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2 weeks ago | 
beatsperminute.com | Jasper Willems
Beats Per Minute’s Jasper Willems once again descended down on The Hague’s always adventurous Rewire festival, and noticed a stronger onus towards the physical than in year’s past. The noise of the world can be unbearable. Peering into our little devices, we’ve been bombarded by similes of children murdered in Gaza by Israeli forces, alternated by AI-generated facsimiles of Studio Ghibli works.
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3 weeks ago | 
beatsperminute.com | Jasper Willems
We highlight some notable names at The Hague’s delightfully perplexing music & art extravaganza, which takes place this weekend. The word ‘synergy’ feels almost as dirty as the word ‘content’ these days, but humor me: I can’t help but be awed at how a city can shape a festival and vice versa.
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4 weeks ago | 
theneedledrop.com | Jasper Willems
CMAT – the moniker of rising Irish country pop star Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson – has announced new album EURO-COUNTRY, which arrives August 29th via AWAL Recordings. The album's lead single "Running/Planning" combines wistful, midtempo pop with CMAT's firebrand lyricism. Watch the video below:Thompson had the following to say about the single:The new album was recorded in New York and co-produced by long-time collaborator Oli Deakin.
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1 month ago | 
theneedledrop.com | Jasper Willems
Chicago-based indie rockers Bnny have joined forces with Fire Talk-labelmates Wild Pink for a re-imagined version of "Good Stuff" – the lead single from Bnny's latest LP One Million and Three Love Songs. This version of "Good Stuff" – produced by Alex Farrar – adds some layered guitar work and an extra verse from Wild Pink-frontman John Ross.
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1 month ago | 
theneedledrop.com | Jasper Willems
For most indie rock bands, kickstarting your album rollout with an 11-minute rock epic is generally an eyebrow-raiser. But for Car Seat Headrest, this has become compos mentis by now. "Gethsemane" is the first glimpse of new album The Scholars, which comes out May 2nd via Matador Records. The song is accompanied by a 13-minute short film directed by Andrew Wonder, which features lots of shadows, hooded mirror men straight out of Meshes of the Afternoon, and some Lynchian body horror.
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2 months ago | 
beatsperminute.com | Jasper Willems
[Republic of Music/Domino Publishing; 2025]We seem to be in this weird schism when it comes to music formats. Some declaim the album project is as good as dead, while others believe there’s still some inherent worth as the album as a crucible for a particular artistic vision – whether that vision is conceptual, method-based or purely based on aesthetics. The whole point might just be moot, as many consider something as fragmented as The Beatles’ The White Album an album as well.
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Jan 23, 2025 | 
beatsperminute.com | Jasper Willems
[Domino; 2025]Ela Minus ends her second album DÍA with a track called “COMBAT”. Conventional wisdom tells us the Colombian-born/US-based electronic artist is courting some fiery bluster this time around. Not in this specific case. “COMBAT” is a gorgeous, meditative piece of music, peppered with glassy textures, carefully layered vocals – a human element sundered by frigid synth swirls, like grains of sand inside of a vortex.
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Jan 15, 2025 | 
beatsperminute.com | Jasper Willems
[City Slang; 2025]Lambrini Girls‘ debut LP Who Let The Dogs Out shares its title with the classic hit song by Baha Men, a song which somehow managed to win a Grammy. I was incredulous about this fact for a long time, until I found out that the song – a staple at frat parties – is actually an anti-cat calling song. I wonder, however, if the average person at a frat party realizes this when the song blares from the speakers. Probably not.
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Dec 15, 2024 | 
beatsperminute.com | Jasper Willems
Fievel Is Glauque’s co-founder Zach Phillips chats with Beats Per Minute on the group’s new album Rong Weicknes on the day of the project’s release. “I wouldn’t say it’s crucial to fully believe in what you’re doing—it’s more important to bear it out, to follow through, and to keep moving.’It’s sometimes fun to mess with the Spotify-algorithm, especially when compiling music that’s all relatively obscure and undiscovered.
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Dec 3, 2024 | 
beatsperminute.com | Rob Hakimian |Jasper Willems |Ray Finlayson |Larry McClain
Welcome to the November edition of Beats Per Minute’s monthly playlist BPM Curates. This year’s penultimate month started with the USA Presidential Election – doesn’t it already feel like there’s been an age since then? Capped off by Thanksgiving, November probably stretched some people’s patience and strength.
