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Dec 27, 2024 | 
theguardian.com | Laura Snapes |Ben Beaumont-Thomas |Alaina Demopoulos |Shaad D'Souza |Rob LeDonne |Kyle Mullin | +3 more
Tashi Dorji – Begin From Here“Strumming in opposition to the towers” is how the Bhutan-born, US-based guitarist Tashi Dorji describes his abstract, improvised music. His song and album titles are equally poetic evocations of resistance and decay – his new album is called We Will Be Wherever the Fires Are Lit and contains songs such as Meet Me Under the Ruins and Flowers for the Unsung – and the brusque, clanging strums of his acoustic guitar resound with turmoil and determination.
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Dec 27, 2024 | 
theguardian.com | Ben Beaumont-Thomas |Claire Biddles |Shaad D'Souza |Jennifer Lucy Allan |Adrian Horton |Lauren Martin | +5 more
Phil Geraldi – AM/FM USAWho could read the description “truck stop concrète” and not be intrigued? The San Diego sound collagist Phil Geraldi’s two-track cassette for Not Not Fun sketches a journey across the American plains in which the glow of a gas station canopy is as integral to the landscape as the dust and cacti.
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Dec 27, 2024 | 
theguardian.com | Shaad D'Souza
From LondonRecommended if you like Dean Blunt, Nine Inch Nails, SuicideUp next Debut single in 2025Most London bands are so predictable. Oh, you make “jagged post-punk”? And reflect “the malaise and ridiculousness of life online”? Cool. Join the pile. Have fun playing Wide Awake festival this summer.
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Dec 23, 2024 | 
theguardian.com | Andrew Stafford |Laura Snapes |Shaad D'Souza |Michael Sun |Sian Cain |Joseph Earp | +2 more
Amyl and the Sniffers – Cartoon DarknessKey track: Chewing GumCredit to Amyl and the Sniffers for not standing still: the creative growth of this band since their self-titled debut album in 2019 has been startling. Which doesn’t mean that Cartoon Darkness sounds like anyone but Amyl and the Sniffers.
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Dec 13, 2024 | 
theguardian.com | Shaad D'Souza
Felix Weatherall, the London producer best known as Ross From Friends, has spent much of his career escaping other people’s preconceptions. He emerged in the mid-2010s as the most popular face of the so-called “lo-fi house” or “YouTube house” scene – not really a scene, as much as a collection of producers making analog-sounding dance music that algorithms loved – and since then has worked hard to show he has more to offer than just supremely curated vibes.
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Dec 6, 2024 | 
flipboard.com | Shaad D'Souza
"They’re very special to me, probably my favourite band in the world." Oscar-winning Irish actor Cillian Murphy on the band he adores, and the "remarkable" song that he listened to "five times in a row" when it was releasedBack in the early '90s, the teenage Cillian Murphy was the frontman of Sons of Mr Green Genes, a Cork-based acid jazz group who took their name from …
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Dec 6, 2024 | 
theguardian.com | Shaad D'Souza
Unstoppable, the new film about the high school and college career of wrestler Anthony Robles, who was born with one leg, follows the established tropes of a Hollywood sports drama. There are euphoric wins and devastating losses, tearful familial moments and heartwarming triumphs over adversity – but it never feels dull, thanks to William Goldenberg’s pacey direction and engrossing lead performances from Jharrel Jerome as Robles and Jennifer Lopez as his mother, Judy.
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Nov 22, 2024 | 
theguardian.com | Shaad D'Souza
Transa, a galvanising new music compilation in support of trans rights, was born out of tragedy. In 2022, the groundbreaking trans musician Sophie died after an accidental fall; the Transa co-founder Dust Reid had already been thinking about a project that centred trans and non-binary people, and this enormous loss kicked the project into gear. “That loss was very visceral for me – when Sophie was lost, I was really acutely thinking about all the gifts trans people give to the world,” Reid says.
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Nov 1, 2024 | 
vulture.com | Jackson McHenry |Brock Colyar |Bilge Ebiri |Shaad D'Souza
There are many words associated with autumn, but few speak to the season quite like “crisp” — the crunchy leaves, the apple treat, the cool breeze, and the pages of a fresh book. Even for those who are long past their days of compulsory education, the call to end summer with a trip to the bookstore or library to grab a full backpack’s worth of hardbacks might just feel mandatory. Luckily, there’s nothing stale about our recommended-reading list.
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Oct 29, 2024 | 
theguardian.com | Shaad D'Souza
Two Shell, a buzzy London duo who make hyperactive yet melancholy bass music, are well known for giving people the runaround. They keep themselves anonymous, and perform with scarves and sunglasses hiding their faces. Fans are sent on digital breadcrumb trails via mysterious websites and social media posts. Their first interview, with the Face, was conducted in a chatroom of their own design, and scrubbed from the internet shortly after publication.
