F

Flavorwire

The Weeknd

Music

10 Great Comedown Songs to Soothe Your New Year’s Hangover

By Tom Hawking on

If you’re like us and basically everyone else in the world — unless you don’t drink, in which case we’re happy for you — you probably greeted 2013 with a fairly sizable hangover yesterday. There’s a surprising amount of complexity to be found in waking up and feeling like shit after a big night out, and it’s a subject that’s been addressed by a host of songwriters over the years. So we thought we’d welcome 2013 with an exploration of musical renditions of the morning after the night before, from the quietly contented to the morbidly, morbidly hung over. We hope the way you’re feeling roughly 36 hours into the new year falls somewhere toward the former end of the scale. … Read More

Music

The 15 Best Musical Reissues of 2012

By Tom Hawking on

For some reason, the end-of-year listomania is starting early this year — the Guardian has begun its best-of-2012 list already, and we’re sure others will soon be following suit. In the spirit of getting onto getting onto such things ahead of time, then, we thought we’d commence our own end-of-year listing this week with a look at the best of reissues of 2012. In any case, it seems an appropriate time to be looking at reissues, because this month sees the (re-)release of Massive Attack’s classic 1991 debut Blue Lines, an album which we’re very excited to be able to get on nice heavy vinyl. So her are our picks of other reissues we hope you were laying your hands on during 2012. As ever, we’d be interested to hear your additions in the comments section. … Read More

Music

The 10 Albums You Need to Hear in November

By Tom Hawking on

There’s a veritable deluge of worthwhile releases due out this month, from sci-fi ambient music and a weird concept record about the end of the world to one very exciting… Read More

Music

Why I Can’t Stop Worrying and Learn to Love R&B

By Tom Hawking on

Everyone has been going batshit about the new Frank Ocean record over past the month or so, and rightly so, because it’s that rarest of beasts in 2012: a good R&B record. Over the last 15-20 years, contemporary R&B has been this writer’s single most loathed genre, a point of view that’s led to the occasional argument with friends and colleagues over the years. And for all that the genre seems to be undergoing a creative renaissance of late, it’s hard to abandon two decades’ worth of deep suspicion at the drop of Frank Ocean’s hat — especially when there’s still so much awful pap being released (viz. the Trey Songz record that drops this week, for instance). Still, lest I be accused of being a hater, then, here’s an explanation: why I can’t stop worrying and learn to love contemporary R&B. … Read More

Music

10 Rappers to Convert the Indie Purist in Your Life

By Tom Hawking on

One of the more pleasing developments of the 21st century has been the decline of musical tribalism — people are far less likely to be evangelistic about their choice of genre these days, and most people’s record collections encompass a healthy range of sounds. Having said that, some divides remain — in particular, any conversation that touches on hip hop usually gives rise to at least one proclamation along the lines of, “Oh, I don’t listen to that garbage — it’s all bitches and blunts and guns, etc etc.” The release of SpaceGhostPurrp’s debut album this week (as you might have read, he’s signed to 4AD) got us thinking about other rappers who might bridge the hip hop/guitar divide. We’ve made some suggestions after the jump, so next time you run into an anti-hip hop type, don’t just huff and puff — direct them to us! We’re here to help. … Read More

Design

Duane Dalton’s Elegantly Redesigned ‘Album Anatomy’

By Judy Berman on

You might be tempted to lump in Duane Dalton’s Album Anatomy series with the many “minimalist” renderings of pop-culture icons and artifacts that have flooded the Internet. But the Dublin-based designer is actually doing something a bit more interesting than many of his peers, pushing all the information about the record to the top and bottom of the image and using the center space to illustrate his own experience of it. Dalton writes that the project is “an exploration in the art of reduction. It breaks down album imagery into its purist [sic] form by discarding any unnecessary information. This is achieved using a strict grid that displays the relevant album details, which leaves a central void to convey a response to the album. This void is filled by my personal response to an album. It can be influenced by a key track, the cover art or the overall flavour of the album.” Click through to view some of our favorite Album Anatomy redesigns, and visit Dalton’s website to see many more. … Read More

Music

10 of the Unlikeliest Samples in Music

By Tom Hawking on

The Big Pink’s new album Future This is out this week, and the fact that they’ve sampled Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman” on one of their new tracks got us thinking about other unlikely samples in the world of music. Of course, The Big Pink have been on the other end of the sampling equation, too — in an equally unlikely piece of inspiration, Nicki Minaj sampled their track “Dominoes” for her song “Girls Fall Like Dominoes.” As unexpected as both these pieces of sampling were, though, they still pale in comparison to some of the truly outlandish examples from the world of music over the last 20 years or so. Like the ones you’ll find after the jump, for instance. … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Judy Berman on

1. Last night, The Weeknd — whose House of Balloons was one of our favorite debuts of 2011 — released his third mixtape of the year. You can download Echoes of Silence for free at his website.

2. Louis C.K.’s great online comedy special experiment has now succeeded beyond his wildest dreams: In… Read More

Music

The 20 Best Debut Albums of 2011

By Tom Hawking on

It’s like clockwork. At this time of year, at least one friend who’s stopped paying attention to music climbs on his/her soapbox to proclaim that there are no good new bands any more, and that music’s gone to shit, etc. Inevitably, the situation devolves into an argument wherein you try to sell your friend on the virtues of a bunch of bands he or she has never heard of, and end up going to the bar in despair while they wander over to put Foo Fighters on the jukebox. Argh. But as ever, despite what people might want to tell you, there’s always plenty of great new bands and new music out there — you just need to know where to look. 2011 has been as good a year for debut albums as any, so next time you’re involved in such a discussion, feel free to point your obstreperous friend in the direction of the rest of this post — because after the jump, you’ll find our 20 favorite debut albums of 2011. As ever, suggestions are welcome. … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Judy Berman on

1. The Weeknd has released his second mixtape, Thursday, for free download. It comes out a mere five months after his mysterious debut, House of Balloons.

2. He’s an actor, producer, and activist, but it turns out Ashton Kutcher isn’t much of a journalist. After guest editing a special online issue of Details, he may… Read More