I see you, and it makes me so happy to see you. There is such a disconnect between what we say America is about and what it is right now. True freedom is the freedom to be who we are, and it hurts my heart so much that in some parts of this country, it is unsafe for trans people to do that right now.
The Sound It Made opens Two Wheels Move the Soul like the blaze is roaring to life before your eyes. Zack James' shifty drumming hammers out a drum 'n' bass redux like a panicked heartbeat while Carney Hemler's bass lurches in slow motion, replicating the gut drop of a horrible realization.
"At 2 a.m., sitting up and contemplating our loss during my child's wake, I found myself reflecting on all the major news events that had left their mark on me through the years and the helplessness I sometimes felt to change anything. Writing the last verse was the most difficult and personal thing I've done."
Working in the vein of "laptop twee" acts like friends& and Worldpeace DMT, who fuse the genre-smashing maximalism promised by hyperpop with the whimsical optimism of '00s buzz bands, the material on their 2025 album Shy at first is as dense and dynamic as the songs you try to compose in your imagination.
Tone Freq Studios captures pristine acoustics and emphasizes analog warmth, creating a tactile space that values collective experiences over the convenience of digital recording methods.
I'm excited to announce something that's never been done before. Better Than Ezra is teaming up with Soundbreak AI to do a songwriting contest. Go on soundbreak.ai, write with me, or write with [bass guitarist] Tom Drummond. Come up with your best idea, your best song.
R&B in the 21st century has been in a constant state of flux, tugged between safe traditionalism and blurry attempts at progression. For the last decade-plus that "progression" has seen R&B music become more indebted to trap records and the moody atmospherics of alternative bands like Radiohead, Coldplay, or My Bloody Valentine.
What if the next No. 1 album didn't come from the industry? What if it came from all of us? Unfortunately, 'all of us' is never as simple as it sounds, and the crowdsourced Everybody's Album—which did not chart, because of a technicality—was not simple in the slightest. Somewhere in this bloated, gestating glut was a topography of internet music, all bitcrushed MIDI and fried Focusrites.
"When I read the fine print, it was 'an experience with REO Speedwagon's music.' It's none of the original members," Fletcher recalls. "I don't want to promote the show unless it's the real thing. I don't know why you would want to see that. It's just a cover band. To me, that's a little bit strange." He adds, with a sigh, "If there are no original members, who cares?"
