Bedroom-pop teenage wunderkind Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell just released her latest single “my future.”
“we wrote this at the very beginning of quarantine. it’s a song that’s really really personal and special to me. when we wrote this song, it was exactly where my head was at – hopeful, excited and a craaaazy amount of self reflection and self growth. but recently it has also taken on a lot of new meaning in the context of what’s happening in the world now. i hope you can all find meaning in it for yourselves,” Eilish said,
The song marks her latest since soundtracking the upcoming James Bond film, “No Time To Die.”
The New York Health Commissioner said that the Chainsmoker’s Hampton’s party “Mocks New Yorkers’ attempt to flatten the curve.”
On Saturday, The Chainsmokers threw a $25,000 per ticket, promotional party to support FuckJerry’s tequila release. The CEO of Goldman Sachs, David Solomon, performed as a DJ, opening the show.
How, you may ask, did we get here? Why would so many people think that partying during a pandemic, as a deadly infection virus sweeps the nation, is a good idea? How could nobody have stopped this?
It’s beacause everything is terrible.
But we’re not the only ones who are pissed about the party. New York’s Health Commissioner, Howard A. Zucker, who has worked tirelessly for almost 6 months to flatten the curve of infections in New York, and did so to an impressive extent, expressed his anger in a letter he released.
“This is not just a lack of common sense, but an illegal and reckless endangerment of public health…
I think what struck our collective nerve was seeing so many with so much to their advantage — concert attendees were generally young, healthy, and, as indicated by the $850 ticket prices, able to afford health care if they should need it — be so cavalier about taking a risk that could have dire consequences for many.
You don’t have to be the commissioner of health to realize that when it comes to contracting and transmitting a contagious and dangerous disease, every one of us is a card-carrying member of the rank-and-file. COVID-19 is an equal-opportunity infector: It doesn’t recognize skin color or the thickness of stock portfolios.”
Look, we love a party. We all want to party. But we’re not partying because it could possibly harm people. Nobody likes a party that hurts people.
But it’s one thing to throw a bad party, it’s another if your party could potentially murder people.
Imagine, if you will, you’re inside of a dank basement or an underground warehouse full of sparks and sweat, so humid you can see the moisture and fear in the air. Two men stand toe-to-toe, locked at the eyes, with nothing but fire and tension between them. The moment builds, the crowd of anxious hyenas wait silently, patiently. One man grabs the mic:
“2 CHAAAINZ”
He declares proudly as the room explodes with deafening cheers.
“M-M-M-Maybach Music”
The tension hangs so thick in the air, you can taste it on your tongue. It tastes of pride, aggression, and the will to survive. Who wants it more?
Welcome to the World of Battle Rapping, and during the times of Covid and social distancing, they don’t happen in fiery warehouses, there are no musty basements. It’s happening right inside your house.
On Thursday, August 6 at 8 p.m. EST, Rick Ross and 2 Chainz will go head to head in a Verzuz virtual rap battle. Hosted by Ciroc and Apple Music, the two rap giants will compete in the most primal of rap activities, a battle.
Verzuz pairs up rappers for a virtual rap battle, because that is what happens when there are no concerts or music festivals. We need new content, and it has to be virtual.
To watch the battle, head to Verzuz’s Instagram, or watch on Apple Music.
When it comes to music, the feeling you get when that song starts, or how you lose yourself in the lyrics, is all that matters.
Phoebe Bridgers makes impossibly pretty, yet emotionally carving indie rock. Her music has this ability to cut you to the core, yet keep you coming back for more.
This is her gift as a songwriter, to craft something so approachable, and making it deadly. She’s the human embodiment of a butterfly knife- floating delicately along, until it cuts you.
On her latest album, Punisher, she cuts deeper than ever before. “I Know the End,” the climatic album-closer, is one of the best songs of the year.
What starts as a strumming guitar grows into an erupting volcano. Bridgers’ voice is light as a feather, almost like a whisper in the breeze, until it comes crashing down around us. The song builds and builds into an all out apocalypse of guitars, drums, and shouts to anyone who’ll listen.
The result is nothing short of stunning, and the video is no different. Director Alissa Torvinen finds Bridgers in a bleak, world, gone past the brink of extinction. As the song builds to its crescendo, the fire and flames do too.
It’s a victory lap for an artist at the top of her game, and exactly what a world currently in shambles needs to see right now.
“Soundchecking is like being in a relationship, it’s all communication.”
Life is a learning experience. Every day, every challenge, every triumph- a lesson. Sure Sure has learned a lot in the past year.
The Los Angeles band went from living together in a shammy house to riding together in a van, touring North America. On their first national tour, they supported indie-breakout act Hippo Campus. Admittedly, they were just getting used to life on the road.
“Last time there were crushed peanut butter snacks on the ground and chocolate smeared on the seats, this time the van is very clean,” the band said in a phone interview I had with them.
The independent band has been working since 2014 and as one of the lyrics in “This Must Be the Place,” (which they phenomenally cover) they’re making it up as they go along.
When I talked to the band, they were surveying the sprawling plains of Idaho. As relatively bland as that may sound, they describe the scene with a brightness and such vivid colors that I actually imagine myself there with them, watching the miles of grass fly by.
Sure Sure is headlining a tour behind their new album Sure Sure. The album features poppy indie-rock with riffy guitars, punchy pianos, and fun lyrics and hand-clappy drums.
Some of my favorite tracks are “Friends,” “Giants,” “New Biome,” and “Hands Up, Head Down,” but there really are no bad songs on this album. They all have a charm to them that’s ridiculously infectious.
The music speaks for itself as the band continues gaining more and more fans along the road. They said they’ve made fans from Vancouver to San Luis Obispo and it’s been great seeing music lovers young and old come out to sing and dance and let go of their cares for a night.
“The shows have been really exciting and fulfilling.”
As a band, the sky is the limit. They don’t have plans to sign to a label anytime soon, because they’re learning everything a label does by doing it themselves. In the meantime, they’re just touring the country in their clean van, listening to AC/DC and enjoying the ride.
Your Culture Vulture 