Latest news with #Strokes
Wall Street Journal
15-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
‘Thee Black Boltz' by Tunde Adebimpe Review: A Solo Record's Homemade Sound
For the first decade of this century, the New York rock scene was defined by a cluster of talented bands—the Strokes, Interpol, LCD Soundsystem—borrowing elements from underground movements of the past and making them their own. Part of the fun of experiencing these acts in their earliest days was the legibility of their references, from Joy Division to Television. TV on the Radio, an art-rock outfit founded by singer Tunde Adebimpe and multi-instrumentalist David Sitek in Brooklyn in 2001, was a little harder to figure out, which became part of its allure. As it added members and built a following leading up to its 2004 debut, 'Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes,' and its 2006 breakthrough, 'Return to Cookie Mountain,' the group became increasingly hard to pigeonhole, and it wasn't just because of its musical influences. TV on the Radio was a mostly black band in a mostly white scene, and wrote elliptical songs that sometimes touched on politics—its members seemed more serious, and also more musically ambitious, than their peers. After 2014's 'Seeds,' the project went on an extended hiatus, though the past year has seen a buzz of activity, including a tour. There's no word yet of a new record, so for now Mr. Adebimpe's debut solo LP, 'Thee Black Boltz' (Sub Pop), out Friday, will have to tide fans over.
USA Today
09-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
3 best Masters one-and-done picks (including Jon Rahm!)
3 best Masters one-and-done picks (including Jon Rahm!) The start of the 2025 Masters is just one day away. The practice rounds are wrapping up, the Par 3 contest is coming up and, before we know it, the honorary starters will be firing down the fairway to kick off the first round. Over at For The Win, we've been looking at a number of ways to bet on the action. We narrowed down a list of the nine definitive golfers who can win, 17 big names who absolutely cannot and another seven who won't even make the cut. Now it's time to figure out the best picks for your one-and-done pool. If you've been following our one-and-done columns all year, you know we've already burned some big names like Scottie Scheffler (The Players), Rory McIlroy (Arnold Palmer Invitational) and Jordan Spieth (Valspar). If you have access to the two former names and want to use them here, by all means, go for it. I cannot recommend using Spieth, but mostly because of the roller coaster of emotions he's likely to send you on. The good news, however, is that some big names from LIV Golf are back in the field. Since they're no longer on the PGA Tour, this will be one of only four times they'll be available in your pool and there's no reason to shy away. Here are our three best options for One-And-Done pools. Jon Rahm The pros: Rahm has three Top 10 finishes at Augusta in the last five years, including his 2023 victory. His 2.5 true strokes gained at Augusta are the third-most in the field (behind Scheffler and Spieth). There's also good reason to believe last year's flirtation with the cut line en route to a T45 finish was a bit of a aberration. Between moving to LIV, a the reigning champ responsibilities and significant rainfall, it's hard to read too much into Rahm's game. The cons: He'll be one of the most popular picks this weekend and is already a top betting favorite to win (14-1). Rahm hasn't finished better than second in any LIV event this year — and that was in the season-opener at Riyadh. Few of the big names who defected to LIV have remained elite. We should learn a lot about Rahm's ability to stay dialed in on a tour that plays much less often than the PGA. Collin Morikawa It sure seems like it's just a matter of time before Morikawa slips on the green jacket. He finished T3 in 2023, T10 in 2023 and fifth in 2022. The 28-year-old ranks fourth in True Strokes Gained (+2.30) at ANGC among all golfers who've played a minimum of 20 rounds — a full stroke better than DataGolf expected. Morikawa also arrives in great form with three Top 10 finishes on the season, though a Sunday collapse at the Arnold Palmer Invitational produced more questions than answers. Like Rahm, Morikawa is 13-1 at BetMGM. Unlike Rahm, he's faced elite competition all season long. Cameron Smith You can go ahead and sub in Brooks Koepka here if you prefer, but he's always been a better fit at the U.S. Open, anyways. Smith, meanwhile has finished T2, T10, T3, T34 and T6 in his last five Masters. At DataGolf he's tracking +1.96 True Strokes gained — putting him ahead of Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele and Hideki Matsuyama. He's also 50-1 to win and likely won't be as popular a pick as Rahm. Any LIV player will be a risk, but these feel like two of the more trustworthy options.
The Guardian
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Golden Plains 2025: Irish rappers Kneecap and rockers Fontaines DC lead sublime weekend
I'm standing in a field in the middle of the country in the middle of the night, watching a glittering set from the American synth-pop duo Magdalena Bay. Midway through the groove of Killing Time, as colours and costumes swirl on stage, my cousin taps me on the shoulder and points to the sky. Thousands of strangers look up at the same time as a star burns slowly across the black night. The next day my friend tells me it wasn't a shooting star, but rather space junk. But we agree that whatever it was encapsulated a weekend at Golden Plains: a place where magic appears unexpectedly, and not all is as it seems. Now in its 17th year, the two-day camping event is going from strength to strength. While it used to be easy to source last-minute entry in the lead-up to the long weekend, this year tickets were in constant demand, with wannabe punters still begging for leads even after it had already kicked off. It's not hard to understand the festival's appeal: it's an eclectic affair that provides an avenue of discovery for curious music lovers – a rarity in the time of algorithmic curation – and feels like a private universe, with tents and couches scattered across the Nolan family farm, and doof sticks sparkling like stars in the night. True to form, some of this year's highlights aren't the headliners, but smaller acts from closer to home. Sydney's RMFC ramps up the energy on Sunday with a pummelling punk set sprinkled with saxophone. Cranking up the distortion to breaking point, Auckland rock duo Elliot & Vincent makes brutal noise that sounds like much more than the sum of their parts. Skeleten, the alias of electronic producer Russell Fitzgibbon, is surprisingly a full band setup – an extended version of early single Territory Day is blissful. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Interstitial DJs also often provide highlights – a run of indie sleaze classics, from the Strokes to Bloc Party and Vampire Weekend, is a nostalgic Sunday evening delight, as is an intoxicating Radiohead remix in the drizzling rain. This year, Irish flags and accents float around 'the Sup', as the Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre is affectionately nicknamed; two of the country's acts are major draw cards. Hip-hop trio Kneecap requests that the stage lights are turned down low so barely anything is visible but a projection of their signature balaclava, with videos playing in the eye holes. It's a chaotic, energetic set – 45 minutes flies by, with an easy flow between the three vocalists, who encourage the crowd to open up a mosh pit and who lead memorable chants, from advocating for Palestine to irreverently condemning Jeff Bezos and Margaret Thatcher. They transition into a more club-heavy beat towards the end of the set, making way for late-night DJs. The other Irish act, Fontaines DC, got my Boot. Their set draws heavily from the 2024 album Romance, and singer Grian Chatten lurches over the microphone, delivering his erudite songs with an Ian Curtis-esque drawl and energy. The intensity is broken up with tracks such as the jangly Favourite and the anthemic new single It's Amazing To be Young, but it's otherwise all mood, with minimal chatter. They're one of the world's best bands right now and only getting bigger, playing a sold-out 45,000-capacity show in London later this year – seeing them in the intimacy of the Sup is, well, supernatural. So is PJ Harvey's preceding set as a lightning storm is brewing overhead. The singer is bewitching as she flits between a chair and the rest of the stage, playing a mixture of old and new material as the sky flashes. The storm never completely hits, but the atmosphere is fittingly haunting. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion There are soulful moments, too. At first, Gamilaraay singer-songwriter Thelma Plum seemed to me like a strange choice for the festival, but the moment she takes the stage, it makes perfect sense. Plum's 2024 album I'm Sorry, Now Say It Back is far more dynamic live than it is on record – Nobody's Baby is a highlight, but it's all fabulous. Jada Weazel's Sunday morning set follows on in the same vibe – the Queensland R&B singer's awkward banter belies her confident vocals, and a moving cover of Olivia Dean's The Hardest Part washes any hangovers away. The most unexpectedly entertaining performance of the weekend is Robin S, whose 1992 single Show Me Love has been given eternal life in samples by Charli xcx and Beyoncé in recent years. An announcement that sounds a lot like a late-night infomercial plays over the speakers not once but twice before the singer appears just past midnight. She sings Show Me Love a few times and leads 'the biggest choir I've ever taught' in scat-singing, before thanking the crowd for staying with her for 'well over 30 minutes' – she barely cracks 20. She's gone as quickly as she arrived, leaving a bemused Sup in her wake. It's utterly absurd, and we're still unpacking what we witnessed on the dusty drive home on Monday. It's all part of the fun of Golden Plains, a festival that has deservedly achieved cult status in Australia for its community, adventurous programming and bucolic scenery. Hits and misses, sure – but it all adds up to something singular and sublime. Golden Plains 2025 took place March 8-10 at the Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre, Victoria.
