By Caitlin Wolper Sadie Dupuis and a fellow poet were looking for ghosts. Rooming at the same supposedly haunted hotel, they took photos and stayed up until 4 a.m., but found nothing. It wasn’t until the next day that Dupuis — a vocalist and guitarist for Speedy Ortiz, who performs solo as Sad13 — came across a presence in Seattle’s Frye Art Museum. She was immediately obsessed with it. It was a portrait of the dancer Saharet by Franz von Stuck. Dressed in green, a red flower in her hair, Saharet appears benign at first. But after a moment, you notice the dark circles under her eyes — a stark contrast to her very red lips and intensely pale skin. The utter weariness of those circles adds a hyperrealistic depth, a whisper of sorts: She’s seen something. This portrait primarily inspired Dupu...
Four months after releasing his excellent sophomore full-length, The Goat, Polo G finally crossed the cable lines. The Chicago rapper made his television debut on Monday night with a performance of “Martin & Gina” on Fallon. On a stage as crisp white as his outfit, Polo G was backed by a full four-piece band. With soft lights cycling through colors around him, he demonstrated the strength of his consistent, quavering vocal style. He also showed appreciate for his rise, ending the performance by saying, “Shout out to my band for rocking out with me, and thanks Jimmy Fallon for having me.” Replay Polo G’s Fallon appearance below. [embedded content] Related You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving...
Tackling bleak subject matters is nothing new for Nine Inch Nails, but even Trent Reznor hasn’t seen the likes of the COVID-19 pandemic before. Now, some of NIN’s past works have inspired a new line of “Pandemic 2020” merch. For a limited time, Nine Inch Nails are selling five new T-shirts for “modern times” via their official online store. The tees display song titles and lyrics from throughout the band’s career to address the strange world in which we’re currently living. One such design uses the lyrics “New world/ New times/ Mutation feels alright” from the song “Shit Mirror” off the 2018 album Bad Witch. Another repeats the song title “Everyday Is Exactly the Same” from 2005’s With Teeth. Two of the shirts display U.S. maps, with one featuring the line “Used to stand for something” fro...
Bruce Springsteen is set to return next month with a new album called Letters to You. In a new Rolling Stone profile, the legendary singer-songwriter credits a seemingly innocuous gift given to him by an Italian fan for reinvigorating his creativity and inspiring him to write the album. As Springsteen tells it, upon exiting the venue following a performance of his Springsteen on Broadway residency, a fan walked up to him and gifted him a guitar. “I said, ‘Geez, you know, thanks.’ And I just took a quick glance at it and it looked like a nice guitar, so I jumped in the car with it,” recounted Springsteen. Months later, Springsteen found himself in a creative rut. “You’re down in the mines,” he told Rolling Stone, “and you’re searching for different veins of creativity. Sometimes y...
Chicago alt-rapper Knox Fortune has announced his new album Stock Child Wonder. It’s due out October 30th, and today he’s giving fans a taste with a new single called “Shirtless”. Stock Child Wonder follows up on his 2017 debut Paradise, and comes four years after his breakout appearance on Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book. As with its predecessor, the forthcoming record splits the difference between Chicago’s indie rock and rap scenes. It features guest appearances from Windy City indie staples like Lala Lala, Will Miller of Whitney, Macie Stewart of Ohmme, members of Twin Peaks, Resavoir, and more. Additional production is provided by Acid Rap star Nate Fox and Pomo. Whereas previous single “Sincerity” had more of a pop-rap flavor, new song “Shirtless” is a breezy tu...
Dev Hynes helmed the music for Luca Guadagnino’s new coming-of-age miniseries We Are Who We Are, which debuted on HBO last week. Now, Milan Records has announced that his score will be officially released next month. The Blood Orange mastermind has provided music for the screen in the past, including Melina Matsoukas’ 2019 film Queen & Slim. However, this We Are Who We Are project marks Hynes’ first-ever score for a TV series. The collection features 12 tracks written, produced, and performed by Hynes, alongside four previously shared instrumental pieces from composers Julius Eastman and John Adams. In an interview with Variety, Hynes said he and Guadagnino initially bonded over “quite similar tastes in more contemporary classic music.” He added, “I was talking to him about h...
Bobby Shmurda will remain in prison until 2021 after a parole board denied his request for early release, according to TMZ. The Brooklyn rapper was arrested in December 2014 on a litany of charges, including conspiracy to commit murder, reckless endangerment, and drug and gun possession. New York City police accused Shmurda of being “the driving force” behind a street gang called GS9, which had been involved in a wave of shootings. Shmurda frequently rapped about drug-dealing, violence, and even murder, which police said were “almost like a real-life document of what they were doing on the street.” In 2016, on the eve of his trial, Shmurda pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree conspiracy and one count of weapons possession, and was sentenced to seven years in prison. U...
Welp, Noel Gallagher said something fucking stupid again. Last week, the former Oasis co-frontman revealed that he’s an anti-masker. “There’s too many fucking liberties being taken away from us now,” he complained at the time. Now, he’s made the ridiculous claim that America is entirely responsible for the sexualization of female artists. The 53-year-old revealed his latest ill-informed opinion to The Daily Star (via NME) after watching Miley Cyrus’ recent “Midnight Sky” performance at the MTV VMAs. “That god awful woman Miley Cyrus was on and she was doing some fucking shit and even my nine-year-old [Sonny] said, ‘Why is the cameraman just filming her legs?’” “Women have been sexualized because of America,” continued Gallagher. “British culture would never sexualize a female. This ha...
Run the Jewels are taking their “fuck the political, the mission is spiritual” message to Adult Swim. The rap duo of Killer Mike and El-P will take over the TV channel for a full-album performance of their latest album, RTJ4, to promote voter registration and the ACLU. Airing Saturday, October 10th at midnight ET and simul-streamed on AdultSwim.com, the performance is dubbed “Holy CalamaVote” (a play on the RTJ4 track “holy calamafuck”). Presented commercial-free, the show will encourage fans to register for and vote in the upcoming presidential election. After the initial broadcast, the concert will be available on the Adult Swim YouTube channel, where fans will have to opportunity to donate to the ACLU. “We’re proud to be a part of this initiative to encourage and enable voting and can’t...