Spring is in the air, the weather is getting warmer, vaccination rates are climbing, tours are being announced: there's a lot to be hopeful for right now. And as the bumper crop of albums listed below attests, there's a ton of great music awaiting our ears just around the corner. Here are 49 records to look forward to in the coming months. (As of April 6, all release dates have been confirmed. But as usual, everything is subject to change.)
UK electronic producer Andy Stott had almost completed his new album Never the Right Time in early 2020, just months after the release of 2019's It Should Be Us . But then "personal upheaval brought everything to a sudden standstill," he explained in a press release. Stott finally finished the album in late 2020. In March, he dropped the frosty first single "the beginning," featuring vocals by Alison Skidmore. –Marc Hogan
Pakistan-born, Brooklyn-based multi-hyphenate Arooj Aftab will release Vulture Prince after sharing the singles "Last Night" and "Mohabbat," both of which blur the lines between genres and traditions. "It's about people, friendships, relationships," Aftab has said of the full-length effort. Vulture Prince follows her 2015 debut album Bird Under Water . –Marc Hogan
In February, Jay Som's Melina Duterte and Palehound's Ellen Kempner revealed they were joining forces under the name Bachelor. After releasing the single "Anything at All," the indie-rock singer-songwriters later confirmed that the project would carry over to a full-length album, Doomin' Sun , with contributions from members of Big Thief and Chastity Belt. They also shared the new song "Stay in the Car." In 2019, Jay Som released Anak Ko , and Palehound released Black Friday . –Marc Hogan
Months after her debut album as beabadoobee with last year's Fake It Flowers , singer-songwriter Bea Kristi returns this spring with a new EP titled, simply, Our Extended Play . Matty Healy and George Daniel of the 1975 are credited as producers and co-writers, and the first single "Last Day on Earth" was released in March with a video. Kristi has said she "wanted to experiment on the sounds and sonics even more." beabadoobee's first proper tour behind Fake It Flowers is set for this September in the UK. –Marc Hogan
In the lyrics of Cavalcade , the sophomore album from adventurous London rock band black midi, you'll encounter a cult leader fallen on hard times, a corpse in a diamond mine, iconic singer Marliene Dietrich, and so much more. "When you're listening to the album you can almost imagine all the characters form a sort of cavalcade," bassist Cameron Picton said in a press release. "Each tells their story one by one and as each track ends they overtake you, replaced by the next in line." Lead single "John L" indicates the rest of the album will be just as wide-ranging and unpredictable. –Sam Sodomsky
Four years after Bomba Estéreo's last studio album Ayo , the Colombian band returns with Deja , a project divided into parts based on the four classical elements: Agua, Aire, Tierra, and Fuego. Lido Pimienta and OKAN guest on lead single "Agua." The group has also shared "Soledad" and the title track. "The album is about the connection and disconnection of human beings—from the planet, from one's own self," Bomba singer Liliana "Li" Saumet has said. –Marc Hogan
In early February, Cardi B shared her new single and video, " Up ." In an interview timed to the release, she said she wanted to put out an album in 2021 and had "like 50 songs" recorded. Since then, Cardi has performed her 2020 hit with Megan Thee Stallion, "WAP," at the Grammys, although the song isn't expected to be submitted for awards consideration until next year—hopefully timed to the release of the follow-up to her 2018 debut Invasion of Privacy . –Marc Hogan
Five years after 2016's Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not , rock legends Dinosaur Jr. will return with a new record, Sweep It Into Space , co-produced by Kurt Vile. The band began recording in late 2019 at Biquiteen in Amherst, Massachusetts but was interrupted by the pandemic. Luckily, "the recording session was pretty well finished by the time things really hit the fan," according to J Mascis. Meanwhile, the trio has announced 2021 tour dates and a rescheduled Camp Fuzz retreat in Big Indian, New York. –Quinn Moreland
Japanese Breakfast On Her 'Tonight Show' Debut | ETCanada.com
Nearly four years since releasing her hit "Jimmy Fallon Big", Japanese Breakfast tells ET Canada's Cheryl Hickey about finally joining Fallon on "The Tonight Show" where she performed the track. Plus, she opens up about her upcoming third studio album 'Jubilee' and how her mom's passing influenced her songwriting.
Into the light with Japanese Breakfast – Manila Bulletin
"I wanted to write about joy." This statement was at the heart of the topic during our recent interview with Japanese Breakfast's singer-songwriter Michelle Zauner.
"The theme of the new album is joy, and the title is ‘Jubilee’ which is like this biblical year of release," exclaimed Zauner. "In my head I just saw this yellow image (and) lots of warm tones for the next record. And I think it was just a natural sort of progression coming from a really dark material and I just wanted to do something unexpected and write about joy."
The first single titled "Be Sweet" is a sonic representation of Zauner's current mindset. Upbeat, melodic and seeming to burst with colors. This song is about forgiveness as she sings: 'I wanna believe in something / so come and get your woman / pacify her rage / take the time to undo your lies / make it up once more with feeling / recognize your mistake and I'll let you back in.'” In the chorus she sings in a high ebullient voice: 'be sweet to me baby /I wanna believe in you.'
Asked whether this is a conscious tweak from her previous efforts, the Korean-American musician answered, "absolutely!"
"It's been four years since (the last) and we finished the (new) record in 2019 and it has been 3 years but I feel like I've learned so much as a composer and as producer. It's a way more mature sounding record. It's also ambitious. For the first time I felt confident to try to do string and brass arrangements. There's a lot more instrumentation and I think the sound are much bigger."
"The hope is that by the fall or the late summer we might be able to tour again because of the vaccinations. At this point I'm just so excited to let go (of the album) and move along because it was supposed to have come out last year actually, but because of the pandemic, we thought it would be better to push it a year. (Now) It feels like It could really be a good time for this record to come out because it's all about, feeling again and like a real release of emotions, experiencing joy again. And I think it's really in line with all these themes hopefully.’
"I guess all I would really say is that I miss them. We had such a good time at Summer Noise (fest in Manila) can't wait to come back. It holds a special place in my heart. And I really hope that next year we can come back again. Stay safe, stay healthy. And I hope you guys take care."
The Nine Best Books of Spring - WSJ
The pandemic means the red carpet is gone—and has been replaced with a less formal, more intimate method for stars to show off their gowns and formalwear.
"I only actually eat real food because I have to right now." The actor on her morning routine and the secret to her long-lasting partnership with Michael Douglas.
In her new cookbook, Vilailuck Teigen, known as Pepper, shares her recipes for the Thai-American comfort food her family loves to eat.
After a year of quarantine, the news of a supposed summer reopening has brought with it general elation—and a surge in plastic surgery requests
Will Yip's #StopAsianHate raffle for AAPI Community Fund has raised $100,000
The 7 Best Music Videos of March 2021 | Pitchfork
Each month , we run down the most memorable clips and celebrate artists who are breaking ground with their visuals.
Yung Baby Tate's delicious tribute to self-love gets the decadent video treatment it deserves. The Georgia rapper and singer indulges in the ultimate spa day alongside a glammed-out Flo Milli: lounging at the sauna in a baby blue bikini and robe while surrounded by doting men; hanging with friends at a sleepover complete with furry slippers, Flamin' Hot Cheetos, and card games; and reclining with her crew on pool chairs, shades and headphones on, entirely unbothered. It all makes narcissism look like a dream.
Thanks to its ongoing TikTok ubiquity, Doja Cat's two-year-old Hot Pink has nearly received the full visual-album treatment at this point. "Streets" is the LP's seventh single as well as its best, a trap-laced, after-hours R&B slow jam with a foreboding edge. For the video, Doja starts off as a ritzy mannequin in a shop window who seduces a cab driver (played by Queen Sugar heartthrob Kofi Siriboe) with just a glance. She pulls him deeper into the fantasy, with sinister intentions that slowly come to light. Come for Doja's rain-slicked choreo on a car hood, surrounded by men in eerie white contact lenses digging themselves out of cement; stay for the moment she scales a brick wall dressed as a spider, trapping her lover in a massive web.
Tkay Maidza cosplays as her favorite pop culture Kims, Cardi B uses nude men as furniture, and more.
Including Lana Del Rey's homage to retro horror, serpentwithfeet's tender date on the beach, Bad Bunny's wrestling throwback, and more
In Kyushu, Japan, This Historic Castle Is Now Open for Year-Round Stays | Condé Nast Traveler
Consider it R&R, with a little something extra: royalty. After debuting a trial program at Nagasaki Prefecture's Hirado Castle in 2017 as the first-ever castle stay in Japan, the Japanese government now is allowing permanent overnight stays at the historic site on the westernmost tip of the island of Kyushu, where guests can book a solitary suite in the two-story Kaiju Yagura Turret.
The hilltop castle was first built by warlord Shigenobu Matsura in 1599, when the port city of Hirado was a rare cosmopolitan hub for foreign trade. It went through several iterations over the centuries before being demolished as part of the Meiji Restoration, after the Matsura clan finally lost power in 1868. The entire grounds then underwent a massive, painstaking reconstruction and renovation in 1962. Guests keen on that history will get exclusive after-hours access to the castle's on-site museum, and can also walk its grounds after they're closed to the public for the day.
"Hirado was the door to the world in the Edo period," said the lodging's designers at Atelier Tekuto, a Japanese design studio, in a release translated by Condé Nast Traveler . Japanese exports like porcelain, silver, and tea were funneled through the port, as well a painting style called Rinpa, which encouraged cultural exchange with the Western world, the designers said. "With the aesthetics of Rinpa as the basis, we wish to offer a place to experience the new values of Japan."
Guests will find a nod to the notable technique (which inspired the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt) in the suite's dining room, where chef-prepared meals—from a Japanese small-plates breakfast, to a nine-course, two-hour French dinner featuring Hirado wagyu filet—are served alongside a Rinpa-inspired mural of butterflies painted by local artist Takahide Komatsu. And while the suite itself, which can sleep up to five people, is sleek and modern, its sense of place is strengthened by the use of local materials from across Kyushu, from tatami mats with straw from the city of Kumamoto to a staircase made of Konagai stone and custom-made dishes from the heralded porcelain town of Arita.
A latticed wooden wall, designed and made by craftsmen in Sasebo City, Nagasaki Prefecture, is just one of the suite's locally sourced details.
Hour-long martial arts lessons are offered by iaidō and kendo masters, styles that are both heavy on swordplay. Get inspired by the 7th-century kanto-no-tachi sword in the castle keep's collection of feudal artifacts, which also includes the armor of Hiromu Matsura, the 10th-century lord of Hirado, and swords through the 18th century.
A stay at the castle also offers the chance to observe chinshin-ryu, a 17th-century warrior tea ceremony, in the Kanuntei Teahouse. Sharp green tea is paired with casdoce, a sweet local specialty cake inspired by Portuguese castellas, that's prepared at Hirado Tsutaya, a local, 519-year-old bakery. (Casdoce, also called kasudosu, is one of the 100 sweets featured in Hyakka-no-zu, the storied Edo period hyakumi-gashi scroll.) The castle is the only place in Japan where this ceremony is open to visitors.
For another rare cultural experience, you can take in a special performance of Hirado Kagura, a Shinto ceremonial dance for chinkon , the purifying and shaking of the spirit. Or get away from it all on horseback riding trails around the island. But no matter how you spend your stay at Hirado Castle, you're bound to be awed by the experience.
5 Books By Asian Authors To Read In April 2021 | Tatler Malaysia
From light-hearted fiction to heart-wrenching memoirs , we've rounded up the exciting new releases from Jhumpa Lahiri, Michelle Zauner and other talented writers offering their take on the topic.
This novel has already garnered praise from big names in the entertainment industry, including Mindy Kaling and Celeste Ng, author of Little Fires Everywhere , who described Gold Diggers as "dizzyingly original, fiercely funny, deeply wise".
The singer, songwriter, and guitarist lays her soul bare in this lyrical and honest account of her 32 years, as she comes to terms with the experiences that shaped her.
Those familiar with Lahiri's work will not be disappointed with this beautifully written, deeply intelligent exploration into each character's emotional landscape as they grapple with solitude and dislocation.
From Selena Gomez to St. Vincent, the Best Songs You Should Be Listening to Right Now - WSJ
St. Vincent's sixth solo full-length album, Daddy's Home , will usher in a new era for the genre-bending singer and guitarist, far from her leather-clad and pop-fueled 2017 record, Masseduction. The musician, whose real name is Annie Clark, embodies a bombshell starlet in a blonde wig on the album's cover, as well as in the video for its first single, "Pay Your Way In Pain." The music takes cues from 1970s funk like War and Parliament, as well as the cinematic rock vocals of David Bowie.
The latest career milestone for singer and actor Selena Gomez is the release of her first Spanish-language EP, Revelación . With help from Puerto Rican producer Tainy and collaborations with Puerto Rican MC Myke Towers, singer Rauw Alejandro and DJ and producer DJ Snake, the EP fuses reggaeton, R&B and silky pop into a new, sensuous sound for Gomez. Her vocals are hazy on "Buscando Amor," a bumping song about the singer's confidence.
Two of the most soulful performers of the 21st century, pop superstar Bruno Mars and the more hip-hop adjacent Anderson .Paak, have joined forces as a throwback duo, calling themselves Silk Sonic. The outfit's first song, "Leave the Door Open," is a textbook example of a 1970s bedroom slow jam, as the group embodies the suaveness of Marvin Gaye and the funky sensuality of Earth, Wind & Fire. "Leave the Door Open" will appear on the duo's first album.
The pandemic means the red carpet is gone—and has been replaced with a less formal, more intimate method for stars to show off their gowns and formalwear.
Enter the season of crisp, sunny weather with a new book from the writer behind HBO's 'The Undoing,' a fresh take on the pandemic from Michael Lewis, Sharon Stone's memoir and more
"I only actually eat real food because I have to right now." The actor on her morning routine and the secret to her long-lasting partnership with Michael Douglas.
In her new cookbook, Vilailuck Teigen, known as Pepper, shares her recipes for the Thai-American comfort food her family loves to eat.
Will Yip Raises Over $79,000 for AAPI Community Fund, Adds New Raffle | Pitchfork
No comments:
Post a Comment