisly fate. After a short stay in Lansing, Michigan–during which the local headliners all had the flu and spent the night puking backstage–the band had to make their way to Buffalo, and not even an hour into the drive they hit a blizzard that lasted the length of Ohio. So these Southern boys white-knuckled their way around Lake Erie, up through Cleveland, and finally into New York State. “A sane person does not get thrown off that animal and then want to get back on,” said Mike Cooley, decades later when we spoke in a previous interview. “But we couldn’t wait.” A life of near misses is the subject of their 14th album, Welcome 2 Club XIII. The weirdly wise album takes the band’s history and wonders h...
