Music Features

5 Tracks That Inspired Maggie Lindemann

Watch her break down songs by Evanescence, Beach House, and more

Since releasing her breakout track "Pretty Girl" in 2016, Maggie Lindemann has never stopped evolving. Singles like "GASLIGHT!" introduced a darker side, and last year's PARANOIA made it clear she had no intentions of ever being a standard pop princess.



Lindemann's latest, SUCKERPUNCH, is a loud, thumping, rock album with elements of pop punk, grunge, and Y2K metal. "she knows it," the most popular track so far, could slide into a playlist with Yellowcard and Taking Back Sunday.

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Music Features

The Infallible Legacy of "Heaven or Las Vegas" 30 Years On

The Cocteau Twins' 1990 masterpiece is still the blueprint for dream pop.

Photo by Wes Hicks / Unsplash

For a band whose lyrics were famously difficult to make out most of the time, the Cocteau Twins left an indelible impact on the world of pop music.

The Scottish trio emerged in the 1980s as some of the most notable pioneers of dream pop, a subgenre of alternative rock defined by airy, sublime sonic textures. But it was their sixth album, Heaven or Las Vegas—which turns 30 today—that truly withstood the test of time, affirming the Cocteau Twins' status as perhaps the most important dream pop act of all time.

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MUSIC

Lastlings Look into the Past in “Black Mirror”-Esque Music Video

Inspired by dystopian movies, Lastlings' new song and video are transportive.

Lastlings - "Take My Hand" (Official Video)

In the time of "social distancing" (AKA the best way to stop the spread of COVID-19), many of us may find ourselves turning to technology to fill the void that our lack of human connection has left in our lives—as if we weren't already doing that.

Appropriately, the Japanese-Australian sibling duo Lastlings' new video depicts a future in which people, deprived of their connections to others, are able to access old memories of past relationships through virtual reality technology. The Black Mirror-esque visual explores the poignancy of memory and the ways technology can help transport us to distant times and places. It makes you wonder—is it enough? Can a simulation actually replace a lost human connection?

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Set over the energetic track "Take My Hand," the video provides a sobering contrast to the song's dreamy, synthy sense of forward motion and its upward build. While the track feels like it's moving forward, the video is all about looking back into the past, and this creates an intriguing dissonance. (In a time when existence, itself, is often a practice of cognitive dissonance, maybe that contrast is more timely than anything).

Lastlings have been exploring questions about connection and transformation in different forms since they began releasing music. "We love making music that transports our listeners to a better place," they told Happy Mag. And their music is certainly capable of that. Though music can't exactly bring AI simulations of our loved ones into the room with us, it can help connect us to long-suppressed emotions or lift listeners to more blissful planes, if only for the expanse of a song.

Lastlings draw inspiration from groups like Alt-J and Beach House, and though the duo's music swings closer to electro-pop, they certainly share these artists' transportive talents.

The band includes Josh and Amy Dowdle, siblings Australia who played music together as kids and gravitated to futuristic sounds while growing up. They both modeled and performed music independently as young adults, Josh playing gigs and Amy uploading videos to YouTube and later joining shows, but they finally found their niche and made the Lastlings magic happen.

Now they're looking to the future. Coming off a Coachella run (where they performed alongside fellow sibling duo Billie and Finneas O'Connell), and recently signed to Astralwerks, Lastlings seem poised to catch on.

Their visuals seem to match their rapidly evolving careers in terms of innovative scope. "We're really inspired by a lot of sci-fi movies at the moment, especially Blade Runner, we've seen that like eight times. Sort of dystopian, apocalyptic. It fits in with our Lastlings name," they explained to RUSHH magazine.

"Take My Hand" was also inspired by a favorite anime, "Your Name" by Makoto Shinkai. "[The song] is about two people who are unprepared to let goof each other," they said. "They both care about each other deeply but have to go their separate ways."

Interestingly, many of their interviews don't seem to cite which one of them is speaking, and the siblings are often quoted as "they," which perhaps speaks to their synergy. You can hear that synergy on "Take My Hand," a synergy speaks to a brilliant future together—presuming of course that their name, "Lastlings," wasn't too prescient.

Follow Lastlings on Instagram | Facebook | Twitter.

MUSIC

Witch’s Wall Premieres Wistful Love Song “Lady Love”

A merge of dream-pop with experimental psych-rock.

Witch's Wall

Brandon Lett

Witch's Wall introduces "Lady Love," a single from their forthcoming self-titled debut album, slated to drop spring 2020, via Cornelius Chapel Records.

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MUSIC

Curren$y Returns To Burnie's Like He Never Left

The album reaffirms Curren$y's lyrical consistency, and reminds us of his monumental prowess in 2019

Photo by FPVmat A on Unsplash

In 2011, Curren$y's album Weekend at Burnie's was one of the dignified emcee's most cohesive projects.

Curren$y - Still feat. Trademark & Young Roddy (Official Video)www.youtube.com

It was still a Curren$y record at its core, with the rapper continuing to exemplify a proficiency in woozy, nonchalant narratives. "Them haters tryna deplete my shine like Venetian blinds," he rhymes, "but son do what the sun do: rise." However, Weekend at Burnie's awoke the mainstream public to the prolific talent of Curren$y. It was the rapper's fifth album and fourth release of 2011. Every single project was critically lauded and slowly chipped away at the presupposition that "Spitta Andretti" was merely a weed rapper. "To focus on [Curren$y's] cannabis appetite is to ignore some of the things that make him one of the more dependable working rappers," wrote Pitchfork.

Over the last decade, the veteran emcee has only ramped up his musical output and workload, even after becoming a parent last year. On Back At Burnie's, the long-awaited sequel and eighth Curren$y outing of 2019, the rapper closes out his decade with a project that is both equanimous and stately. Curren$y sounds right at home, his Hip-Hop anecdotes remaining equivalent to an insouciant shrug. But a lot has changed since 2011, and Curren$y knows that is worth noting. "My first ride in a phantom was with my homie Lil Wayne," Spitta reflects on "All Work." "Now I got one myself, and I'm ridin' in my own lane." 2011's "Money Machine" found Curren$y asking politely to be invited to the party and to "reserve him somewhere" to park, but on 2019's "Money Is a Drug," Curren$y acknowledges that eight years later he can "park his sh*t anywhere." The perks of fame are pedestrian to Spitta, his lucrative lifestyle so normal now that's it's barely worth the commentary. "Pinky rings, diamond chains, just a gang of players having things," he says with composure on "Arrangement."

Curren$y - Money Is A Drug (Audio)www.youtube.com

Spitta Andretti remains as accredited, if not more so, than a majority of today's most elite rappers, but he has adamantly avoided the mainstream spotlight that has shone on a countless number of his friends. But he's forever remained in their confidence, offering his wisdom, collaborative kinship, and car advice whenever they need it. He was one of Cash Money's original members and has worked with everyone from Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, Snoop Dogg, Juicy J, and Rick Ross to Westside Gunn, Freddie Gibbs, and Madeintyo.

Over a decade later, he remains a monumental presence in Hip-Hop, and on Back At Burnie's reminds listeners of his unshakeable authenticity: "I never switched the sauce, been myself from square one." But fret not, as it wouldn't be a Curren$y album without its moments of quirky syntax. "I talked a mermaid out of the water the other day," he flexes on "Nautica." "All on my yacht, we lit up the pot, floated away." Maybe it's lyrical honesty, perhaps it's just intelligent story-telling, but regardless, when Curren$y says it, he always means it.

Photo by Becca Tapert on Unsplash

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ok, so maybe I was a bit cynical last week, but as much as I love celebrating being single, I do know that every now and then, a good love song is just what we need. Even if you are celebrating with a loved one or on your own this year, I feel like the romantic vibes of the holiday are contagious and you can't help but smile a little when you hear a song that reminds you of your love: past, present, or future. These are some of my favorite love songs from the sweet to the sexy to the somber. Check it out.

Ariana Grande | "The Way"

This song is perfect for new love. It feels like surrendering to an unsuspected love.