INTERVIEWS
Giolì & Assia Confront Demons, Discuss Symbolism In Third Studio Album, “Fire Hell And Holy Water”
When it comes to eclectic electronic music acts, it doesn’t get any more versatile and visceral than the Italian femme powerhouse duo Giolì & Assia. Equipped with an impressive mix of instrumental know-how and a tender romantic relationship, the European couple have deeply influenced the dance music landscape throughout the last half-decade. Having risen through the ranks for their inimitable blend of genres over two studio albums, the tandem’s popularity exploded after they began livestreaming performances from some of the most scenic spots on earth. Titled #DiesisLive, the series enabled viewers to consume the experience that is Giolì & Assia: an immersive affair with live instruments, haunting vocals and panoramic backdrops. Giolì & Assia performing on the F...
The Devilish Joy of Mura Masa’s demon time
One of the primary visual inspirations for Mura Masa‘s album demon time was none other than Sonic the Hedgehog. “There was an image of Sonic the Hedgehog that I had remembered seeing years ago and I was like, ‘That seems like a cool pose,’” says the songwriter and producer born Alex Crossan. “He’s got this circular look, his shoes are kind of bending around… it became a muse of mine.” The image was so influential for Crossan that he recreated it for demon time‘s album cover — but beyond the contorted, warped aesthetic, Crossan was drawn to the “joyfulness” he’s projecting, the frenetic ecstasy that Sonic embodies. With demon time (out Friday, September 16th), Crossan had a simple objective: create something fun. But “fun” is still a bit of a vague descriptor — for an electronic ...
Fan Chant: Talking to Jackson Wang About a Jackson Wang Party
Welcome to Fan Chant, a weekly column for K-pop fans, stans, and newbies alike. Each week, I’ll be rolling out interviews, lists, and all kinds of content to keep you in the loop on the latest and greatest from our friends in Seoul and beyond. Also, make sure to subscribe to my companion newsletter! A few weeks ago, I had the joy of jumping on the phone with the one and only Jackson Wang to chat about his wonderful new album, MAGIC MAN. We had a really lovely conversation that spanned almost an hour, and for today’s column, I wanted to share a bit more about more about the experience, along with some full quotes from our chat that didn’t make it into the final interview. I should’ve known when the conversation started like this: Mary: Hello, Jackson Wang, I’m so happy to be talking to you....
Death Cab for Cutie Aren’t Bored Yet
During a recent phone call with Consequence, Ben Gibbard drops the totally unanticipated fact that he loves 100 gecs. “I’m completely obsessed with them,” he gushes about the polarizing hyperpop duo. “At 46 years old, there’s music that I should be scared of. It’s awesome that there’s music being made now that I have absolutely no idea how to make.” Being 46 also means Gibbard has spent over half his life as the frontman of Death Cab for Cutie, whose great 10th studio album Asphalt Meadows is out Friday (September 16th). Maybe it shouldn’t be shocking that he’s so enamored by 100 gecs, who sound a bit like what shotgunning five cans of Red Bull while on Adderall might feel like: Whether it’s collaborating with heavyweights like Chance the Rapper and Noah Cyrus, helming a Yoko Ono tribute a...
Death Cab for Cutie’s ‘Exciting’ Writing Experiment Fueled Their Best Album in Years
When Ben Gibbard was putting the finishing touches on Death Cab For Cutie‘s 10th album, Asphalt Meadows, he had a feeling that it would appease longtime fans. And he was correct. “As we started playing it for friends and people close to us, we started to get that reaction that was not just people being supportive, but people being genuinely effusive,” recalls Gibbard, speaking on Zoom from his Seattle home, with a peppy demeanor early in the morning. In Asphalt Meadows, there are elements of the band’s early work, sonically nodding to Narrow Stairs, The Photo Album, and even Transatlanticism, while also feeling fresh — thrashier and livelier than ever before — with some of Gibbard’s sturdiest songwriting since their hit albums. A year after 2018’s Thank You for Today, Gibbard started writi...
Louis The Child Shift Gears With Black Marble Alias, a “Dark, Clubby, Gritty” Audiovisual Experience
Creativity is boundless for Louis The Child. Some fans may associate them with a glossy dance-pop style meshed with future bass, a sound made popular by hit tracks like “It’s Strange” and “Better Not.” But there’s more than meets the eye with Louis The Child. If their rave-inspired headline performance at Red Rocks last year was any indication, genres are fluid. They’re meant to be traversed across rather than confined within. Louis The Child’s latest event, Alter-Ego, took that idea up a notch. By inviting artists to perform sets exploring left-field tastes, Alter-Ego materialized an unabashed focus on defying genres. A sprawling crowd at Louis The Child’s sold-out Alter-Ego show at Brooklyn Mirage. Drew Cigna “We like the idea of giving artists a platform to do somethin...
Whitney’s 2000s-Era Pop Inspirations Hit Just Right on Spark
Whitney vocalist-drummer Julien Ehrlich and guitarist Max Kakacek came of age at a time when Usher, Ne-Yo, and Gwen Stefani ruled the pop world. And for the first time since forming the band in 2015, the duo haven’t been afraid to incorporate those inspirations into their own music. Indeed, their third original album, Spark (out Sept. 16 on Secretly Canadian), filters its gently jangling indie rock through a homespun prism of synth-kissed, head-nodding grooves. That the album was created during the pandemic in the wake of breakups and deaths makes its deeply felt music all the more revelatory, as if Ehrlich and Kakacek happily, accidentally stumbled upon the purest version of Whitney’s sound to date. In a Portland, Oregon rental house where Ehrlich had landed after the end of a long romanc...
“There’s Still Not Enough”: The Serpent Queen Star Samantha Morton on Powerful Roles for Women
The new Starz series The Serpent Queen brings modern flair and an extremely unreliable narrator to the well-worn genre of period dramas, as an older Catherine de’ Medici (Samantha Morton) tells a servant girl (Sennia Nanua) about how her younger self (Liv Hill) came to control France for decades. In Morton’s hands, Catherine is a fascinating and complex character, and when speaking with the Oscar-nominated actress via Zoom, I really wanted to ask her about playing powerful women, a recent theme in her work. But I also admitted to her that I felt a little silly about it, as film and television currently feature a ton of examples of powerful, strong, and nuanced female characters. Morton, it turns out, agrees with that, but also says “there’s still not enough. I think in television, they’re ...
Sampa the Great’s Dynamic Leap
While studying at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University, Sampa the Great encountered an “intense culture shock” — one that nearly stopped a journey of self-exploration and expression of her African culture. “Being visited with the actual reality of how the world works and how the world sees me as a young African girl, that experience was huge enough for me to actually stop expressing myself,” she says of this time period, which contributed to a two-year lull in writing. But that time in America was eye-opening for the now-29-year-old, helping her become one of contemporary rap’s most valued voices, thanks to her fearlessness and unparalleled ability to describe the world around her. Growing up in an artistic family, the Zambian-born, Botswana-raised Sampa Tembo started taking piano and...
Armor for Sleep Invites Listeners to Visit The Rain Museum
New Jersey’s Armor for Sleep first came onto the scene in the early 2000s during the rise of emo with their 2003 debut Dream to Make Believe. At a time when a sophomore record could make or break a band, Armor for Sleep found further success with their sophomore breakthrough, What to Do When You Are Dead (2005), a concept album following the protagonist’s suicide and journey through the afterlife. Then they followed it up with their major label debut in 2007’s Smile for Them before imploding and disbanding in 2009. But (like many of their 2000s emo compatriots) Armor for Sleep officially reunited in 2020, hitting the post-pandemic touring world and releasing their first album in 15 years, The Rain Museum (via Equal Vision Records). But unlike some of the nostalgia-fueled emo reunions, the ...
Adam Melchor Shares the Origins of New Single “I’m Ready”: Exclusive
Origins is our recurring feature series that provides artists a platform to dive into everything that inspired their latest release. Today, Adam Melchor takes us through “I’m Ready.” Adam Melchor has returned with “I’m Ready,” the latest single from his upcoming debut album Here Goes Nothing!, on Friday, September 9th. The dreamy indie-folk tune doubles down on Melchor’s knack for warm harmonies and frames him as wholeheartedly in love. As soon as the inviting, ocean-like ambiance introduces the tune, the tone of the song is immediately obvious. Before Melchor even utters the first line, you know it’s a love song. The instrumentation, with its finger-picked acoustic guitar and chime embellishments, simply feels like love incarnate. So, it comes as no surprise when Melchor proceed...
The Good Fight Cast and Creators on the Final Season: “We Got to Do Everything We Wanted”
The Good Fight star Sarah Steele wants to clear up one rumor she’s heard: Season 6 of the Paramount+ original series does not conclude with everyone dying. “That’s not how it ends,” she tells Consequence via Zoom. “The only show that ends like that is Six Feet Under, which is called Six Feet Under and is about death. But [when I heard the rumor] I was like, ‘that would certainly break the mold.’” “Break the mold” is a turn of phrase that has a lot of applications when talking about The Good Fight, because for six glorious seasons, the Paramount+ spinoff of CBS’s The Good Wife has defied all expectations of what a legal drama can, might, and should do. To put it another way, if rocks did fall and kill the entire cast in the series finale, that would not be the weirdest thing to have h...
