Beverly Glenn-Copeland has announced a new album, Laughter in Summer. Out February 6, 2026, via Transgressive, the follow-up to 2023’s The Ones Ahead is a collaboration between the musician and his partner, Elizabeth Copeland, who produced the album. A pair of new songs, “Children’s Anthem” and “Let Us Dance (Movement One),” accompany the announcement. Listen to those below.
The couple said in a joint statement, “‘Let Us Dance’ holds deep personal meaning for us as a couple, and it’s one of our most favorite songs to perform together. It’s a gentle reminder that life invites us to embody joy through movement, no matter the circumstances, no matter how difficult the path.” The song, they added, is “raw and honest—much the way we live our lives now.”
The second single, “Children’s Anthem,” is one of the pair’s first collaborations, written in 2007 for an anti-bullying conference and revived, with a fresh arrangement, for the new version, which they dedicate to their granddaughter. “We hope it will serve as a rally cry to support and protect all the children of the world,” the couple said. “At a time when violence has become endemic, this song and its message is more critical than ever.”
The couple describes the album as a love letter to one another, created in the time since Beverly Glenn-Copeland was diagnosed with dementia. The title came to Elizabeth one day when Glenn played her a song from a series of instrumentals he was working on called Songs With No Words, meant for listeners to write their own lyrics. The phrase “laughter in summer, how I remember” struck her. “It was a very painful time,” she said in press materials, “because I was so aware of just how much of my sweetheart I was losing.”
There are a lot of ways to be loud and annoying. For example, there’s snoring—a timeless classic that is not only loud, but also deprives you and others of sleep, killing two very depressing birds with one stone. Then there are more vestigial and niche forms of being obnoxious, like yodeling, which, if done outside of the Swiss Alps, feels like more of a cry for attention than anything else.
But those are nothing when you enter Bluetooth speakers into the equation. In the year of our lord, 2025, thanks to Bluetooth connectivity and LTE, there are hundreds of ways to be loud and annoying, and a lot of them will cost you. You’ve got premium options like Bose’s SoundLink Plus, which bring style and finesse to the Bluetooth speaker game, and then there are more rugged options like the Soundcore Boom 3i that you can literally throw in a pool. But what if style, durability, or even sound aren’t your top priority? What if you’re looking for a small way to sound reallybig? Well, if that’s your jam, JBL’s $100 Grip might have just what you need.
JBL Grip
The JBL Grip is a portable Bluetooth speaker with more volume than you’d expect.
Very tiny
Still a big sound!
Customizable lights are fun
Slightly expensive for what you get
Sound is just okay
The tall boy of Bluetooth speakers
When I first saw JBL’s Grip, I dubbed it the “tall boy of Bluetooth speakers,” and now, having held the Grip in my hand and having laid eyes on it for myself… I stand by that claim. The Grip is all about the size, which in this case, is similar to a “can of seltzer” according to JBL, or if you’re a hoodlum like me, then a tall boy. For proof of its tall boy-ness, I put the Grip side-by-side with a can that equals one pint. Here’s the Grip next to a Narragansett for your viewing pleasure:
While the Grip resembles a tall boy in size, it actually weighs less—this speaker is only 385g, which makes it both lightweight and compact, which is good because portability is what JBL is going for here. That’s also why there’s a loop on the top of the speaker so you can strap the Grip to a belt, or a bag, or maybe clip it to your bike to blast tunes while you get some cardio in. I didn’t strap the Grip to anything for my testing, but I did carry it around Manhattan and can confirm that it’s not very burdensome.
Don’t let the size and portability fool you, though; the Grip is no slouch in the volume department. The first thing I noticed when I played the Grip out loud in my office was that it really cranks. There’s 16W of power in this tiny speaker, which doesn’t sound like a ton, but believe me when I say it holds its own. While using the Grip in the park, I was able to drown out music from some live jazz being played in the vicinity. To be honest, I didn’t even know there was live music happening near me until I decided to pause the Grip momentarily.
Sound-wise, you’re not going to get the same nuance as a bigger Bluetooth speaker from Bose or even a bigger portable speaker like JBL’s Charge 5 (which I also own), but that’s not really the point of a speaker this size. What you want out of a speaker like the Grip is portability with a sound that is good enough, and I’d say that’s exactly what the Grip brings to the table. It does a decent job with treble (vocals are clear), though you won’t catch much complexity in the midrange where guitars live. Bass isn’t particularly booming, obviously, but I played some Daft Punk while walking around outside, and it didn’t sound bereft of low end. Overall, I’d say this speaker did better in a rock genre (I played a few of my favorite tracks by Geese), but your mileage may vary.
Needless to say, this isn’t the speaker you want if you’re trying to fill a room with sound, but if you’re just trying to grab a speaker to bring on a hike, or a picnic, or to the beach/park for a casual hang, there’s no reason not to grab a Grip—especially if you’re low on space.
Tall boy, smaller battery
As is the case with any gadget that emphasizes portability, battery life is always in question. The JBL Grip is rated for 14 hours of battery, though that will depend on the volume. I wasn’t able to test the Grip battery life extensively, but in my usage, the Grip seems to hold up as advertised, if not better. I tested the Grip, using the speaker at about 50% volume for an hour. I started my test at 40% battery, and by the time I was done listening, I was only at about 37%. Obviously, 50% volume is a little lower than what most people will be listening to out in the wild, but it’s still a decent showing from a small speaker. If you’re blaring this thing, you can obviously expect less.
The Grip has some character outside of the portability, too. There’s (of course) a companion app that you can use to fine-adjust EQ (seven whole bands) and switch between EQ presets. You can also monitor battery life using the JBL Portable app and use your phone to choose the color of the LED on the back of the speaker. One nice touch is being able to set the LED component to have different lighting effects via the app. There’s nothing super practical about being able to do any of that, but I guess if you were worried about losing your speaker in the dark, it might actually come in handy. I would have loved to see that feature turned into a battery indicator so you can tell how much juice you have left in the Grip at a glance, but using it for a little extra personalization is fine. I like being able to toggle lighting effects in particular, to give it some extra flair.
Another nice-to-have feature is an IP68 water and dust rating, which means this speaker is basically as water-resistant as an actual can of beer. To test that out, I gave the Grip a nice little shower in the sink, running it under water for a couple of minutes. Luckily, the Grip survived my test and came out a little soggy, but fully functional and able to play music just as well as before. It doesn’t float or anything like Soundcore’s Boom 3i speaker, which I tested not long ago, but you definitely don’t have to worry about dropping the Grip in a pool or leaving it out in the rain by accident.
Nothing to write home about the button selection here. On the front, there’s a play/pause button and a volume up and down. On top, there’s a Bluetooth button for pairing, a power button, and a button for Auracast, which lets you pair multiple speakers together, if that’s something you’re interested in.
Should you get a Grip?
JBL’s Grip isn’t for everyone. If you’re an audiophile looking for the best possible sound, this is not your pick. Nor is this the best pick if you’re looking for the most of lots of things, including features, battery, or even use in water. That being said, it does strike a solid balance of all of those arenas that should be on the radar if you’re looking for a speaker that’s very portable.
I do wish the price was a little lower than $100, considering speakers like the Soundcore Boom 3i, which do a few things very well and only cost $30 more. Sure, maybe Soundcore’s floatable speaker isn’t quite as small, but it’s still pretty damn portable, a lot more durable, and comes with more features than you would ever expect in that price range. I’m left wondering after testing the JBL Grip if the difference in size is really all that special. If you’re carrying a backpack around with enough room, will you really need the space? If you’re hiking, and every gram counts, that’s a different story.
So, if you’re emphasizing size above all else and you want something that sounds decent and won’t be overpowered by environmental noise, then you might want to look JBL’s way and grab a nice tall glass of Bluetooth audio. And if size doesn’t matter to you, then there are tons of other options out there, though maybe none quite as beer-like.
Foo Fighters have surprise-released a new live EP. Are Playing Where ???? Vol. 1 was captured across the surprise club shows that the band played across the U.S. in September. It’s available exclusively on Bandcamp, with proceeds going towards local charities working to combat food insecurity in San Luis Obispo and Santa Ana, California, Washington, D.C., and New Haven, Connecticut—the four cities where the gigs took place. Listen to Are Playing Where ???? Vol. 1 below.
Foo Fighters shared their latest studio album, But Here We Are, in 2023. The LP was recorded after the death of the band’s longtime drummer, Taylor Hawkins, in 2022. Earlier this year, Dave Grohl & co. parted ways with Hawkins’ replacement, Josh Freese, and hiredNine Inch Nails drummer Ilan Rubin; Freese then ended up joining Nine Inch Nails. Foo Fighters recently covered Minor Threat’s “I Don’t Wanna Hear It” and shared “Today’s Song,” their first original music since the release of But Here We Are.
Additional Engineer: Christopher Rowe Bass: Shellback Bassoon: Mattias Bylund Cello: Antonio Roland, David Bukovinszky, Peter Volpert, Tomas Lundström Conductor: Erik Arvinder Digital Editing Engineer: Mattias Bylund Double Bass: Bård Ericson Engineer: Erik Arvinder, Lasse Mårtén, Mattias Bylund, Willem Bleeker English Horn: Helena Stjernstrom Flugelhorn: Janne Bjerger, Magnus Johansson Flute: Tomas Jonsson French Horn: Magnus Johansson Guitar: Shellback Keyboard: Max Martin, Shellback Mastering Engineer: Randy Merrill, Ryan Smith Mixing: Bryce Bordone Mixing Engineer: Serban Ghenea Oboe: Teresia Alm Bylund Programmer: Max Martin, Shellback Recording Arranger: Mattias Bylund Recording Engineer: Erik Arvinder, Lasse Mårtén, Max Martin, Shellback, Willem Bleeker Second Engineer: Bryce Bordone Strings: Bylund Strings, Stockholm Studio Orchestra Synth Strings: Mattias Bylund Trombone: Peter Noos Johansson Viola: Christopher Öhman, Erik Holm, James Opie, Vidar Andersson Meilink Violin: Anna Roos Stefansson, Claudia Bonfiglioli, Daniela Bonfiglioli, Fredrik Syberg, Iskandar Komilov, Jannika Gustafsson, Lola Torrente, Mattias Johansson, Oscar Treitler, Patrik Swedrup, Sofie Sunnerstam, Veronika Novotna, Yongmin Lee Vocalist: Taylor Swift
11 Honey
Producer: Max Martin, Shellback, Taylor Swift Composer: Max Martin, Shellback, Taylor Swift Lyricist: Max Martin, Shellback, Taylor Swift
Accordion: Stefan Brunzell Banjo: Per Strandberg Bass: Shellback Clarinet: Tomas Jonsson Engineer: Lasse Mårtén, Mattias Bylund Flute: Tomas Jonsson Horn Arranger: Mattias Bylund Keyboard: Max Martin Mastering Engineer: Randy Merrill, Ryan Smith Mixing: Bryce Bordone Mixing Engineer: Serban Ghenea Piano: Max Martin, Stefan Wingefors Recording Engineer: Lasse Mårtén, Mattias Bylund, Max Martin, Shellback Second Engineer: Bryce Bordone Tambourine: Shellback Trombone: Peter Noos Johansson Tuba: Peter Noos Johansson Upright Bass: Stefan Wingefors Vocalist: Taylor Swift Wurlitzer Electric Piano: Mattias Bylund
12 The Life of a Showgirl
Producer: Max Martin, Shellback, Taylor Swift Composer: Max Martin, Shellback, Taylor Swift Lyricist: Max Martin, Shellback, Taylor Swift
Alto Saxophone: Wojtek Goral Banjo: Per Strandberg Baritone Saxophone: Tomas Jonsson Bass: Shellback Cello: David Bukovinszky Clarinet: Tomas Jonsson Drum Kit: Shellback Electric Guitar: Johan Randen, Per Strandberg Engineer: Erik Arvinder, Lasse Mårtén, Mattias Bylund, Willem Bleeker English Horn: Helena Stjernstrom Featured Artist: Sabrina Carpenter Flute: Tomas Jonsson, Wojtek Goral Guitar: Shellback Keyboard: Max Martin, Shellback Mandolin: Per Strandberg Mastering Engineer: Randy Merrill, Ryan Smith Mixing: Bryce Bordone Mixing Engineer: Serban Ghenea Pedal Steel Guitar: Anders Pettersson Percussion: Shellback Piano: Max Martin Programmer: Shellback Recording Arranger: Mattias Bylund Recording Engineer: Erik Arvinder, Lasse Mårtén, Mattias Bylund, Max Martin, Shellback, Willem Bleeker Second Engineer: Bryce Bordone Synth Strings: Mattias Bylund Tenor Saxophone: Tomas Jonsson Trombone: Peter Noos Johansson Trumpet: Janne Bjerger, Magnus Johansson Upright Piano: Mattias Bylund Violin: Conny Lindgren, Daniela Bonfigioli, Erik Arvinder, Fredrik Syberg, Lola Torrente, Mattias Johansson Vocalist: Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift
Danny L Harle has enlisted his longtime studio-mate and co-writer Caroline Polachek for the new song “Azimuth.” Take a listen below, via XL. Harle has also announced a European tour—scroll down for the dates.
Harle says of the new song, “‘Azimuth’ felt like the finalisation of an approach that Caroline and I had been orbiting for some time as a way of putting her voice into my music—I sometimes call it the ‘trance siren.’ You can hear manifestations of it in tracks like ‘Insomnia’ from Pang and ‘On the Beach’ from Death Stranding 2, but this was the first time I managed to translate it into my style of dance music. Azimuth’s melody could only have been sung by Caroline, it is designed around her voice, I couldn’t imagine anyone else singing it or giving a performance like that. It also allowed us to play with scale, space and quietness in a way I’ve never done before. For me, ‘Azimuth’ is a trance ballad, despairing but hopeful, best heard in a in club in a sunken cathedral.”
“Azimuth” is Harle’s follow-up to the PinkPantheress collaboration “Starlight,” released in July. That was his first solo release since his formal solo debut LP, 2021’s Harlecore. Polachek shared her own first post–Desire, I Want to Turn Into You single, “Dang,” in October last year. Since then, she has released “Starburned and Unkissed,” from the I Saw the TV Glow soundtrack, and made an unexpected appearance on the post-rock band Caroline’s album Caroline 2. More recently, she released “On the Beach”—the title track of the video game Death Stranding 2—which was co-produced with Harle and co-written by Death Stranding mastermind Hideo Kojima.
A new benefit compilation for charities supporting immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers has corralled new songs from Dirty Projectors, Oneohtrix Point Never’s Daniel Lopatin, Tim Heidecker, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, William Tyler, Lambchop, Lonnie Holley, and many others. Passages: Artists in Solidarity with Immigrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers arrives December 5 via Western Vinyl. New songs from Alan Sparhawk and Benjamin Booker lead the record—listen to their contributions, “No More Darkness” and “A Place for Us,” below.
The compilation beneficiaries are two Texas-based organizations: American Gateways and Casa Marianella. Each provides free or low-cost legal services, food, shelter, access to health care, and other essential services to immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. As well as contributing a track, Tim Heidecker will host a “live variety show and raffle/auction” on his call-in show Office Hours on December 4 to support the cause.
The producers and organizers of Passages, Emilie Rex and Rick Alverson, prompted the contributors to write and record their songs in a place that feels like home. “Home, as we know it, is under threat,” they said in a press release. “When immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers exercise their human right to safe passage, they defend our ability to do so—and our right to be and feel at home.” Rex and Alverson invite us “to join a local organization defending our neighbors, to call our representatives, to have those hard talks with our family members.”
The album will come out on vinyl, as well as digitally, and a limited-edition version comes with liner notes by Jason De León and poetry from Ross Gay. Both editions feature photography by Greg Constantine and Reena Saini Kallat’s cover art, which you can see below. All labor costs involved in making the album were donated or separately fundraised, according to the press release. You can pre-order the LP via Bandcamp.
Amazon’s Echo speakers have never been my smart speaker of choice, but for lots of people—like lots and lots of people—they are. Because of the sheer volume of Echo speakers in the world (no pun intended), when Amazon releases a new Echo product, it’s kind of a big deal—that’s regardless of whether the generation is iterative or not.
The same applies to Amazon’s just-released Echo Studio and Echo Dot Max, which debut at $220 and $100, respectively. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t exactly wowed with what I saw at Amazon’s event, but I did get to listen to them myself, and… they sound pretty good! That’s not an exciting impression of a product, but that’s the most I have to go off of with a gadget that I only got to watch someone else use in a limited capacity.
The crux of what I got to experience was based on showcasing audio improvements between generations. Specifically, I got to listen to a 5th-gen Echo Dot compared to Amazon’s new Echo Dot Max and Echo Studio, and the experience was predictably drastic. There’s a big difference between the 5th-gen Echo Dot and the Echo Dot Max, with the latter putting out a lot more bass and more volume. I can see the Echo Dot Max being a solid option for someone who wants the benefits of a smart speaker with Alexa+ but has limited space and still wants a smart speaker that’s serviceable for playing music.
The jump between the Echo Dot Max and the Echo Studio is equally as drastic. While the former smart speaker has two drivers and a woofer, the Echo Studio has three, as well as a woofer. The result is a bigger sound with a wider “soundstage,” which is to say, you can hear a lot more nuance in your music. The Echo Studio also has a secret weapon compared to the Echo Dot Max, which is spatial audio and Dolby Atmos. In a demo after Amazon’s keynote, I got to listen to the Echo Studio briefly, and it did a good job of filling a medium-ish room with sound that felt a cut above what you’d get on the Echo Dot Max. There’s definitely more dimensionality compared to Amazon’s smaller speaker, and that capability is highlighted even further when you use one of Amazon’s newest features, Alexa Home Theater.
Alexa Home Theater, which Amazon also announced today, allows you to pair together multiple Echo Dot Maxes or Echo Dot Studios (up to five of each) and one subwoofer if you choose to create a spatial home theater system. The result is wild. I got to experience a couple of things with Amazon’s Alexa Home Theater feature, which, in this case, was using five Echo Studios. The first was spatial music (Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”), which was fun.
I was told by Amazon that the track we listened to wasn’t a special one that was tuned by Dolby Atmos specifically for spatial audio, but it still sounded “3D,” bouncing sound from one corner of the room to another during the song’s intro. I’ve had some pretty wild spatial audio experiences in my day, including one inside a Maybach at CES, and while this wasn’t quite as immersive as that, it still sounded nuanced and fairly high fidelity.
The second experience with Alexa Home Theater was watching a movie (a scene from Ready Player One), which also sounded decent, though I didn’t get quite the same dimension from the demo as I did in the spatial music demo. Maybe it was the way people were situated in the room, potentially blocking some of the speakers, or maybe the movie just wasn’t as well-suited for the setup, but I didn’t get quite the same experience—the sound was still big, but just not as 3D as the music demo.
Either way, though, I’m not sure that many people are going to be using Alexa Home Theater. The idea of buying that many Echo Studio speakers for a home theater setup is… a little much. At $220 a pop, you’re talking about an $1,100 package (if you’re using the max five speakers) before tax. For that price, you could get a fairly nice home theater system from brands like Klipsch, which, yes, may involve a more complicated setup process, but also offers a more dedicated home theater experience compared to a bunch of Echo speakers.
A big part of your decision to buy a new Echo speaker or not may hinge on your interest in Alexa+ and on that front, I didn’t get a very full preview. An Amazon representative demoed Alexa+ by asking the voice assistant to find a specific scene in a movie (again, Ready Player One), but I didn’t get to test that feature for myself, so I can’t tell you if it works as intended. Without a good read on how Alexa+ works, I can at least tell you that the Echo hardware does feel upgraded, so if you’re looking for a boost to volume, bass, and 3D sound, it’s worth considering an upgrade. If you’re satisfied with your current Echo speakers, however, I don’t think you need to rush out and buy a new black orb to yell at just yet. We all know they’re going to be on sale for Prime Day soon anyway.
Both Echo devices are available for preorder today, and U.S. customers get Alexa+ in early access. The Echo Dot Max and Echo Studio will both be available for purchase on Oct. 29.
Today would have been the late Marc Bolan’s 78th birthday, and it’s being marked by the unveiling of some previously unreleased T. Rex music. “I’m Dazed” was originally laid to tape in March 1975 at Paris’ Château d’Hérouville, but this version out today was recorded at Munich’s Musicland Studios on April 22, 1975, notes Uncut. Produced by Bolan and engineered by Reinhold Mack, the song features T. Rex’s classic lineup: Bolan, Steve Currie, Gloria Jones, Davey Lutton, and Dino Dines. Listen to it below.
“I’m Dazed” is the latest in a long run of special T. Rex releases, compilations, reissues, and box sets that Bolan’s estate and business entities have shared over the past years. Earlier today, English Heritage also commemorated Bolan’s birthday by installing a blue plaque at his former home in London.
Back in 2020, T. Rex were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by Ringo Starr, who called Bolan “a poet.” Following Starr’s speech, the induction ceremony included a video featuring remarks from Billy Idol and Joan Jett, as well as archival footage of Tony Visconti, Elton John, David Bowie, and John Lydon praising the band.
10-08 Vancouver, British Columbia – The Pearl # 10-09 Seattle, WA – Showbox # 10-10 Seattle, WA – Showbox # 10-11 Portland, OR – Revolution Hall # 10-13 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore # 10-15 Los Angeles, CA – Fonda Theatre # 11-08 Manchester, England – O2 Ritz # 11-09 Glasgow, Scotland – St. Luke’s # 11-11 Cardiff, Wales – Tramshed # 11-12 London, England – Roundhouse # 11-14 Paris, France – Elysee Montmartre # 11-15 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Melkweg # 11-16 Nijmegen, Netherlands – Doornroosje # 11-18 Cologne, Germany – Gloria # 11-19 Hamburg, Germany – Uebel & Gefaehrlich # 11-21 Berlin, Germany – Columbiahalle # 11-22 Munich, Germany – Technikum # 02-15 Dublin, Ireland – Opium 02-18 London, England – Village Underground 02-20 Bristol, England – Bristol Beacon 02-22 Brussels, Belgium – Botanique – Rotonde 02-23 Paris, France – La Maroquinerie 02-27 Prague, Czechia – MeetFactory 03-16 Atlanta, GA – The Earl 03-17 Raleigh, NC – Kings 03-19 Washington, DC – The Atlantis 03-20 Philadelphia, PA – The Foundry 03-21 Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg 03-23 Boston, MA – Sinclair 03-24 Montreal, Quebec – Fairmount Theatre 03-25 Toronto, Ontario – Great Hall 03-27 Chicago, IL – Sleeping Village 03-28 Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street 03-30 Denver, CO – Ophelia’s 04-01 Salt Lake City, UT – State Room
Sylvan Esso are back with a new song, “WDID,” and with it, news of their departure from Spotify. Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn are releasing the single on their own label, Psychic Hotline, and have vowed to cut ties with “a store that, in addition to all its other glaring flaws, directly funds war machines,” as they put it in a statement. Listen to “WDID” below.
The duo’s exit from Spotify is the latest in a string of departures set off, in June, by Deerhoof, in a move backed by their label Joyful Noise. Those to follow suit have included Hotline TNT, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Xiu Xiu, and—if their intended removal goes ahead—Massive Attack. Those artists have primarily cited Spotify founder Daniel Ek’s investment, through his Prima Materia venture capital firm, in the weapons contractor Helsing. In an apparently unrelated move, the streaming giant announced today that Ek would transition from the role of chief executive officer to executive chair.
Meath and Sanborn said in their statement:
As we prepare to release new music, we have to decide what we want to be a part of and what we don’t. To that end, with Sylvan Esso being on our own label for the first time, we have decided to remove our music from Spotify. While no solution is perfect, we simply can’t continue to put our life’s work in a store that, in addition to all its other glaring flaws, directly funds war machines.
reaching towards the world we all deserve, even though we are not in it yet
Melody’s Echo Chamber has announced a new album, Unclouded, and accompanying tour of the United States and Europe. Below, check out the dates and watch the gauzy, Diane Sagnier–directed video for “In the Stars.” Domino is releasing the Emotional Eternal follow-up on December 5.
The title of Unclouded is taken from a Hayao Miyazaki quote about achieving equilibrium, a press release notes: “You must see with eyes unclouded by hate. See the good in that which is evil, and the evil in that which is good. Pledge yourself to neither side.” Melody Prochet adds, “I used to feel nostalgic growing into adulthood, but now that I understand that concept of impermanence, I don’t take it as personally anymore.”
Prochet made the album with co-producer and co-writer Sven Wunder; strings player Josefin Runsteen; Dina Ögon guitarist Daniel Ögen and bassist Love Orsan (“masters of the velvet groove,” says Prochet); Heliocentrics drummer Malcolm Catto; and Dungen guitarist Reine Fiske. The recent El Michels Affair collaboration “Daisy” also appears on the LP.
Melody’s Echo Chamber:
04-14 Berlin, Germany – Lido 04-15 Copenhagen, Denmark – VEGA 04-17 Brussels, Belgium – Botanique, Orangerie 04-18 Cologne, Germany – Gebäude 9 04-19 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Tolhuistuin 04-21 London, England – Electric Ballroom 04-22 Lille, France – L’Aéronef 04-23 Paris, France – Le Trianon 04-24 Nantes, France – Stereolux 04-25 Rouen, France – Le 106 05-09 Austin, TX – TBA 05-11 Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall 05-12 Washington, DC – Black Cat 05-13 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer 05-14 Boston, MA – Royale 05-15 New York, NY – Webster Hall 05-17 Salt Lake City, UT – TBA 05-19 Los Angeles, CA – Belasco 05-20 San Francisco, CA – Bimbo’s 365 05-22 Portland, OR – Revolution Hall 05-23 Seattle, WA – The Crocodile
Dry Cleaning are back with another new album. The London-based post-punk band will release Secret Love, their upcoming third LP, on January 9 via 4AD. They’re ringing in that news today by sharing the lead single “Hit My Head All Day,” which you can listen to below.
“The song is about manipulation of the body and mind,” explains singer Florence Shaw. “The lyrics were initially inspired by the use of misinformation on social media by the far right. There are powerful people that seek to influence our behavior for their own gain; to buy certain things, to vote a certain way. I find it hard to read people’s intentions and decide who to trust, even in everyday life. It’s easy to fall under the influence of a sinister stranger who seems like a friend.”
Secret Love is Dry Cleaning’s third studio album, following 2023’s Stumpwork. The four-piece fleshed out the 11-track album over a series of sessions around the world, beginning with a stop at Jeff Tweedy’s Chicago studio The Loft, and louder takes with Gilla Band’s Alan Duggan and Daniel Fox at Dublin’s Sonic Studios. In the end, Dry Cleaning tapped Cate Le Bon to produce the album, heading out to France’s remote Black Box to record with the experimental indie rock figure.
Dry Cleaning still have a handful of upcoming concerts on their docket as part of their ongoing 2025 tour. After a headlining set at Brooklyn’s Warsaw on October 2, the band will perform in Madrid, Barcelona, Brighton, London, and more European cities.
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Your phone is usually attached to your hip (in terms of the recent iPhone 17’sCrossbody Strap, I mean that literally). But in the comfort of your own home when you’re trying to unwind and escape your phone with your favorite music, needing to stay in Bluetooth range for your headphones and wireless earbuds can be a little annoying. Qualcomm’s audio engineers are trying to solve that issue by seamlessly switching to Wi-Fi if you travel away from your audio source. Sure, that sounds neat, but the tech implies a future where you won’t even need any other device nearby to listen to your favorite tunes on your AirPods.
I can already hear the whining in the comments. The problem this feature hopes to fix is a very niche use case, but it’s one that could end up in many next-gen wireless earbuds in the near future. I tested out this feature at Snapdragon Summer in Hawaii (full disclosure: travel and lodging were paid by Qualcomm, and Gizmodo did not guarantee any coverage as a condition of accepting the trip), dubbed XPAN for “Expanded Personal Area Network,” with a pair of nonspecific reference wireless earbuds used by Qualcomm. With the feature enabled, the buds work with the phone to detect if the device is in Bluetooth range. If you start walking away, they will automatically switch over to Wi-Fi.
In many ways, the tech is far more interesting than the end result. The wireless earbuds contained a Wi-Fi antenna, though neither the case nor the buds looked much different from what I’ve used in the past. I walked 30 feet away from the phone and back, and I didn’t notice any interruptions in the song playing. The phone showed how it was swapping from a P2P (peer-to-peer) connection through various other connection types. A Bluetooth 5.3 connection range is technically close to 33 feet. While that means you won’t lose connection walking from one end of the room to the other, intervening walls or—in my case—a crowd of bodies could interrupt that signal. XPAN merely expands the range to encompass everywhere there’s a Wi-Fi signal.
Although wireless earbuds with the technology will be limited to local Wi-Fi, the technology could potentially allow you to listen to your device from “anywhere in the world” through a Wi-Fi access point. Dino Bekis, Qualcomm’s general manager of connectivity, told me in a Q&A that there’s no issue with latency on a Wi-Fi connection compared to Bluetooth. Modern wireless earbuds are already so damn good at cutting down on latency even when streaming high-bitrate lossless audio. Wi-Fi networks should be able to handle the 96kHz speeds necessary for lossless. It shouldn’t matter if you’re still using Wi-Fi 6 or the modern Wi-Fi 7 standard, either.
“Today, with XPAN, it’s 96kHz 24-bit, but we see that evolving to 192kHz to be truly lossless,” Bekis said.
Qualcomm has talked up Wi-Fi audio connections for the past two years with its previous-gen S7 and S7 Pro platforms. The first wireless earbuds with XPAN built in were the Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro released earlier this year. They support the 96kHz standard, though Bekis promised we should see more wireless earbuds soon enough with current or future S7 chips. Audiophiles would still extol the benefits of lossless and minimum latency. Regular folk who just want to listen to their tunes simply care that they need to be within close range of their paired music source. Still, the feature may end up being more useful for taking calls with your wireless earbuds than for listening to music.
Inevitably, it seems our wireless earbuds will become as connected as our phones are today. What that means for music listeners is a future where we connect to Spotify or Apple Music right from our wireless earbuds’ or headphones’ case, rather than needing to go through a phone. I don’t think we’ll need to wait long to see more wireless earbuds cases with screens used to control music. Hell, if you were longing for a device as dedicated to music as your old iPod, a Wi-Fi-enabled pair of wireless earbuds could fit the bill. You’ll still have to pay your tithe to your favorite music streaming app, of course.
The Kansas City–based artist 1010Benja is following his debut studio album, Ten Total, with a new EP. The new project is called 3X10, and it’s out October 31 via Tabloid. Below, listen to 1010Benja’s new single “YAM.”
According to a press release, 1010Benja recorded his new three-song EP in a friend’s basement in Kansas City, Missouri. “I mean, it’s three… by 10,” the producer, singer, and songwriter said of the EP in a statement. “Cheap and obvious marketing, but the songs are really passionate, and heartfelt. I got here the same way anyone does: I came from a really raw place.”
Discussing “YAM,” he added, “‘YAM’ stands for ‘YOUR ASS, MINE,’ and wouldn’t you know it? Life’s got you; the gods and planets ensnare the weak and vulnerable. You, you are a snare; your love is a prison. The truth hurts—its violence is rich and sweet. When an American leaves their familiar land to travel to tropical places, one bite of a good ‘YAM’ is worth 1,000 Quarter Pounders.”
“Second Sleep” and “Star Eyes” are Magdalena Bay’s first tracks since releasing Imaginal Disk last year. “‘Second Sleep’ and ‘Star Eyes’ are two songs we made around the end of Imaginal Disk—both a sort of spiritual successor to the album’s mood and emotional arc,” Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin said in a press statement. “We like how they complement each other, so here they are as a pair.”
Magdalena Bay are continuing their Imaginal Mystery Tour with shows across North America in September and October. They’ll also perform at Denver’s Mission Ballroom on New Year’s Eve, before heading to the United Kingdom and Europe in 2026. See the duo’s tour dates below.
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Magdalena Bay: Imaginal Mystery Tour
Magdalena Bay:
09-26 Los Angeles, CA – Fairbanks Lawn at Hollywood Forever Cemetery 09-27 Los Angeles, CA – Fairbanks Lawn at Hollywood Forever Cemetery 09-29 Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo 09-30 Vancouver, British Columbia – The Orpheum Theatre 10-01 Portland, OR – McMenamins Crystal Ballroom 10-04 Austin, TX – Austin City Limits Music Festival 10-05 Dallas, TX – House of Blues Dallas 10-07 Indianapolis, IN – Egyptian Room at Old National Centre 10-08 Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works 10-10 Austin, TX – Emo’s 10-11 Austin, TX – Austin City Limits Music Festival 10-12 Oklahoma City, OK – The Criterion 10-14 Houston, TX – House of Blues Houston 10-15 New Orleans, LA – The Fillmore New Orleans 10-17 St. Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live 10-18 Miami, FL – III Points Music Festival 10-20 Atlanta, GA – Coca-Cola Roxy 10-21 Raleigh, NC – The Ritz 10-22 Norfolk, VA – The NorVa 10-24 Boston, MA – MGM Music Hall at Fenway 10-25 Washington, D.C. – The Anthem 10-26 Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore Philadelphia 12-31 Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom 02-02 Birmingham, England – O2 Academy Birmingham 02-03 Cardiff, Wales – Depot 02-05 Dublin, Ireland – Vicar Street 02-07 Glasgow, Scotland – O2 Academy Scotland 02-08 Manchester, England – O2 Apollo Manchester 02-10 London, England – O2 Academy Brixton 02-13 Antwerp, Belgium – De Roma 02-14 Utrecht, Netherlands – TivoliVredenburg 02-15 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso 02-17 Paris, France – Salle Pleyel 02-19 Zurich, Switzerland – Volkshaus 02-20 Cologne, Germany – Carlswerk Victoria 02-22 Berlin, Germany – Columbiahalle 02-24 Copenhagen, Denmark – Vega 02-25 Oslo, Norway – Rockefeller Music Hall 02-26 Stockholm, Sweden – Fållan
Ice Spice has dropped her second single of September. The new song, “Baddie Baddie,” boasts a sample of M.I.A.’s beloved Matangi cut “Bad Girls.” Listen to the track—co-produced by frequent Ice Spice collaborator RiotUSA, A Lau, and AyoLucas—below.
“Baddie Baddie” follows Ice Spice’s recent song with Latto, “Gyatt.” The Bronx rapper shared her debut studio album, Y2K!, last year.
The One Battle After Another soundtrack is out now digitally, and physical editions will arrive on November 14. Greenwood performed many of the album’s compositions on piano, guitar, bass, percussion, and ondes Martenot, and he was joined by the London Contemporary Orchestra and conductor Hugh Brunt. There are also contributions from pianist Katherine Tinker, his Smile bandmate Tom Skinner on percussion, and others.
One Battle After Another hits U.S. theaters today (September 26). The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and Chase Infiniti, and also features appearances from musicians Alana Haim, Junglepussy, and Dijon.
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Jonny Greenwood: One Battle After Another (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
The only exception to this high level of build quality is the controls, which give a slightly cheap vibe due to the way they rattle a bit in the housing. Still, they’re (mostly) intuitive, easy to use even with gloved fingers, and offer excellent tactile response.
None of this prepares you for the YH-L500A’s incredible comfort. Those large ear cups swallow up your ears as the plushly padded (and replaceable) ear cushions give your head a big, warm hug. The combination of clamping force, excellent headband padding, and their featherweight mass makes these cans an exceptional choice for long listening sessions, even while wearing glasses. My only note is that those with very small heads may have trouble. If my head were any smaller, the ear cups would sit too low, even at the headband’s shortest setting.
Photograph: Simon Cohen
Part of what gives these cans such a comfy fit is their seal, which also creates substantial passive noise isolation. When walking down busy urban sidewalks, traffic and construction sounds were still quite audible but not annoyingly so. At home it was a similar story, with mildly intrusive sounds kept at bay but louder ones getting through.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say it obviates the need for ANC (especially for travel), but it’s not the deal-breaker I expected. What I missed more than the absence of ANC was the lack of a transparency mode. Without one, voices (both yours and others’) were muffled; I had to routinely pull the headphones down to my neck even for quick conversations.
Unfortunately, this means that even though the YH-L500A’s dual built-in mics have decent voice pickup and background noise canceling (especially indoors), using these cans for wireless calls can be exhausting. I quickly tired of not being able to hear my own voice clearly. At home, you can get around this by using the wired analog connection with a desktop USB mic.
Highly Detailed Sound
Headphone Control via Simon Cohen
Headphone Control via Simon Cohen
Equipped with a pair of 40mm dynamic drivers, the YH-L500A deliver precise, highly detailed sound, with excellent clarity. The factory tuning is conservative on bass and a bit too bright in the highs for my liking, though the midrange is just about perfect.
The Yamaha Headphones app gives you five EQ presets to play around with (Energy, Gentle, Vocal, Groove, and Openness), but none gave me the tweaks I was looking for. Thankfully, you can roll your own presets (up to two can be saved) via a five-band equalizer, and you can make your adjustments from neutral, or from any of the factory presets. By decreasing the levels of the highest frequencies, while giving a small boost to the lowest, I found a mix I really enjoyed.
Sony has been on a roll lately with lots of gaming peripherals (including the Inzone H9 II gaming headset that may actually justify its big price tag), and it’s apparently not ready to stop just yet. PlayStation just announced its Pulse Elevate wireless speakers, which support PC, Mac, PlayStation 5, and the PlayStation Portal, and they may potentially be useful for anyone who doesn’t love constantly wearing a headset.
Inside the Pulse Elevate, Sony says it’s including “studio-inspired planar magnetic drivers” that are designed to give you “lifelike sound across the entire audible spectrum.” I can’t say for sure what that sounds like yet, but if it’s anything close to the audio quality of the H9 II, it’ll be a hit for me. There are built-in woofers, too, so you’ll still get some low end. On top of that, there are also built-in mics with “AI-enhanced noise rejection,” which is just a fancy way of saying the speakers will cancel environmental noise while you’re talking. If this feature actually works as advertised, it should be good news for anyone who plans to substitute a gaming headset with these speakers, either fully or partially.
Another nice addition is PlayStation Link compatibility, which means you’ll be able to get low-latency sound on PS5, PC, Mac, and PlayStation Portal. As always, you’ll need to use the provided dongle for Link, which transmits audio faster and at higher fidelity than a standard Bluetooth connection. One last twist here is that Sony is building in some portability to the Pulse Elevate. The wireless speakers have rechargeable batteries, so you can take them elsewhere to use with your Portal (again, if you have one of those) and then charge them in a provided dock when you’re done. If you want to connect a phone or another device with a standard Bluetooth connection, you can do that, too.
One thing we don’t know is how much the Pule Elevate speakers will cost, but Sony says they’ll be available in Midnight Black and White when they’re released sometime next year. PlayStation gaming peripherals have been pricey as of late, so I would expect a decent-sized price tag. That being said, if they sound as good as the H9 II, they might be worth every penny.
Juana Molina is back. The Argentine singer-songwriter has announced Doga, her first album since 2017’s Halo. Leading the new album is “Siestas Ahí.” Listen to the new song, co-produced by Molina and Emilio Haro, below. See the album artwork below, too.
Doga is out November 5 via Molina’s own label, Sonamos. Molina began to conceive of the album as she was preparing to play a series of improvisational concerts with keyboardist Odín Schwartz in 2019. “The idea was to play as if I were at home, that is, to improvise,” the artist explained in a statement. “It was a duo mostly of analog synthesizers and sequencers. We recorded everything—so many hours—because there was no way to reproduce what we did; both rehearsals and shows were unique. Some of those ideas were later picked up again.” Molina continued to work on the music in 2022 and 2024, ultimately finishing the album with Emilio Haro.
