jasenlex:

ISOLATED COMIC BOOK PANEL #1848
title: ROCCO VARGAS - P116:5
artist: DANIEL TORRES
year: 1987

Kesha is officially back. The beloved pop star has returned with her first proper release in years with “Praying,” a moving piano ballad that has also arrived with a visually-arresting video. Watch it above.

This song also arrives with the news that it will serve as the lead single off Kesha’s upcoming album Rainbow, her first since 2012’s Warrior. She has, of course, been much maligned in her career by the highly-publicized legal battle with her former manager Dr. Luke. This process is referred to quite openly in “Praying,” with the singer acknowledging the extreme emotional trauma of the situation.

Rainbow will feature a wide variety of collaborations, ranging from a Dolly Parton guest spot to production work from the likes of Ben Folds and Eagles of Death Metal. It will arrive on August 12 via Kemosabe Records / RCA.

Revisit “Die Young” below.

In other music news, SZA has announced a national tour in support of her debut album ‘Ctrl.’ See all the dates right here.

comicbookvault:

Wolverine vs. Lady Deathstrike
UNCANNY X-MEN #205 (May 1986)
Art by Barry Windsor-Smith
Story by Chris Claremont & Barry Windsor-Smith

Nicholas V. Sanchez’s Sketchbook Ink Drawings.

Talented artist Nicholas V. Sanchez has an incredible ability at sketching realistic recreations of classical art, portraits and animals with just ballpoint pens in his Moleskine notebooks.  If you love these, don’t miss his paintings.

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Via Colossal <3

With the release of Lorde 's Melodrama in June, we should have known this was going to definitely be the summer of the female vocalists.

What has appropriately followed suit is new music from women across the map. Among these is Katie Crutchfield who returns with another chapter in her Waxahatchee book, which began in 2011. After an attempt at playing with her sister Allison in a little punk band called P.S. Eliot , Katie instead started her own D.I.Y. project, entitled after the name of a lake close to her parents' house in Alabama. Waxahatchee was born out of a broken heart and some time needed to reflect and recoup, which compiled into her debut American Weekend by 2012.

Over the past five years, Waxahatchee has become synonymous with confessional, lo-fi tracks that entice a listener as much as they break their heart. They have always been moody and they have explored different ways of doing so with each record. With 2015's Ivy Tripp , listeners thought they had heard the most intimate corners of Crutchfield's mind. It was quiet, it was held back, and it was a project she worked on in a house in Long Island almost exclusively with then boyfriend and live drummer Keith Spencer. However, Crutchfield admitted that she held back on the record, hiding a little from everyone, including herself.

Out in the Storm rectifies all of those secrets and has Crutchfield owning her voice, her sound, and her emotions in a way we've never heard before. And when you hear it, you will instantly love it, and likely even relate to it.

From the first angry, striking guitar chords on the opening track "Never Been Wrong" (also a single from the album), Crutchfield's voice is more powerful than we've ever heard before as she owns having taken part in a bad relationship but being able to break free from it now. It's courageous and so, so strong in a way Crutchfield has undeniably always had within her but only felt ready to release now. She's authoritative in calling someone out on their faults, just like she is in mentioning her own.

This powerful hold over the album is a trademark throughout. It's also a place for powerful women to shine in general. Sleater-Kinney's Katie Harkin lends her talents on guitar throughout the album. This combination of strong women make tell-off, confessional tracks feel like the new, feminist take on the messages behind " We're Not Gonna Take It ."

In its entirety, Out in the Storm is a truly, flawless delight. It would be difficult to pull out tracks that are favorites without some feeling left out. Other single "Silver" is another claim to taking back your rights. It's also the inspiration for the album's title. Crutchfield sings, " I went out in a storm and I'm never returning ," which feels like her moment of revelation. Combined with some killer guitar riffs, prepare to crank this jam and jump up and down on your bed with your girlfriends, Crutchfield has also stated that writing the album took her back to being a teenager, that sort of fearlessness where she can openly speaking her mind. Whatever it is, it works.

"Sparks Fly" is another anthem for embracing the parts of you that make you exactly who you are. " I'm a live wire, electrified ," Crutchfield sings in the chorus as she notes adventures in traveling and realizing, even in times when she's felt down, she's never really been alone. She's letting go, and appropriately, the song allows her room to declare all of this before growing and crashing like waves after she's had her say. It's reminiscent, but it isn't sad.

Even in places where it wanders musically, trying out various sounds like on the ballad turned rock anthem "Recite Remorse," it occupies your attention. This is mainly due to Crutchfield's work as a lyricist. She had undoubtedly put the work in here to be vulnerable, to admit to her faults and to mistakes she's made. But instead of hiding from them, she wants us to understand what happened. In the world of femme-power rock, "A Little More" also might feel lost, but because of, again, its ability to show there isn't always all bad in something not exactly perfect (its depiction of losing your reality in the middle of a love affair is remarkable) matches it up to the rest of the diaristic tone Out in the Storm explores.

In short: this album is not good, it's beyond that.

The album is defiant, female rock music in its most powerful form. It may have taken Crutchfield four tries to get to the place where she wants to be with her music, but the journey was well worth the weight. Out in the Storm is the underground equivalent to Melodrama , an honest depiction and declaration of women's feelings and desire to be heard and understood in the world. However, I have a feeling once word gets out, it won't be considered lesser known for very long — nor, frankly, should it be.

Out in the Storm is out July 14 on Merge Records .

Follow Waxahatchee on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram .

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Rachel A.G. Gilman is a writer, a radio producer, and probably the girl wearing the Kinks shirt. Follow her on Twitter .

Nosego’s “Ingress” at Thinkspace Gallery.

Opening on Saturday July 8th, 2017 at Thinkspace Gallery in Culver City, California is artist Nosego’s sensational solo exhibition of brand new, incredible work entitled “Ingress.”

Philadelphia-based Nosego, real name Yis Goodwin, is a world renown painter and muralist whose work shines with otherworldly beauty and depth.  Personifying animals and visually describing their souls as imaginative landscapes, Yis is able to concoct aesthetic treasures rarely matched where each hints at the vulnerability of nature but also its unrivaled power and will to survive.

“Ingress” will be on view until July 29th, 2017 and should absolutely be seen in person at all costs.

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This "fuck it" style of songwriting, a willingness to grapple with big things, is a large part of what makes Somersault so compelling.

The music video for "Sugar," the sixth track off of Beach Fossils' recent record Somersault , opens with the trio (composed of frontman Dustin Payseur, Tommy Gardner, and Jack Doyle Smith) rolling backwards on skateboards on a New York sidewalk. The camera comes closer and closer, into an isolated shot of Payseur alone - frowning and unflinching.

The video then cuts to the band whizzing across the streets of Brooklyn on the boards, which were made in a collaboration with Habitat Skateboards . The video is a love letter to New York, we watch them on a sunny day in the city as they pass brownstones, through parks, and alongside the J Train. They're dicking around - dunking on a basketball courts and playfully flipping each other off - until the final shot. They're off of their boards and it's night time, their backs turned to Manhattan, and they are no longer smiling. It's a video of three young guys having fun in New York caught between images of loneliness - darkness and its escape.

Payseur was surprised when I told him that Somersault felt darker to me than their earlier records, and asked if I meant that musically or lyrically. I told him that I thought so lyrically, and after a pause he responded saying, "huh, okay. I guess for a while the earlier stuff was like escapism from depression - just like, you know, kind of like being a time capsule for what's enjoyable, I guess. And with this one it just started out coming out kind of sad - and I was just like fuck it, this is just how I feel, I wanna write about how I feel, I'm not gonna fake it."

This "fuck it" style of songwriting, a willingness to grapple with big things, is a large part of what makes Somersault so compelling. In "Saint Ivy," the album's third track, Payseur tries unsuccessfully to find something larger to cling to, with the second verse saying "How to find a reason / television and another headline / don't believe in Jesus / heaven knows I'm wasting my time / Wanna believe in America / But it's somewhere I can't find." In "Down the Line," the album's ninth track, Payseur sings of self loathing and feeling like he's losing his mind. In the final track on the album, "That's All for Now," Payseur sings of the relatable experience of coming back down after a day of fun - "That's all for now / Nights that we forgot / Everyone wants / But I woke up back again."

That's not to say that there aren't still remnants of the sunny, beachy escapism of their earlier records like their 2010 self titled or their 2011 follow up What a Pleasure . We get this first in the album's opening track, "This Year." "This Year" starts with the same upbeat, enchanting guitar hook and sparse vocals of some of their earlier records. The song builds nicely in the chorus with Gardner's drumming.

Somersault is in many ways the most mature album put out thus far by Beach Fossils, which I learned about in a recent call I had with the band. Payseur told me about how as a teenager he always had skateboards designed by bands he listened to, making the collaboration with Habitat a true achievement.

In Somersault Beach Fossils experiment with new musical styles and arrangements, which I discussed with Gardner and Doyle Smith. The album was created by building and layering melodies and arrangements - often starting with one core idea and then building outwards.

The album cover - a white square with a Beach Fossils logo in red at the top right corner - is the first of the band's album covers to not be in black and white. Payseur explained this by saying - "I went to the Natural History Museum and was looking at Chinese artworks where the artist would always put their stamp on it in red. I really liked the texture and the color of it, and that idea sparked the design for the cover."

Somersault is also the first Beach Fossils album to be released on Bayonet Records - a record label co owned by Payseur and his wife Katie Garcia. On releasing an album on his own label, Payseur remarked that, "it's always been a big goal of mine. It's nice because I don't work well with pressure, and I have a problem with authority figures - even if it's just with a label that's really nice to me."

Somersault , the first Beach Fossils record in four years, was well worth the wait. The music and lyrics of the album are a great achievement, which are much in part due to Payseur's departure from lyrical escapism, and the wiggle room provided from working for your own label. And what's next for Beach Fossils? Lots of touring - the dates of which are available on their website

Somersault

Since his breakout a few years ago, Boogie has consistently combined powerful song concepts with compelling visuals (like last year’s “N*gga Needs,” which even got a rare co-sign from Rihanna), and his latest offering doesn’t buck the trend. Teaming up with directors Ricky + China, the Compton rapper delivers a simple yet stirring video that captures the complicated nature of relationships; the internal conflict of knowing you need to move on but not being able to let go (“three mixtapes in, still talking about the same person”).

“Won’t Be the Same” is taken from Boogie’s must-listen mixtape, Thirst 48 Pt. II.

Watch below…

Related: New Video: Boogie Feat. Dana Williams “Sunroof”

Andrew Ross MacLean, Illustrations.

Love, love, love the work of Illustrator Andrew Ross MacLean (That’s a link to his Tumblr, yall) who lives and works in Massachusetts.

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marvel1980s:

Cloak and Dagger by June Brigman - Marvel Fanfare #54

Mike Giant’s “Notes from the High Ground” at ATAK Gallery.

Opening on Saturday, June 10th, 2017 at ATAK Gallery in San Francisco, California is artist Mike Giant’s excellent “Notes from the High Ground.”

Referencing his life of five years living in the high plains of the southwest United States through his iconic illustration style and annotation, “Notes from the High Ground” allows an intimately personal view into the mind and dreams of Giant, an artist I consider to be one of Contemporary Art’s most important.

“Notes from the High Ground” will be on view throughout June and should be absolutely be viewed in person.

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Das holländische Radio NPO hat eine eigene Instanz von Christopher Hesses Pix2Pix auf 'nem Server installiert und dort kann man nun, wie schon mit Hesses Katzen-Compositing-Browsertoy, mit den „Trainingsdaten“ eines Neural Networks seltsame Dinge malen, nur diesmal mit Menschen.

Hier Frau May und Herr Corbyn von Cyriak:

Leider ist die Implementierung eher mau. Der Sender trainierte sein Pix2pix-Model mit grade mal drei Bildern (Profil, Halbprofil und Frontalansicht) und dementsprechend unflexibel ist das ganze Browsertoy. Das Neural Network hat mit diesen Grundlagen keine Ahnung, „wie ein Mensch aussieht“, sondern grade mal so eine viertel Ahnung davon, wie die holländische Reporterin aussieht, die in den Portrait-Aufnahmen zu sehen ist. (Man vergleiche alleine die Anzahl der unterschiedlichen Augen, die Hesses Toy ausspuckt mit derer des Radiosenders.)

Man malt also weniger mit „maschinen-abstrahierten ästhetischen Merkmalen des Menschen“ sondern mit „maschinen-abstrahierten, ästhetischen Merkmalen von Frau Dingsbums in einer ganz bestimmten Haltung“. Aber na gut. Solange ich mit Menschenfleisch malen kann, nehme ich, was ich kriege. Mehr Flesh auf Twitter unter dem Hashtag #fotogenerator.

Hier ein paar meiner Experimente:

It’s really nothing new for a musician to hit viral status thanks to an over-the-top video. In following the likes of Rich Chigga, Lil Dicky and many others before them, meet Matt Ox.

Matt is an 11-year-old rapper from Philadelphia who has recently gained attention, not only because he’s a young trap artist, but thanks to videos like his most recent for “Overwhelming” — which follows up on “This N That” —  that just so happens to showcase the latest craze: fidget spinners.

Lately, we’ve been seeing these things absolutely everywhere, so why wouldn’t a music industry hopeful utilize such a phenomenon to help launch his own career?

In addition to playing with fidget spinners, Ox can be seen paling around with his pre-teen friends and riding dirt bikes throughout the Pipus & Kendra-directed aesthetic.

Press play above to check it out, then be sure to let us know what you think of the clip.

Drizzle-soaked Welsh county and card game of tavern scoundrels, Gwent [official site], is now in open beta. Originally an in-game pastime from The Witcher 3, developers CD Projekt RED are casting it out into the world to see if it can survive on its own with naught but a pair of free-to-play clogs. It involves pitting your fightcards against the enemy’s fightcards on a wooden battlefield and borrows at least some ideas from the card game of sublime Italian cowardice Condottiere. But if you’re unfamiliar, we have a trailer below which explains it much better.
… [visit site to read more]

Oooh! The Castlevania animated series Netflix commissioned now has a trailer. That means we have our first look at the Warren Ellis-penned adaptation (although there is more than half a minute of preamble and sneaking in refs to other Netflix shows – GET TO THE POINT! AND BY POINT I MEAN THE POINT OF THE STAKE BECAUSE DRACULA): … [visit site to read more]

Awesome shirt is awesome. Goes smoothly together with the Nothing is real-Hat, I guess.

I find this far funnier than I should:

[update] It's from a Kimmel-Segment last night:

Are they dating or not? Despite being spotted together at various outings this year, Cardi B and Offset have kept quiet on the status of their relationship. The voluptuous rapper and Migos member now return with Mazi O.-directed video, “Lick.” Inspired by Oceans 11, Cardi and Offset hit the casino crap tables, while the former VH1 star pulls off a big-time heist.

“Lick” is off Cardi B’s Gangsta Bitch Vol. 2 project. Watch below.

Continue after the jump….

Premiered by FADER

Previously: 2 Chainz & Cardi B – Pretty Girls… Playlist

Penélope Cruz is serving up her version of ’90s Donatella drag and we are definitely here for it.

 

Slay, mama.

We have to admit, we burst out laughing at the attempt. She’s fabulous and on point, and we are OBVIOUSLY going to be all over this show when it comes out, but let’s face it, this is a rather flattering version of the real thing, no? Miss Penelope’s just a skosh more movie-star gorgeous… and we’ll leave it at that.

 

 

 

[Photo Credit: INSTARimages.com]

• Movie Set
• On Set
• Penelope Cruz
• Versace: American Crime Story

The post Penélope Cruz as Donatella Versace on the Set of “Versace: American Crime Story” appeared first on Tom + Lorenzo.

Iggy Azalea is prepping to drop her new album
Digital Distortion later this year. After showing off her assets and twerking skills in “Mo Bounce,” the blonde bombshell returns with her new single “Switch.” The feel-good upbeat track features Brazilian pop singer Anitta, and the two joined forces to film the song’s rump shaking music video.

“Switch” is available now in select international markets like New Zealand, before it arrives on all streaming platforms and iTunes at midnight. Releasing via Def Jam Records, Digital Distortion is set to feature appearances by YG, Jeremih and Lil’ Uzi Vert.

Listen to “Switch” below.

Continue after the jump….

New Music: Iggy Azalea Feat. Anitta – “Switch”

Had so much fun filming the #Switch music video this week & I can't wait for everyone to hear the song May 19th #SneakPeek

A post shared by Iggy Azalea (@thenewclassic) on May 13, 2017 at 2:47pm PDT

Previously:
Iggy Azalea – “Mo Bounce” (Video)
Iggy Azalea Feat. Lil Uzi Vert – “Can’t Lose”

Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang's original Netflix series, "Master of None," has quickly emerged as not only one of the best comedies on television but also one of the most poignant. If you've somehow made it through both seasons one and two of the show without seeing something incredibly relatable, or ...

Continue reading

Chiba Kotaro, Recent Work.

Incredible and endlessly fascinating recent illustrations by Chiba Kotaro (Previously on Supersonic Art).

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Marilyn Manson showcases his acting chops once more in the latest trailer for crime action thriller Let Me Make You a Martyr.

The film tells the story of an adopted sister and brother duo who scheme to kill their abusive father. Once their father is made aware of the plan, he then orders a hitman (Manson) to resolve the problem. In the teaser above, the shock rocker can be seen providing a wholly unsettling rendition of a gospel song to an unnamed man, and from there, things only get more sinister.

Manson has already demonstrated his thespian prowess on TV shows like Eastbound and Down, Californication and Sons of Anarchy. You can catch him in the film at select screenings below:

05/25 – Tulsa, Oklahoma. @ Circle Cinema  (two-week run)
05/27 – Austin, Texas @ Alamo Drafthouse (two-week run)
06/05 – Los Angeles, California. @ Sunset 5 Cinema (one night only)
06/09 – Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Anthology Film Archives

Once you’re done watching the trailer, click here to find some hidden Netflix gems.

Knowledge Waits is a feature where I just share some bit of comic book history that interests me.

One of the things that has mostly gone by the wayside in comic book writing is that few writers try to write the Hulk like they used to (well, obviously, no one CURRENTLY writes the Hulk, because he’s dead, but you know what I mean). Gone is the days of “Puny humans, leave Hulk alone!”

Anyhow, back in those days, the Hulk was famous for the short nicknames that he would give hie “teammates” (quotes because the Defenders were a non-team team) in the Defenders. I’ll try to list as many as I can…

DOCTOR STRANGE = Magician or Dumb Magician

Just “Magician” was first in “Defenders” #2 (after calling him just “Doctor Strange” at first)…

then it became the more specific DUMB Magician…

NAMOR = Fish-Man

This was a go-to for the Hulk…

SILVER SURFER = Silver One and Shiny Face

He didn’t seem to have a consistent one for Silver Surfer…

VALKYRIE = Girl and then Sword-Girl

This was a weird one for many years. Just girl!

Later, when Hellcat also joined, Hulk HAD to come up with a new nickname for Valkyrie, so he went with Sword-Girl…

HAWKEYE = Purple man

Short-lived teammate, Hawkeye, was also “Stick Man.”

NIGHTHAWK = Bird-Nose

Long-time teammate, Nighthawk, got Bird-Nose right away…

It stuck, even when his costume changed to his more familiar look…

HELLCAT = Cat-Girl

Another longtime Defender, Hellcat, got the Cat-Girl nickname from Hulk very quickly…

MOON KNIGHT – Moon Man

Moon Knight was really only briefly a Defender, but long enough to count!

I don’t believe that the Hulk ever came up with a nickname for Hellstrom or Gargoyle, but I could be wrong! Feel free to write in with some nicknames that we missed!

If anyone else has a cool piece of comic book history that they’d like to see featured, feel free to drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!

The post Hulk’s Nicknames for His Defenders Teammates appeared first on CBR.

 

 

And we mean REALLY loves it:

 

Oh, honey. Never part the curtain on your legs. Not unless you have fanfare music on standby and you plan on saying “PREEEEEEESENTING… MY CROTCH!” like an old-timey ringmaster.

 

 

That is a whole hell of a lot of gold. And listen, you’d be hard-pressed to find two queens who love a sequin more than these two. But for whatever reasons, this isn’t really setting us on fire. To our eyes, that’s a very yellow, brassy gold, which is making it a bit less fabulous than we’d like. We’re not feeling the sheer flimsiness of the skirt, but that could have a lot to do with how she’s presenting it. And gold shoes with a gold dress is rarely ever a good idea. It’s almost always too much and you almost always risk going out with clashing golds, which is a fate we would only wish on our worst enemies. But she’s clearly feeling it, so maybe we should just get the hell over ourselves.

Still, doesn’t this seem like a lot for a semi-basic premiere?

 

 

 

 

Is it us, or does that trailer basically give you the whole movie?

 

Style Credits:
Vivienne Westwood Strapless Couture Gown in Deep Gold Lace with Rose Sequin Embellishment

 

[Photo Credit: Sara De Boer/startraksphoto.com, Vince Flores/startraksphoto.com – Video Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures via YouTube.com]

• Movie Premiere
• Red Carpet
• Rosario Dawson
• Unforgettable
• Vivienne Westwood
• Vivienne Westwood Couture

The post Rosario Dawson LOVES Her Dress at the “Unforgettable” Los Angeles Premiere appeared first on Tom + Lorenzo.

Rafael Varona’s “Impossible Bottles.”

A marvelous ongoing series by artist Rafael Varona entitled “Impossible Bottles” which involves animated, lively worlds encapsulated in bottles for us to gaze upon.

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