‘Szabadság’ is a Hungarian word which loosely translates as liberty or freedom, and can also mean holiday or taking leave. Fittingly, it’s also the title of the debut album by Slovak-Hungarian musician Adela Mede, a piece of work which exudes an aesthetic freedom, venturing seamlessly between ultra-vivid field recordings, inventively distorted electronics & trilingual vocals, spoken and sung in Slovak, Hungarian and English.
It’s difficult to confine ‘Szabadság’ and Adela Mede’s work to comparison, but there are resemblances which may help place the parameters of where this album roams and thrives. Decomposed vocal treatments bring to mind the golden years of Coil, while the voice-centred combination of traditional influences and contemporary experimentation elicits parallels with the work of Fever Ray, Księżyc and Mede’s Night School label mate Cucina Povera. Nevertheless, ‘Szabadság’ sounds too striking, born out of a specific milieu and originally executed, for these similarities to stick and hold too much weight.
Recorded in Mede’s family home in Rusovce, a borough of Southern Bratislava that lies on the Danube – close to the Slovakian border with Hungary and Austria – ‘Szabadság’ is steeped in diaristic interiority, a work that distils evocative undertones of experience and environment. The sound of a delicate call-and-response vocal between Mede and her sister, and the vibrant aural backdrop of fields at the height of Summer are just some of the sounds that are entwined with bold manipulations of voice and synthesis.
Yet much like the imagery of shimmering iridescence depicted on the album artwork by Kvet Nguyen, ‘Szabadság’ is a document of fluid interplay, situated somewhere between memoir, collage and innovative sound art, where shades of personal perspective merge with the imprint of external realities. Here, multiple affinities are explored, including the bond Mede has with Slovak-Hungarian folklore, exemplified by the recording of folk dances Mede incorporates into the fabric of ‘Szabadság’.
With this playlist, Mede explores the sense of attachment she has with the culture and geography of her homeland, and the kinship she has found when listening to an eclectic assortment of formative musical discoveries. Contending thematically with a ‘home of the heart’, Mede assembles a poignant homage to personal roots and revelations, from Hungarian folk and ensemble choir recordings to Timbaland productions and rich ambient works. There’s plenty to unearth here, with selections (and reflections) that not only emphasize the emancipatory power of knowing your origins, but also highlight the importance of finding a place to feel at home elsewhere. Taking flight but always returning, to a place of peace and comfort…
Order the vinyl of her debut album ‘Szabadság’ on Night School Records here
Family dinner frightened the saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi.
It was late August 2022, and Shiroishi was due in Europe in exactly a month to open for the experimental metal trio Sumac, not only his first tour there but also one of his first tours ever. He had so many shows and sessions booked for the rest of the year, in fact, he would rarely be in Rosemead, the Los Angeles County town where he’s lived his entire life, for much of the year. Now, at a family dinner to celebrate his aunt’s birthday, Shiroishi, 35, just had to tell his parents.
“For the longest time, my parents fought me on music — ‘When are you not going to go to shows or play shows? When are you just going to come home after work and relax?’ ” Shiroishi remembers, flashing a toothy grin. He folds his legs beneath himself on a park bench outside of his favorite Rosemead ramen spot.
“I definitely yelled at them about it,” he continues with an uncomfortable sigh. “I said I’d quit when I was 30. Until then, don’t bother me.”
His parents, Allen and Uzuko, had indeed asked about that vow the month he turned 30. Shiroishi, however, had not quit. Instead, he doubled down on his own music during the next five years, releasing several dozen albums of roaring free jazz, warped instrumental metal and feather-light bop so luxurious it feels like a West Coast sunset. He became, in turn, a linchpin in an international network of young composers and improvisers, mining deep vulnerability in an expansive repertoire. The thread through much of that work was Shiroishi’s excavation of his Japanese American heritage, how his family’s complicated past in the United States shaped his present.
And now, as he prepared to make a major leap in his life — leaving his job of a decade as an instructor and manager at a nearby music school to pursue his music full-time — he felt that story again. As Japanese Americans, his parents had often sacrificed desire for stability, for the ability to provide for their family. As he prepared to tell his parents about his decision, he actually workshopped disaster scenarios with his therapist, trying to imagine what he’d say if his parents told him he was making a mistake.
He warned his brother, Andrew, that the news was coming at dinner and to prepare accordingly. He also found motivation from his wife, fellow saxophonist and Moonchild bandleader Amber Navran. No matter the consequences, it was a move he had to make.
“I need to play, to work through these emotions, to have an outlet for being angry about whatever’s happening to people or a death in the family or anything,” he says slowly, as if still processing that notion. “Playing is a core thing for me, necessary.”
/ Sean Hazen for NPR
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Sean Hazen for NPR
“I don’t think I wanted to be Japanese,” Shiroishi says of his childhood. “I was very much into, like, being ‘normal’ or Americanized or American.”
Shiroishi was born into a bifurcated identity, into the tension between understanding his ancestral roots and his compulsion to assimilate. While Uzuko’s parents remained in Japan, Allen’s family had already been in California for several generations. She would dispatch photos and videos of their firstborn home every week, eventually enough to fill 10 scrapbooks.
There were after-school classes in calligraphy and the abacus. Every Saturday, he dutifully attended the Japanese language school where his mother still works, bribed with McDonald’s and taped cartoons for successful participation. Every Sunday, they would visit the family plot at Evergreen Cemetery, a 150-year-old sprawl known for its ethnic and racial diversity. They tended the family garden — the longtime pride of Allen’s mother, Dorothy — as a group activity, and still do. Shiroishi relished the biennial trips to Japan, where they would feast and explore the forested countryside and absorb manga.
Still, for decades, Shiroishi wasn’t sure what all this had to do with his real life. He resented the cemetery visits and the language lessons. Unending expectations from a family of doctors, pharmacists and corporate lifers like his father made him uneasy. “I don’t think I wanted to be Japanese,” Shiroishi says, staring at the sidewalk, index finger resting on the frame of his black-framed round glasses. “I was very much into, like, being ‘normal’ or Americanized or American.”
So Shiroishi became a Boy Scout, joining his troop’s Drum and Bugle Corps on trumpet. He dutifully studied the piano under his mother’s attentive gaze (“Five times for the new piece, three times for the old,” went a common command.) He became an Eagle Scout and immersed himself in the school band so much that, when he graduated, his peers pooled their money to buy him a cheap guitar rather than give the actual instructor a year-end gift. “I was very committed,” he says, laughing, “to being a good boy.”
Just as it’s done for teenagers around the world for the better part of a century, though, rock and roll became the cornerstone of Shiroishi’s modest rebellion. After squirreling away a week of lunch money, he would walk to a record store while his mom took his brother to basketball practice on Tuesdays to buy a single CD in secret. He played in a string of rock bands through high school and college, singing and drumming in the obviously irreverent Japanties and enlisting in the underground prog iconoclasts Upsilon Acrux on keyboards.
“I felt so much joy from the environment of just making music together, of community,” he says, beaming. “That’s really all I wanted to do.”
/ Sean Hazen for NPR
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Sean Hazen for NPR
Once Patrick Shiroishi learned that his grandparents met at Tule Lake, the largest of the United States’ 10 so-called War Relocation Authority camps, he began to consider their story in new ways.
His parents, however, wanted their sons to have the same stability they enjoyed; they doubted music could predictably provide it. When Shiroishi headed north to Chapman University, he majored in music therapy, not performance or composition, adding a second degree in classical guitar only after an instructor recruited him. Out of college, he helmed a therapeutic arts program for autistic children before leading the music school where he still worked when his family met for that fateful dinner in August 2022.
Something changed, though, in those years since he turned 30: He had begun studying his family’s history in the United States and funneling it into his albums, pushing back against what he saw as the Japanese notion of “not talking about yourself, of keeping your cards to yourself.” He wanted to work through his feelings about his family’s struggles and resilience on tape. There was, after all, plenty to consider.
When Shiroishi was in eighth grade, Allen took a rare day off work to take his sons to the Japanese American National Museum in downtown LA. He wanted them to see one of the spartan shacks that housed Japanese natives and their descendants in the United States during World War II. The sight barely fazed Shiroishi then. But two years later, Shiroishi spotted a one-paragraph reference to those very internment camps in a history textbook. The story now surprised him — he badly wanted to be an American kid, so how had Americans wanted to do this to his predecessors?
When he asked his grandmother, Dorothy, what she knew about the saga, she went silent and stern. “She was this really bright human, but she just shut down when I mentioned it,” he says, frowning. “You’re like, ‘Oh, no, I made my grandmother feel this way?’ I never asked her about it again.”
Dorothy died in 2012, at the age of 93. Shiroishi soon began questioning his aunt, Jo Ann, about their family’s history, especially why Dorothy had gone cold when he asked about the camps. He learned she had met his grandfather, Patrick Hidemi Shiroishi, at California’s Tule Lake, the largest of the United States’ 10 so-called War Relocation Authority camps, just south of the Oregon border. He had been transferred to the notoriously harsh Tule Lake after writing to the government to renounce his citizenship out of frustration with the camps, their conditions and recent riots. Shiroishi recognized he wouldn’t exist without this traumatic bit of serendipity, his entire origin story reduced to a mere blip in his schoolbook.
Shiroishi now had something personal to reckon with through his music. He had dedicated early albums to his grandparents, but he began to consider their story in bold new ways. Named for the newspaper at Tule Lake, 2017’s tulean dispatch used extended technique and circular breathing to express confusion and exasperation through pieces with titles like “the screams of a father’s tears.”
Four years later, on Hidemi, the namesake grandson imagined the life of the grandfather he had never met after he left Tule Lake. In a dizzying series of multi-tracked trios, quartets and quintets for saxophone, Shiroishi wrestles with the terror of returning to a society that wanted to punish you for merely existing, but then exudes the absolute joy of survival. It was a breakthrough for Shiroishi and his first masterstroke, a realization not only of how much he had to say, but also his ability to execute complicated music about difficult topics.
“Part of me has this whole impostor syndrome, because I was never trained in the saxophone in some serious way,” he says. “On the other hand, I realized I have my own story to tell, things I want to express.”
He has since made a solemn ambient record about violence against Asian Americans, repurposed the sounds of the cemetery, and slipped Japanese samples into the gorgeous songs of the band Fuubutsushi. He released 19 albums in 2022; at least three were standouts in their respective fields, in part because of the questions of identity they examine.
Recorded in the reverberant parking garage beneath a local hot pot restaurant, for instance, his improvisational duet with saxophonist Marta Tiesenga, empty vessels, sounds like a jazz combo sprayed through an atomizer. His debut for transformative electronic label Touch, Evergreen, suspends field recordings from the cemetery where six Shiroishis are buried in a ruminative haze, saxophone glinting through the drone like sunshine through a storm. And the madcap second LP from his distorted sax-and-drums duo Oort Smog, Every Motherf***** Is Your Brother, arcs triumphantly from spiritual jazz to ecstatic metal across a single 29-minute track.
“Almost from the start, Patrick’s music has been like a plant sprouting from the ground with one central stem. There’s always been something emotionally intense about the way he plays, an outlet,” says drummer Mark Kimbrell, who worked with Shiroishi for nearly a decade before they hatched Oort Smog. “And now, he’s just blooming in multiple directions.”
His work hinges on family history and identity in less explicit ways, too. He is fiercely collaborative, open to improvise or work with most anyone who asks. He loves the way musicians with experiences and perspectives distinct from his own might spark a novel idea. He tapes everything he plays, listening back for moments when he stumbled into something unforeseen.
But he especially relishes the way such connections foster community, building networks that often extend globally. It is, at least in part, an attempt to live up to stories he’s heard about Hidemi, who spent his days in a Little Tokyo furniture store and his nights as a deacon in a nearby Buddhist temple.
“After work, he would go to families’ homes to offer prayer with them, get home super late and restart that cycle. I don’t know that many people would do that,” he says. “When my parents would be like, ‘Why are you going to a show after work?’, that’s the community I wanted to be in. When I was at work, I was only thinking about playing a show.”
/ Sean Hazen for NPR
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Sean Hazen for NPR
“It’s amazing to me that he’s taken our story and moved forward with it,” Allen Shiroishi, Patrick’s father, says. “He’s not just doing music, but mastering the history behind it.”
The moment Shiroishi broke the news at dinner about quitting his job, his brother Andrew began clapping, and any potential tension vanished. Sure, his parents wanted to know why this was the right decision, but they listened sympathetically. Their daughter-in-law’s success with Moonchild helped, too, as a model of the work such a career entailed.
“I thought it was a good age to try. And if it doesn’t work, he can go back to teaching music or whatever,” his mother, Uzuko, says, Allen agreeing by her side. “I don’t want him to be 50, thinking, ‘I should have done that.’ “
They had already taken pride, after all, in Shiroishi’s attempts to share their family saga in such a public and provocative way, to express not only the anguish of their past but also the progress their journey documented. They keep a copy of everything he’s released on a series of living room shelves, LPs tucked behind old school photos and even hanging on walls like family portraits. “It’s amazing to me that he’s taken our story and moved forward with it,” Allen says. “He’s not just doing music, but mastering the history behind it.”
It’s not just history that interests Shiroishi; it’s future possibilities for kids who look like him and need to see themselves represented in experimental music. To wit, in March 2020, just before pandemic lockdowns began, Shiroishi met koto master and teacher Kozue Matsumoto and sculptor and shakuhachi player Shoshi Watanabe for lunch near downtown LA. They intended to discuss the possibility of a trio, employing traditional Japanese instruments within experimental idioms.
Shiroishi brought along recording gear just in case; by the end of the day, they had made a record, the emotionally volatile Yellow. It is, Matsumoto says, a perfect encapsulation of Patrick’s approach — taking advantage of an unexpected situation to build a relationship and to say something surprising about the experiences and possibilities of Japanese Americans.
“We all struggle with stereotypes of who we are as Japanese Americans, as Asian Americans, but we want to define who we are,” Matsumoto says. She stuns her students at the California Institute of the Arts when she plays them Yellow, where the koto and winds commingle in surreal dioramas, like light refracted by a series of cracked prisms. “Being Japanese American doesn’t mean we all need to work in a sushi restaurant. This music can contribute to that idea of who we can be.”
When Shiroishi was a kid, his parents would take the obliging pianist to see the orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl. On that stage, and most others, he spotted mostly white men, few if any fellow Asian Americans to convince him or his parents that making music might just be a way to live.
But during an East Coast tour late in 2022, just a month after he’d returned from that first trek to Europe, he looked into the audience and saw more Asian American faces than he’d even imagined. That message of change, he hopes, is central to his music, no matter how loud or loaded with trauma it becomes.
“It’s really easy to feel like there’s no hope, that things aren’t going to get better, to stop fighting. Then it’s all for sure going to get worse,” says Shiroishi a few days after another family dinner sandwiched between tours, the first such gathering since his big August announcement. “That’s hope, you know? And that’s my core emotion — to not give up.”
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
Nearly three years after the global pandemic led to independent artists going virtual to monetize their music, Bandcamp Fridays are still going strong. For Black artists, the community-based move on the music discovery platform — which finds 100 percent of sales going directly to artists once a month — is appreciated, allowing them to focus on other aspects of marketing their catalogs, from visuals to touring.
Furthering their impact in music, Black artists on Bandcamp are proudly representing their culture across a kaleidoscopic range of genres. So to kick off Black History Month — and in anticipation of the next Bandcamp Friday on February 3rd — AltPress is rounding up a handful of Black artists from a variety of genres, from punk to hip-hop, whose music is a must-listen and very much worth supporting. (And for even more recommendations and ways to support Black artists this month and always, be sure to check out Black Artist Database, a community-based platform that launched in 2020 in response to racial injustices, police brutality, and music business inequities that similarly provides access to consumer-to-artist support.)
Big Joanie
After spending 10 years as a punk-rock trio, British group Big Joanie comes to the States this year for their first-ever North American tour. Members Stephanie Phillips, Chardine Taylor-Stone and Estella Adeyeri, Big Joanie – also founders of UK punk festival Decolonise Fest – rage with leonine spunk. Infusing ‘90s riot grrrl with feminist, post-punk sensibilities, the group has been a Bandcamp favorite, recently garnering acclaim for their long-awaited sophomore album Back Home.
Cities Aviv
Memphis-bred rapper-producer Cities Aviv has been a frontman of the lo-fi and underground rap movement over the last decade, connecting with avid listeners through complex bars and deep ‘70s soul and jazz samples. Now residing in Queens, New York, Aviv, legal name Gavin Mays, released dual projects MAN PLAYS THE HORN and Working Title For The Album Secret Waters in 2022, where he lyrically grapples with the social media age, inauthentic rappers and other topics that he conjures through his stream-of-consciousness flow.
Dreamer Isioma
Nonbinary bedroom pop-oriented singer-songwriter Dreamer Isioma traverses through outer worlds in their explorative discography. A product of the early aughts, the Chicago-based artist imbues themselves in lush and ambient soundscapes, their artistry rapt with dreamy vocals and spirited charm. Prior to dropping alternative-rock-tinged single “Fuck Tha World,” Isioma released sophomore album Goodnight Dreamer in 2022, giving context to the 20-something’s wanderlust imagination.
Dua Saleh
Minnesota artist and Sex Education actor Dua Saleh pushes the boundaries of pop music with their bona fide valor. Last year, the nonbinary Sudanese-American re-released their 2021 EP CROSSOVER, featuring three additional tracks that meld futurism, electro-pop, and experimental ambition. On Bandcamp and other music platforms, the artist has become highly-praised for their dance floor appeal, leading a movement of contemporary Black artists in pop.
Fly Anakin
Virginia rhymesayer Fly Anakin bares his soul even more with each passing musical project. The 28-year-old boasts a full Bandcamp catalog as a masterclass in soul-centric hip-hop, including efforts with fellow rapper Pink Siifu and Mutant Academy co-members ohbliv, TUAMIE, and Koncept Jack$on. Last March, Anakin delivered his critically-acclaimed autobiographical debut studio album Frank, preceding his suggestive forthcoming LP Skinemaxxx (Side A), which arrives in April.
GrandAce
Cincinnati-raised rapper, vocalist, and producer GrandAce is a manifestation of internet culture. Keeping fans and Bandcamp subscribers (cleverly called “the Grandcouncil”) updated through candid vlogs and occasional merch, the artist, legal name Jody Jones II, releases a constant stream of music, including last year’s planetary oasis EP Orbit City. Over the last eight years, GrandAce has been a testament to artist progression through his resounding delight in creating music.
Jean Grae
Veteran lyricist and producer Jean Grae evokes truth in her pen. Wife of fellow emcee and producer Quelle Chris, the artist formerly known as What? What? has been a hip-hop mainstay since the ‘90s, both in her origins of Brooklyn and the independent music scene. To conclude 2022, Grae released spoken word album You F**king Got This Sh!t: Affirmations For The Modern Persons, her soothing tone imparting humorous anecdotes on self-worth, patriarchal oppression and setting boundaries.
MIKE
Brooklyn wordsmith MIKE sells back-to-back albums like hotcakes. The 24-year-old rapper born Michael Bonema has evolved in pensive bars since his teenage years of releasing early projects MAY GOD BLESS YOUR HUSTLE and BY THE WATER. Now a spearhead for the free annual Broolyn music festival Young World, the hip-hop savant dropped his latest album Beware of the Monkey in December, reintroducing dancehall legend Sister Nancy (“Stop Worry!”) and his DIY creativity.
Psalm One
Quick-witted in her lyricism, Chicago-raised emcee Psalm One, aka Hologram Kizzie, brings the heat. Legal name Cristalle Bowen, the rapper (also one-half of BIG $ILKY with partner Angel Davanport) had two triumphs last year — releasing memoir Her Word Is Bond followed by LP Bigg Perrm. An independent artist who’s openly navigated music industry woes, Psalm One remains an essential in Midwest hip-hop.
SAULT
Since 2019, clandestine recording sessions with producer Inflo have assembled R&B, funk, and neo-soul collective Sault. While the members are unknown, the band has been celebrated for lyrically tackling racial tensions, political unrest, spirituality, and holism. Last year, a set of six EPs arrived from the UK group; AIIR, 10, 11, UNTITLED (God), Earth, and Today & Tomorrow.
Sunny War
Nashville-born blues, folk, and punk musician Sunny War is a modern troubadour. The singer-songwriter and guitarist’s rich timbre is a tribute to Black music revolutionaries, notably Nina Simone, who Sunny pays homage to on “Like Nina,” off her 2021 album Simple Syrup. Prepping forthcoming album Anarchist Gospel for March, which has been described as a “powerful statement of survival,” Sunny also hits the road for a nationwide tour beginning this month.
Noise-cancelling headphones are incredibly useful devices. They can sound out the noise to help you hear your music more clearly, focus while you study and even sleep better. To help you find the best noise canceling headphones for your needs and budget, we’ve created this buying guide.
Top products in this article
Best premium noise cancelling headphones: Apple AirPods Max, $500 (regularly $549)
Best sleep headphones: Bose SleepBuds II, $249
Best budget cancelling headphones: Soundcore by Anker Life noise-canceling headphones, $72 after coupon (reduced from $80)
With so many top headphone brands offering noise-canceling headphones now, it can be hard to decide which ones to buy. That’s why we’ve compiled the best noise-canceling headphones across different purposes, categories and budgets to help you find the noise-cancelling headphone that is best for you.
Keep reading to explore the best noise-canceling headphones in 2023.
Best budget noise cancelling headphones
Looking for the best best budget noise-cancelling headphones? Check out our selections for the best noise cancelling headphones.
Soundcore by Anker Life noise-canceling headphones
Amazon
These Soundcore by Anker Life headphones feature dual noise-detecting microphones that pick up and filter out up to 95% of low-frequency ambient noise. The Anker Soundcore Life headphones offer 40 hours of playback time on a single charge and feature ultra-soft leather earcups with memory foam padding for a pressure-free fit.
Soundcore by Anker Life noise-canceling headphones, $72 after coupon (reduced from $80)
JLab Studio Pro ANC Bluetooth wireless over-ear headphones
Amazon
These JLab Studio Pro noise canceling headphones offer 45 hours of wireless playtime. The headphones include cloud foam cushions around the ears, which are easily adjustable for a comfortable fit. They also have a built-in microphone with voice assistant for hands-free calling.
JLab Studio Pro Bluetooth wireless over-ear headphones, $99
JBL Tune 130NC noise-canceling wireless earbuds
Amazon
These JBL earbuds feature advanced noise-canceling technology for a solid price. You can connect the earbuds to the JBL app to activate noise-canceling or ambient-aware noise-canceling. They offer a 40-hour battery life without noise-canceling or 32 hours of battery life with noise-canceling engaged.
They are designed to offer JBL’s pure bass sound, though users can easily adjust the sound to fit their preferences in the app. The earbuds are also water-resistant and sweat-proof.
JBL Tune 130NC noise-canceling wireless earbuds, $50 (reduced from $100)
Best noise canceling headphones for sleeping in 2023
Noise-canceling headphones aren’t just for music; many people also use them while they’re sleeping. If your partner snores or you live in a loud area, noise-canceling headphones can help you get a better nights sleep.
Bose SleepBuds II
Amazon
Sleepbuds are headphones specifically designed for sleeping. They don’t stream music or podcasts like regular headphones. Instead, they deliver relaxing and noise-masking sounds to help you drown out snoring or other noises and sleep peacefully.
Bose SleepBuds II, $249
Kokoon Nightbuds sleep headphones
Kokoon
These uniquely designed sleep headphones fit snuggly in your ears to mask noise while you sleep. The sleep headphones feature special sensors that monitor your sleep and adapt the audio to your sleep.
Kokoon Nightbuds sleep headphones, $174 (reduced from $290)
Best Bose noise canceling headphones
Check out the best wireless noise-canceling headphones and earbuds from Bose.
Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II
Bose
Bose products are known for their excellent sound quality, and the new Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II are no exception. They claim to offer the world’s best active noise cancellation, and have a new CustomTune technology that auto-adjusts music to your ears’ liking. They also have an “aware mode” that pauses noise cancellation for when you need to hear your surroundings. These noise-cancelling earbuds are also water- and sweat-resistant, so you can wear them to the gym.
The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II offer six hours of battery life in a single charge and come with a charging case that holds three additional charges (24 hours of battery life in total). You can control music, answer calls and adjust the volume by simply tapping your earbuds instead of having to use your phone. These Bluetooth 5.3-compatible earbuds are available in black and soapstone colors.
Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II, $299
Bose QuietComfort 35 II wireless noise canceling headphones
Amazon
The Bose QuietComfort 35 II headphones feature three levels of noise cancelation, as well as a noise-rejecting microphone system for crisp call quality. The headphones maintain balanced audio performance at any volume level.
The Bose QuietComfort 45 noise-canceling headphones feature high-fidelity audio and 24-hour battery life. You can adjust bass, mid-range and treble levels via a downloadable smartphone app.
Amazon reviewers praise the 4.6-star-rated Bose QuietComfort 45 headphones for their sound quality. One verified reviewer stated that “the overall sound is full, rich and natural, as expected from Bose.”
On-ear or over-ear noise-canceling headphones are a popular option for those who use their headphones to workout, listen to music or study. They’re a bit too bulky to sleep in, but these stylish and functional headphones are great for blocking out noise.
Apple AirPods Max
Apple via Amazon
Apple AirPods Max use active noise-cancelation technology to block out unwanted noise and feature a transparency mode so you can hear what you need to. These headphones feature 20 hours of listening. They come in a variety of colors including blue, green, red and silver. They’re also compatible with Siri.
Apple AirPods Max, $500 (regularly $549)
Sony WH-1000XM5 noise cancelling headphones
Amazon
These over-ear noise-canceling headphones from Sony offer 30 hours of listening on a single charge, with quick charging that gives up to three hours of playback with three minutes of charge. They also offer one-touch NFC pairing and noise cancellation with ambient sound mode. The Sony WH-1000XM5 offer a sound upgrade over the prior model, the Sony WH-1000XM4.
Sony WH-1000XM5 noise cancelling headphones, $398
Beats Solo3
Beats
The on-ear Beats Solo3 may be a good fit for music fans looking for a pair of bright-sounding headphones, especially those partial to rock, folk and country tunes. These headphones support spatial audio for a more immersive listening experience, soft ear foams for comfort, and up to 40 hours of battery life on a single charge. They also feature noise-cancelation and Siri voice control.
Beats Solo3, $131 (reduced from $200)
Treblab over-ear noise-canceling headphones
Amazon
The Treblab over-ear workout headphones feature advanced active noise cancellation technology and great sound quality.They offer 35 hours of playtime per charge and recharge quickly.
One Amazon reviewer wrote, “I use these at the gym, and they’re perfect. They’re comfortable, hold a charge for a long time, have great sound, are lightweight, and stay snug on my head.”
Treblab over-ear workout headphones, $90 (reduced from $120)
Best wireless earbuds with noise cancelation in 2023
While the large over-ear noise cancelation headphones have been quite trendy, many people prefer noise canceling earbuds. Check out the top options below to find the best Apple AirPods for noise cancellation and the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 which are excellent wireless earbuds for android users.
Apple AirPods Pro 2
Apple
The latest Apple AirPods Pro 2 earbuds have an upgraded wireless chip for improved audio functionality, a new low distortion driver for clearer audio, touch controls and improved active noise cancellation. The Apple AirPods Pro 2 provide truly custom sound: You can use your iPhone’s camera to analyze your unique ear anatomy and find the perfect audio settings for you.
“I wear these to the gym every day and for running. I have never had an issue with them coming out, and they do an excellent job,” wrote one reviewer. “I love the option of switching between ANC and transparency modes.”
Apple AirPods Pro 2, $239 (reduced from $249)
Samsung Galaxy Buds2
Samsung
Samsung’s highly coveted earbuds, the Galaxy Buds2, make great workout earbuds. Featuring active noise cancelation and ambient sound passthrough, the lightweight Galaxy Buds2 are built for users with an active lifestyle.
One Amazon reviewer shared their experience with these earbuds: “I have no complaints with these at all. I wear them for runningand when I do chores around the house, and they have not disappointed me yet! These are well worth the price and I won’t go back to my other earbuds or headphones!”
Samsung Galaxy Buds2, $108 (reduced from $150)
Beats Studio Buds: $100
Amazon
These sweat-resistant earbuds are ideal for avid runners or gym enthusiasts. They offer two levels of noise-canceling; active noise canceling and transparency mode. Meanwhile, the IPX4 water resistance ensures they’re protected even when you’re sweating on them every day. They come in 5 colors, all of which are on sale for only $100 right now.
Beats Studio Buds, $100 (reduced from $150)
How to choose the right pair of headphones
If you’re not sure how to find the best headphones, we’ve got you covered with answers to your most common headphone shopping questions.
Are noise canceling headphones worth buying?
Noise canceling headphones can certainly be more expensive than standard headphones or earbuds, but they are certainly worth buying if you plan to make good use of the active noise-cancelation features. Noise cancelling headphones are great for limiting outside noise to help you focus while you work out, study, listen to a podcast or take a call. They’re also helpful for sleeping or for people that get overstimulated by a lot of noise.
How much do noise cancelation is best?
The best noise-canceling headphones offer 20-40db of noise cancellation. A higher number indicates greater noise cancellation.
What type of noise cancelation technology is best for sleeping?
If you want to get the best sleep possible, consider headphones with active noise cancellation (ANC). A great active noise-canceling earbuds and headphones are most effective at blocking out snoring and outside noise.
When Michael Grecco walked into punk clubs in Boston and New York in the ’70s he felt right at home amidst the raw energy and intensity of the music. He loved it so much that he became a self described “club kid” and a regular in the local punk scene.
But he was also a photographer, so he pointed his lens at the scene he saw emerging. He captured candid images of future icons like Billy Idol, The Clash, Dead Kennedys, Talking Heads, Sex Pistols, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Wendy O. Williams of the Plasmatics and others.
Many of those pictures are now staples in Grecco’s traveling “Days of Punk” exhibition, which is making its West Coast debut at the MOAH:CEDAR Art Gallery at the Cedar Center for the Arts in Lancaster Feb. 4-March 19.
“I want to show people a time and a culture that had historic significance, and I want people to be inspired by the work,” said the 64-year-old-photographer during a phone interview from his Santa Monica home.
The Clash in Boston in 1981 shot by photographer Michael Grecco. The picture is part of the “Days of Punk” exhibition, which is making its West Coast debut at the MOAH:CEDAR Art Gallery at the Cedar Center for the Arts in Lancaster Feb. 4-March 19. (Courtesy Michael Grecco Productions)
Musician Billy Idol poses for a portrait back stage one month after his debut solo album release of ‘Billy Idol’ in Boston, Massachusetts on August 01, 1982. The image was shot by photographer Michael Grecco. The picture is part of the “Days of Punk” exhibition, which is making its West Coast debut at the MOAH:CEDAR Art Gallery at the Cedar Center for the Arts in Lancaster Feb. 4-March 19. (Courtesy Michael Grecco Productions)
About 100 photographs, dating back to the late ‘70s through the early ‘90s, are featured in the exhibition, which started in 2021 in London. The pictures were originally part of Grecco’s 2020 book “Punk, Post Punk, New Wave: Onstage Backstage, In Your Face, 1978-1991.”
In addition to the photographs, the exhibition also includes ambient music created exclusively for “Days of Punk” by Roger Miller and Peter Prescott of the band Mission of Burma, and a video component that includes archival footage shot by Grecco during that punk rock era.
“We’re trying to put the patron who comes to see the show into that environment and to get a feel for the craziness and the music,” Grecco said.
The New York native began his professional career shooting for the Associated Press. Just before that, he was attending college in Boston and studying photojournalism when he found himself one night at a club called The Rathskeller, an intimate venue known to locals as The Rat.
“It was the CBGB of Boston, and I wandered in and just decided that I really loved this music, loved the whole acceptance of the culture, the energy of the music,” he said.
“So I had this parallel life, during the day I was an Associated Press freelancer and at night I was a club kid working for Boston Rock magazine and WBCN radio and always carrying a camera for access if I could and I just sort of shot the scene.”
The pictures he took included portraits of artists like a young Adam Ant in a black coat, sporting skull rings on each of his fingers and raising his fists toward the camera.
Another portrait, which is one of Grecco’s favorites from that time, is of Billy Idol, wearing a leather vest with no shirt and fingerless gloves, kneeling in a corner of a room in 1982 and posing for a portrait backstage, just a month after his debut solo album release.
“He was so young, we all were,” Grecco said. “I love his engagement, I love the way he’s dressed.”
The exhibition also includes action shots Grecco took during shows like an image of a shirtless Jello Biafra of Dead Kennedys crowd surfing on his back holding the mic up to his mouth as he sang at a Boston club in 1981.
Grecco pointed out that he had lost the negative of the original picture and a few years ago, someone on social media contacted him saying they had bought the picture at a yard sale.
“I convinced the guy to send it to my lab so we could scan the print,” he said.
The book, and later the exhibition, came together after Grecco pulled hundreds of pictures out of storage. With the help of an editor, they went through his collection, scanning about 650 images.
“I’m thrilled to have my work shown in a museum and a museum setting. It’s incredibly satisfying,” he said.
Days of Punk
When: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday and 11 a.m.- 8 p.m. Thursday-Sunday Feb. 4-March 19
Where: MOAH:CEDAR Art Gallery, 44857 Cedar Ave., Lancaster
Tickets: Free admission; For more information, call 661-723-6250 or go to moahcedar.org.
When Harry Styles and Beyoncé attend the Grammys on Sunday, they’ll be sharing the red carpet with artists often associated with hippies and cults. After a two-year push by over 400 musicians and record labels worldwide, the awards will for the first time recognise the ancient musical practice of chanting.
Hopefuls will be vying to make their mark in a renamed category: following a proposal to the Recording Academy, which is behind the awards, the Best New Age Album has become the Best New Age, Ambient or Chant Album.
As their names suggest, chant and ambient music stress tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure. Most commonly associated with prayer, chanting is one of the oldest forms of music in history and is inspired by cultures from across the world, from music found in Hindu, Sikh, Sufi and Yoruba traditions to Buddhist mantras and Jewish cantorials.
But it has also made its mark in the pop world: in 1971, George Harrison produced The Radha Krishna Temple album through The Beatles’ Apple records, which featured tracks including Srila Prabhupada’s “Hare Krishna Mantra”.
Until now, chant has never really been seen as “real” music. “There’s often a misperception of chanting as a cult activity. But singing is an ecstatic experience available to all”, says the Los Angeles musician Dave Stringer, who is Grammy-nominated for his album Mantra Americana, produced with Melbourne-based artist Madi Das. Some tracks, like “Boro Sukher”, have a distinct country feel: in fact, the mantra music magazine The Bhakti Beat described it as “Ancient Eastern meets contemporary instrumentation with a hint of banjo-driven country twang” or “Country & Eastern”.
Chant is often associated with the Hare Krishna movement, continues Stringer – and is dismissed because of this. “The Hare Krishna movement simultaneously taught everybody a mantra – Hare Rama, Hare Krishna – and inadvertently caused many people to kind of fear it as well,” he says. “It’s unfortunate, because the mantra itself refers to the spiritual potential in all of us, and the experience of chanting it can be extremely joyful.”
But the Grammys category shows the variety of the genre. Stringer and Madi Das will compete with LA band White Sun, who won a Grammy in 2017, and three other acts. All together, the music ranges across guitar instrumentals, singing and tracks that have a tranquil emphasis featuring synthesisers and flutes.
Their presence at the awards reflects how chant music’s audience is growing. It may have more acolytes in America than Britain at present, but “mantra music is alive and well in the UK: there are mantra lounges and kirtan [a style of call-and-response song] festivals connected with the Hare Krishna movement as well as outside yoga studios”, says Madi Das. One star of the British scene is Jahnavi Harrison, a kirtan artist who has collaborated with American star Willow Smith and recently embarked on her first US tour.
In a world increasingly interested in mindfulness, it makes sense that chant is finally having its moment. Studies are increasingly showing the psychological benefits of chanting and mantram repetition (MR), which is the practice of repeating a word or phrase traditionally associated with Hinduism, Buddhism or other spiritual traditions.
The benefits exist even when the chanting is done virtually. Research published in August involving undergraduate students from a Californian university being taught MR online found that the practice can help to relieve stress, anxiety and depression.
The Journal of American College Health study was conducted by Jill E Bormann, a former clinical professor in nursing and health science at the University of San Diego. She is a pioneer of what’s called the mantram repetition programme (MRP), which is believed to stimulate concentration and has been linked to a significant slowdown of one’s thinking, drowning out negative thoughts. She has used it to treat post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans, burnout in healthcare workers and family caregivers, and insomnia in homeless women.
“Over the past 20 years, the scientific community has begun to study complementary therapies more rigorously,” says Bormann, adding that chanting and MRP are part of a “huge area of research that has just exploded”.
Other research, published in 2021 by Australian academics including Dr Gemma Perry from Bond University found that online chanting “may be a useful psychosocial intervention, whether practiced individually or in a group”. Perry completed a PhD in its psychological effects last year.
She originally turned to the practice to help her cope with depression and argues that it may be a more accessible technique than mindfulness, which requires the participant to observe their own thought processes. “With chanting you don’t need to have any skills to engage, you just vocalise. So this could be effective in places like schools.”
The Grammys have certainly inspired chanting musicians to raise the genre’s profile further. “I have heard from chant artists who are now planning on submitting their music and applying to become a part of the Recording Academy, inspired by this change,” says Seán Johnson, the lead singer of New Orleans-based Seán Johnson & The Wild Lotus Band, whose music combines sacred global chants, rock and gospel.
Johnson was among those rallying other musicians to push for chanting to be acknowledged by the awards. Previously, he says, chanting and ambient music were lumped into the New Age Grammys category, despite some chant artists saying they felt uncomfortable with this description, as the term ignored their music’s history and culture.
Stringer is hoping that this will be chant’s year. “For the first time chant is included in the category – it does seem good and right that a chant album would win”.
But there are more important things than claiming the trophy. The key is that chant music is now being recognised along mainstream pop – and becoming more accessible. As Stringer says: “If we do win I hope it encourages more artists and audiences to seek out this music.”
The Grammy Awards take place in Los Angeles on Sunday
Following on from its trio of Bang speakers in 2022, Tronsmart has kicked-off 2023 by releasing an all-new party speaker: the Tronsmart Halo 100.
As is the case with most Chinese manufacturers, Tronsmart tends to undercut its competition with aggressive pricing and the Halo 100 is no exception, offering powerful audio, alluring LED lighting and a number of connectivity options for under £100.
Tronsmart Halo 100 review: What do you get for the money?
The Tronsmart Halo 100 is priced at £90 and is available via Amazon. It was released alongside the Tronsmart Halo 110, which is ostensibly the same speaker but has a microphone socket and includes a mic for karaoke. The Halo 100 operates wirelessly over Bluetooth 5.3 with codec support limited to SBC, which is understandable given its price.
Measuring 198 x 150 x 287mm (WDH) and weighing 2.72kg, it is larger and heavier than your average portable Bluetooth speakers – albeit, still marginally lighter and more compact than the four-star rated Tronsmart Bang. Like that model, the Halo 100 has a handle to make it easier to carry and is IPX6 rated for water resistance meaning it’s protected against powerful, multi-directional water jets.
The Halo 100’s speaker configuration is visible from its front, showcasing two mid-tweeters and a large woofer that together resemble an open-mouthed face. A smaller, less visible tweeter also sits above the ‘eyes’, while a 5.6in passive radiator hides behind the ‘mouth’. The design most closely resembles the Soundcore Rave Neo which is available for £40 more, however, the Halo 100 offers an additional 10W of power at 60W. For even greater oomph, there’s the JBL Boombox 2 (80W when plugged-in), Soundcore Motion Boom Plus (80W) or the JBL Xtreme 3 (100W), however, you’ll be paying between £80 and £150 more for that extra audio muscle.
The Halo 100 takes five and a half hours to fully charge and has a stated battery life of up to 18 hours, though this figure is impacted by how loud you’re playing your music and whether you’re using the LED lighting. The speaker’s USB-C charging port is located at the base of its rear alongside an impressive range of ports. There’s a 3.5mm input to support a wired connection, a TF card slot for playing externally stored files, and a USB-A port that supports flash drives while also enabling the speaker to function as a power bank.
LED lighting is found on the cone of the woofer and the two mid-tweeters, with the effects controlled via the Tronsmart app or simply turned on/off via a physical button on the crest of the speaker. Other physical controls for audio playback, stereo pairing with another Halo speaker, and activating Tronsmart’s proprietary equaliser mode, SoundPulse, are also found here. Four more EQ presets can be found in the Tronsmart app, along with a customisable five-band graphic equaliser.
Tronsmart Halo 100 review: What do we like about it?
Sound quality is key to the success of any speaker and I’m happy to report that the Tronsmart Halo 100 produces spectacular results for the money.
The deep, guttural bass on Amnesia Scanner’s industrial electronic track “AS Too Wrong” hit just right and made me want to push the volume up higher, while metallic and squeaky drum fills and alien vocals remained crisp and lively at higher volumes. Pushed to its limits, the Halo 100 almost proved too loud for my flat and moved the neighbours above me to ask what the commotion was about.
The way the Tronsmart app and its equaliser dovetail with the Halo 100 is pleasingly slick. It’s easy to switch between the various EQ presets – Default, Deep Bass, Rock, Classical, SoundPulse – and each distinctly alters the Halo 100’s default U-shaped sound signature. Its patented SoundPulse mode is the most universally useful, providing increased detail and volume, but the custom EQ is also effective at allowing you to create a profile tuned to your personal tastes.
It’s not all about the app, either. While the physical controls feel a little cheaply constructed, the amount of control offered by them is impressive, with 18 different functions in total. Double-tapping the play button to activate your device’s voice assistant is a particularly convenient one, with Siri, Cortana and Google Assistant all effectively answering queries. Unlike some speakers I’ve tested, responses are broadcast through the speaker so there’s no need to check your phone for written results either.
Likewise, the ability to switch between sources by simply pressing the mode button is very handy. Doing so allows you to cycle through the Bluetooth, TF/SD card, USB-A drive and AUX-in modes quickly and having such a range of playback options is very welcome. The lack of a digital display to view and select tracks on external storage is a little frustrating but is to be expected – incorporating one would push the price up considerably.
When connected to two devices simultaneously over Bluetooth, the Halo 100 will automatically switch to the device that’s playing audio, a nice touch given Bluetooth is likely to be the primary form of connection for most people.
Equally handy for a party, and one of the most appealing aspects of the Tronsmart Halo 100, is its LED lighting. While portable speakers like the LG XBOOM Go XG7 offer more impressive customisation choices, the effect produced pales in comparison. This is chiefly down to the size of the respective models: the larger frame of the Halo 100 allows for bigger lights with more impactful effects.
There are five LED modes to select from: Ballet, Party, City of Phantoms, Carousel and Starry Night. I won’t break down exactly what each does but my favourite was ‘Carousel’ mode, which sees sufficiently bassy beats change the colour of the dual mid-tweeter lights and increase the oscillation speed of the woofer light. The large LEDs are a practical design choice too, since the woofer light shows the current volume level as a percentage of its wheel shape when changed. Speakers that have a slim strip of lights, like the Tronsmart Bang, get nowhere close to matching the show on display here.
All of that functionality and fun is packaged into a build that, while not lightweight or luxurious, is carried fairly easily via its handle and is sufficiently waterproofed for use outdoors.
Tronsmart Halo 100 review: What could be improved?
Something that majorly impacted my day-to-day usage of the Tronsmart Halo 100 was the static noise it produces. It’s always there, but is typically masked by what you’re playing, assuming you have the volume above 25% and aren’t in very close proximity to the speaker.
However, its presence did limit when I used the Halo 100. I was less inclined to employ it for low-volume listening late at night or early in the morning, or when wanting to enjoy ambient music genres, podcasts or films since I found myself at best distracted and at worst irritated by the electrical hissing.
Since the Halo 100 is designed for loud partying, and performs well at this task, this shouldn’t be a massive concern for most buyers. But it does shape how you use the Halo 100 and limit its effectiveness as an all-round speaker.
Battery life is another agitation. After less than four hours of usage at 80% volume and lighting effects activated, the battery dropped to 50%. Within another four hours, the battery was dead. Eight hours of high-volume listening isn’t terrible for a speaker of this size and you can get closer to the stated figure of 18 hours by turning the LED lights off and dropping down the volume. But by doing so you’ll be missing out on the Halo 100’s most distinctive feature and 18 hours is still a figure bettered by a number of our favourite Bluetooth speakers.
The customisation of the Halo 100’s lighting effects could be improved to make the most of its large LEDs, too. Speakers such as the LG XBOOM Go XG7 let you create millions of colour combinations by selecting different hues and saturations from a colour wheel. The Halo 100’s preselected colour ranges feel a little restrictive by comparison. This is a minor criticism considering the presets offer a solid range of expressive patterns, but those looking to create a particular mood via specific colours might be a tad disappointed.
Tronsmart Halo 100 review: Should you buy one?
The Tronsmart Halo 100 is a speaker that attracts attention for the right reasons. Its roaring power will turn heads and keep their attention through sonic clarity and stunning lighting. The level of control and customisation it offers is impressive, as is the range of sources from which it can play audio. Throw in power bank capabilities and decent waterproofing and you’ve got yourself a well-rounded portable party speaker.
It’s not all good news, however. The static noise it produces makes it a poor choice for low-volume listening and battery life isn’t great if you’re making the most out of the Halo 100’s punchy delivery and eye-catching lights.
Forgive those ills and the Tronsmart Halo 100 is well worth considering for those seeking a powerful party speaker at a very reasonable price.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — It’s a funny thing when an ensemble dedicated to the new and unusual causes a feeling of nostalgia. But Kronos Quartet, which performed Sunday night at Universal Preservation Hall, has been going for almost 50 years. They were a key element in the avant garde, becoming fashionable and exciting during the mid- to late-80s, right there alongside Philip Glass and Laurie Anderson. They wore funky outfits, played weird pieces nobody knew and drew enthusiastic audiences.
Seeing the three original members arrive on stage not only stirred up memories of concerts from long ago but also brought to mind the sight of wrinkled and stooped rock stars still on the road and doing their thing. It feels good to report that Kronos hasn’t lost its touch.
The evening was anchored by a searing performance of Terry Riley’s “Cadenza on the Night Plain.” The half-hour long piece is one of many the composer has written for Kronos. Best known for his minimalist free for all “In C,” here Riley’s music is austere and controlled, spacious but dry. The generous solos for each player were performed with earnest concentration, while there were ensemble passages that appeared like dances in the desert. The performance confirmed Kronos as mature artists whose work with composers has resulted in music of lasting substance.
Kronos’ commissioning program provided material for the concert’s first half, which was more light and playful. The works by Peni Candra Rini, Aleksandra Vrebalov, Mazz Swift and Nicole Lizee functioned almost as a suite. They were episodic and loose and frequently invited extraneous sounds to join the party. Pre-recorded tracks of ambient noises and voices were also common. The most extravagant and also the tightest composition was Lizee’s “ZonelyHearts,” which came last. It included percussive use of dial up telephones, bowing on hard cover books, and striking the strings with flimsy rolls of paper.
When Kronos made its major label debut in 1986, the inclusion of Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” made a big impact and the song became a signature work for the group. It’s good to see the quartet still drawing from the rich well of rock and pop. After intermission came vibrant arrangements of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” as inspired by Jimi Hendrix, and Abel Meeropol’s “Strange Fruit” as made famous by Billy Holiday. Dear Kronos, long may you prosper.
Joseph Dalton is a freelance writer based in Troy.
In an incredible video, a Skyrim fan shows off their rendition of the city of Falkreath, recreated in Far Cry 5’s map editor.
A video posted online showcases an incredible rendition of Skyrim‘s Falkreath, recreated in Far Cry 5. Falkreath is one of the major cities seen in Skyrim, and it features in-game as the home of the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary.
This creation becomes the latest in a long line of fan homages to Bethesda’s iconic title. While some fans choose to honor Skyrim by creating items from the game in real life, others do so by completing crazy in-game challenges. One player even leveled every skill to 100 without ever leaving Whiterun. The game has left an undeniable cultural imprint on the gaming community, and brought the franchise into the mainstream upon its release in 2011.
GAMERANT VIDEO OF THE DAY
RELATED: Skyrim Fan Creates Blank Map of Game World
The short walkthrough through the town is gorgeous, showcasing every detail from Far Cry 5‘s map editor to display Falkreath in all its glory. The player tours past every building in the town, and stops to show off the mountains looming over the beautiful town. To add to the atmosphere further, the player includes classic Skyrim ambient music that gives the recreation a sense of authenticity. Falkreath is one of the most flora-heavy places in Skyrim, and it benefits this creation massively. Far Cry 5‘s engine does greenery extremely well, and it brings Falkreath to life in a way that isn’t possible in Skyrim‘s dated engine. The versatility of the Far Cry 5 map editor is extremely impressive, with a player even recreating Lord of the Rings’ Helm’s Deep in the engine.
Recreations of Skyrim‘s locations in Far Cry 5 are becoming a specialty of YouTuber Mojo Swoptops, after they previously recreated Riverwood in the Ubisoft title. In the description, the fan claims that the creation took six hours to build, which is dedication to recreating one of the smallest cities in Skyrim. It’s unknown how much more of Skyrim the fan is planning to rebuild in Far Cry 5. To rebuild the full game would be a behemoth task, almost impossible for one person. However, fans will enjoy each slice of Skyrim‘s world as and when it arrives.
Creations like this still popping up in 2023 show how the desire for more Elder Scrolls continues to endure in the gaming community. The modding community has taken Skyrim far, helping to keep the game active to this day. Some of the graphics mods available for Skyrim can even make the game look as though it was released recently. But long-term, there’s no substitute for The Elder Scrolls 6. While news on that front has been scarce for some time, it’s hoped that Bethesda’s release of Starfield later this year will accelerate development.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is available now for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE: Iconic Skyrim NPCs Who Should Return In The Elder Scrolls 6
Geez, it’s the end of January already? That was fast. And furious — at least in terms of new music. Thankfully, things seem to be slowing down a tad next week. There’s just one massive release on the way: Shania Twain’s Queen Of Me. That’s the last you’ll hear of that around here. I’ve got other fish to fry — like these upcoming releases:
Brian Jonestown Massacre Your Future Is Your Past
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Anton Newcombe — frontman, songwriter, composer, studio owner, multi-instrumentalist, producer, engineer, father, force of nature — returns with the Brian Jonestown Massacre’s 20th full-length studio album Your Future Is Your Past. After a hugely prolific 2010s that saw the release of eight long-players and one mini-album, Newcombe had been going through a period of writer’s block when one day he picked up his 12-string guitar and The Real (the opening track on previous album Fire Doesn’t Grow On Trees) came out of him. Like the kraken, it was as if he’d summoned it. “All of a sudden, I just heard something,” he says. “And then it just didn’t stop. We tracked a whole song every single day for 70 days in a row.” By the end of it they had two albums ready to go. Joining Newcombe in the studio for The Future Is Your Past were Hakon Adalsteinsson (guitar) and Uri Rennert (drums). “Nobody can stop me, I’m not asking somebody, I’m not making the rounds at Warners, saying ‘please put out my record!’. It’s just for me,” he says. He hopes he can be an inspiration to others. “I would love to see more groups, people playing music in the UK and everywhere else because I really enjoy it. That’s the only reason I need. It’s the only reason to do stuff.” That hits to the core of what makes Newcombe and Brian Jonestown Massacre tick in 2022. He’ll keep jumping in that fire. That’s how he rolls. Savour it.
John Frusciante .I: / :II.
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “There are two versions of this album,” says John Frusciante. “The CD version is pronounced Two and called : I I . This is the longer version. The vinyl version is pronounced One, and called . I : This version is shorter, but contains one vinyl-only track. The reason the vinyl is shorter is that some of the tracks have sounds that can not be pressed on vinyl. After a year and a half writing and recording rock music, I needed to clear my head. I listened to and made music where things generally happen gradually rather than suddenly. I would set up patches on a Monomachine or Analog Four and listen to them, hearing one sound morph into others, making changes to a patch only after having listened for quite a while, gradually adding elements, and finally manipulating the sounds on the fly. All tracks were recorded live to CD burner, with no overdubs, and executed on one or two machines. While I was almost exclusively listening to artists such as Chris Watson, Peter Rehberg, Bernard Parmegiani, CM Von Hausswolff, Jana Winderen, Oren Ambarchi, Hazard, Bruce Gilbert, Klara Lewis, Ryoji Ikeda and so on, I was also inspired by my mental image of John Lennon’s tape and Mellotron experiments he made at home during his time in The Beatles, as well as events like the first minute of David Bowie’s Station To Station, …And The Gods Made Love by Jimi Hendrix, the synths in the song Mass Production by Iggy Pop, and the general idea of Eno’s initial concept of ambient music.”
The Go! Team Get Up Sequences Part Two
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Over their six albums, The Go! Team have taken sonic day trips to other lands, musically dipping into other cultures. But now on this, their seventh. They’ve bought a round-the-world ticket. Benin, Japan, France, India, Texas and Detroit were all stops along the way. Wildly different voices from wildly different cultures side by side but all still sounding unmistakably Go! Team. Setting the course for a kaleidoscopic, cable access, channel hop. Picking up from 2021’s Get Up Sequences Part One, Part Two continues the feeling of Technicolour overload. A feeling that there is so much good shit out there that you are grabbing it all at the same time. The record is saying: Look at this. Look at this. When you listen to it I just want the saturation of the world to be turned up. Simultaneously messy and tight, chaotic and coherent both albums have an obsession with the power of a bassline and a backbeat. “For me each successive Go! Team record just gets fucking groovier and for me grooviness is life”, founder Ian Parton says. It’s a journey spanning Cyclone Tracey wig-outs, chroma key sitar psychedelia, Casiotone anthems, spoken word melodrama and kalimba callouts. Brill building melodies lead into musical handbrake turns, four track into panoramic.”
The Men New York City
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “When everyone left N.Y.C., the sewer opened and we crawled out.” Prolific Brooklyn institution The Men return with their ninth studio album New York City. Arriving following 2020’s Mercy, the new LP marks a return to the more scuzzy and abrasive rock ploughed over their decade and a half spent coursing through the grimy sewers of N.Y.C. Here, nocturnal proto-punk meets a timeless, all-guns-blazing rock ’n’ roll gusto. That the album leans into a more primitive, back-to-basics sound owes largely to the way in which was forged, an earlier version of the record scrapped in favour of four people playing in a room together. “The New York City album was revised, reorganized and shaped until it became clear that things fall into place like the hammer driving the nail or the scythe’s swipe through the tall grass,” they say. The result is a series of cuts played live and recorded to 2″ tape in Travis Harrison’s (Guided By Voices, Built To Spill) Brooklyn studio.
M(h)aol Attachment Styles
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Irish intersectional feminist five-piece M(h)aol have announced their debut album Attachment Styles. Following the release of their debut EP Gender Studies, the band hit the ground running in 2022. Gaining a reputation as one of the most sought after live bands of the summer, M(h)aol performed at Primavera, Green Man, Latitude and End Of The Road, toured Europe with Gilla Band and Shellac and more. Based between Dublin, London, and Bristol, M(h)aol (pronounced male) are formed of Róisín Nic Ghearailt (she/her), Constance Keane (she/her), Jamie Hyland (she/her), Zoë Greenway (she/her) and Sean Nolan (he/him). Attachment Styles is a record about social connection, queerness and healing. When Róisín was writing the lyrics, she used the theory of attachment styles as an overarching theme which is a theory that looks at the impact our inter-familial relationships and society have on how we relate to one another.”
Smashing Pumpkins Atum: Act 2
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Smashing Pumpkins’ 12th studio album is a three-act rock opera album titled Atum (Autumn). It will feature 33 tracks and is the sequel to 1995’s Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and 2000’s Machina/Machine of God. Atum was written and produced by Billy Corgan over the past four years. The album tells an epic interplanetary story set in the not-too-distant future, though the songs themselves respectively stand on their own in the Pumpkins pantheon. This is the final instalment in a concept album trilogy that began with 1995’s Melllon Collie and then continued with 2000’s Machina. The album features three original members of the band — Corgan, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin — as well as longtime guitarist Jeff Schroeder. Corgan had been developing the idea for the rock opera for years, and the pandemic gave him the time off the road to meticulously complete it in the grandiose way he had intended.”
