There’s a rebus in this weekend’s Consequence Crossword, “Phish Food.” Inspired by Phish, who expand on the studio versions of songs in their live shows, a rebus expands a small number of crossword squares to contain more than one letter. Here’s an example chosen in honor of Ben Kaye, who…
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Following the split, People Can Fly retained the rights to the project and confirmed they were “now determined to grow the project on its own”.
“We strongly believe in Project Dagger’s potential and are now committed to continue its development within our self-publishing pipeline,” said People Can Fly CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski at the time. “The game is still in pre-production – our team is now focusing on closing combat and game loops and migrating from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5.”
However, it’s now been confirmed that work on Project Dagger stopped earlier this month.
“The discontinuation of work on the project is the result of re-analysis of the development plans,” said a letter to investors, with the scope and commercial potential of the project deemed “unsatisfactory”.
People Can Fly have decided to discontinue further work on Project Dagger, a new action-adventure IP that has been in development for a multiple years.
The game was to be published by Take-Two but that agreement was ended in September 2022.
According to VGC, over 50 people were working on the project at People Can Fly’s New York studio. Project Dagger had been targeting a 2025 release date, and was set to launch a new franchise of games.
The cancellation comes after People Can Fly reportedly laid off 30 developers earlier this year, who had been working on an unannounced game with Square Enix.
“We also hope that by releasing this demo, we can help those people leaving us to secure new roles elsewhere, by demonstrating their outstanding work on the project,” the studio wrote.
“Hopefully, with enough wishlists on Steam, we will be able to find funding in the future for Ironmarked, but until then we will be working on a smaller game that we can fully fund ourselves.”
Today (April 26) organisers have added another wave of artists, with soloist and former OutKast member André 3000 leading the list. The musician released his experimental flute album ‘New Blue Sun’ last November.
Joining him on the line-up are Lianne La Havas, Flying Lotus, Cymande, Glass Beams, Berlioz (DJ set), Nubya Garcia, Songer, Lola Young, MRCY, Dana and Alden, and Bricknasty. See the post below.
Loyle Carner released his Mercury Prize-nominated third album, ‘Hugo’, in 2022. In a four-star review, NME described the project as the artist’s “most polished record yet”, adding: “It’s personal, yet far-reaching.”
Content warning: this article discusses rape and sexual assault.
Actress Ashley Judd, one of the first women to accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct, has described the overturning of his 2020 rape conviction by the New York Court of Appeals as “institutional betrayal”.
On Thursday (April 25), the state’s highest court overruled the conviction in a 4-3 verdict, deeming that Weinstein had not received a fair trial. This was based on the grounds that the judge allowed women to testify about allegations that weren’t part of the 2020 case.
“This today is an act of institutional betrayal,” Judd said at an event at the United Nations for workplace safety (via CNN). “Our institutions betray survivors of male sexual violence.”
Judd was one of the first women to accuse the disgraced film producer of sexual misconduct in 2017, giving rise to the MeToo movement. The following year, Judd filed a lawsuit against Weinstein alleging that he defamed her in 1988 after she refused sexual advances.
“I stand shoulder to shoulder with women who have bloody knees,” she continued, “because male sexual violence may knock us down, but we get right back up.”
Tarana Burke, founder of the MeToo movement, told the UN press conference: “We are devastated for the survivors who are connected to this case, and the survivors who have found solace and catharsis in the original verdict around Harvey Weinstein.
“I am preparing myself for the onslaught of, ‘What does this mean for the MeToo movement?’. And so I want you to hear this: this is not a blow to the movement; it is a clarion call, and we are prepared to answer that call.”
Posting on X, Mira Sorvino, who alleged sexual harassment against Weinstein and said he “stifled” her career, wrote, “Horrified!” and said she was “disgusted” with a justice system that skews towards “predators not victims”.
Despite his conviction being overturned, Weinstein will remain imprisoned because he was recently convicted in Los Angeles of another rape and sentenced to 16 years.
In the 2020 case, Weinstein was convicted of sexually assaulting a former production assistant on Project Runway at his apartment in 2006. He was also convicted of raping a woman at a hotel in 2013.
For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.
The title of St. Vincent‘s seventh album, ‘All Born Screaming’, is intended to be life-affirming on several levels. “We’re all born in some ways against our will,” the artist Annie Clark says with a laugh. “But at the same time, if you’re born screaming, it’s a great sign – it’s a sign you’re alive. We’re all born in protest, so screaming is what it means to be alive.”
Out today, the thrillingly visceral LP slinks between rampaging industrial rock (‘Broken Man’, which features Dave Grohl on drums) and marauding muscular funk (‘Big Time Nothing’). It also includes ‘Sweetest Fruit’, a tender tribute to late electronic pioneer SOPHIE. If ‘All Born Screaming’ feels like an album of two halves, with the closing stretch offering melodic bolts of big-hearted optimism, that’s entirely by design. “Life is so weird and hard for everybody in unique ways and universal ways,” St. Vincent says. “But the flipside is that we just have one of them, so, like, let’s really live it. There’s kind of a beautiful contradiction there.”
Since she grabbed our attention with her 2007 debut ‘Marry Me’, a striking collection of orchestral indie-pop, St. Vincent has built a reputation as a musical shapeshifter who can ping from spangly glam-rock (2017’s ‘Masseduction’) to psychedelic ’70s funk (2021’s ‘Daddy’s Home’). The Oklahoma-born, Texas-raised musician is also known as a brilliant guitarist and riveting live performer. When Kate Bush was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last November, St. Vincent was asked to perform ‘Running Up That Hill’ in her honour. ‘All Born Screaming’ is another firm step forward: the first St. Vincent album she has produced entirely by herself. “I figured that I just needed to really, really hone my lexicon as a producer – I’ve co-produced everything I’ve ever done and I’ve been recording myself since I was 14,” she says.
Though St. Vincent is a fierce and revered talent – her sparkling discography also includes collaborations with Paul McCartney and David Byrne – this doesn’t mean she’s remote or unapproachable. Quite the opposite – this In Conversation begins with a fun discussion of Pret a Manger porridge (much better in London than New York, apparently) before we delve into her fascinating creative process. Of course, we also find time to talk about ‘Cruel Summer’, the Taylor Swift bop she co-wrote that became a surprise Number One last year.
NME: What was the genesis of this album? How did it take shape?
St. Vincent: “The genesis was more or less me playing around with modular synthesisers and drum machines in my studio alone. Like, it’d be eight in the morning and I’d have a little coffee – a little microdose – and then just go in and turn on all the machines and turn knobs and, like, make a little industrial dance party for myself for hours and hours. And then later on, I would comb back through that stuff and go, ‘OK, what’s here that feels like lightning in a bottle that I can make a whole song around?’ Truth be told, probably 3% of the music I made in the past two-and-a-half years is what’s on the album. There’s hours and hours and hours – I’m not saying it’s good! – of me just jamming on synths, drum machines and modulars.”
You obviously had the first and final say on each track, but were there people you brought in as a sounding board?
“God yeah. I’m so lucky to have great friends who also are great rippers. Dave Grohl is a buddy and he came into my studio and, like, everything they say is true: he’s the nicest guy in rock and the most fun hang. Like, he just drives over in his truck and because he’s so musical, he’s heard the song a few times and knows every twist and turn. So you just hang and smoke some Parliaments; he tells war stories, you drink some coffee and smoke more Parliaments, and then he’s like: ‘Cool, let’s go!’ And he goes in there and it’s Dave Fucking Grohl on the drums and he plays it perfectly. Man, it just lights you up to hear him play.
“[I also brought in] Cate Le Bon, who’s an incredible producer in her own right. There’s music you love and then there’s music you love that you also listen to all the time. Cate is somebody I listen to all the time, especially her last record ‘Pompeii’. We’ve been good friends for a long time and she played bass and sang on [the title track] ‘All Born Screaming’. She really held my hand at a moment when I wanted to drown that baby in the bathwater – like, not throw it out, just drown it! And then we had Mark Guiliana on drums. Josh Freese on drums, Stella Mogzawa on drums. Justin Meldal-Johnsen on bass and David Ralicke on horns. It was a tight little wrecking crew.”
The song ‘Big Time Nothing’ just roars out of the speakers with such sonic confidence. How did it take shape?
“That song was a result of one of the many hours spent with modular synths. The first thing that came about is the bassline, [which is sort of] acid-y and early ’90s. I was like, ‘That’s it – that’s tough’, so I wrote the song ‘Big Time Nothing’ around it. I don’t want to give too much of the song away because I would never want my point of view or what it means to me to diminish what it means to someone else. It’s absolutely for the listener. That said, I will say that to me the song was just like what depression says to you. Like, this anxious roiling: the sound of the inside of my head that every day [says]: ‘Go go go, you stupid bitch. You think you’re something and you’re fucking nothing, you idiot!’ How’s that for a slogan?!”
Do you think – not just with this album, but generally – that as an artist you can kind of over-explain a song?
“I think it’s kind of celebrated now to be very specific or very autobiographical – or not to be autobiographical [per se], but to make it about a specific moment in the artist’s life and have all things kind of lead you back to the artist. And when I think about music that I love, I don’t give a shit what the artist was thinking. I don’t give a shit if [the song] is about their kid or a breakup – I don’t fucking care; I hear what it means to me. And I realise that I’ve erred in the past for sure [in that respect]. So now I really want to protect what it means for other people in their lives. It’s for them, it’s not for me.”
Back in November, you sang ‘Running Up That Hill’ when Kate Bush was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. How did that come about?
“I don’t know how it came about, they asked me to do it! One of the things I realised and learned when I dug deep into not just singing along with Kate Bush on record, but actually singing the song and finding the grooves is just how amazing her voice is [in being] able to feel totally urgent and totally effortless. Like, [when she sings] “it doesn’t hurt me”, it’s not pushed, she’s not straining, but everything about her voice is completely urgent. It’s just like watching a flame across the skies. So I found that fascinating and, I don’t know, then I blacked out and sang her song. I don’t fucking know [how], nobody should cover Kate Bush!”
Another amazing thing happened last year: ‘Cruel Summer’, a Taylor Swift song you co-wrote and played on from 2019’s ‘Lover’ album, became a belated Number One hit.
“That was crazy. I mean, I always thought in the context of that record, like, ‘That should be a single, it’s a great song.’ And I don’t even think it was a single; it just was a fan favourite. And it’s like the fans just decided: ‘No, this is your hit song.’ Which is so wild and so modern, you know. That was just a real bonus Jonas there. And I mean, that’s one hell of a fanbase.”
It’s amazing: they turned a non-single into a Number One.
“I mean, changing world economies, let’s go!”
Taylor has obviously given us ‘The Eras Tour’, and beyond that, music fans often talk about an artist’s latest “era”. But is that how you think about your career?
“I don’t. I think of my life in terms of ‘Wait, where was I on tour?’ Like, there’s a whole chunk of life, especially from my second record [2009’s ‘Actor] to [2017]’s ‘Masseduction’ where it’s just a blur of touring. It was crazy – I would finish a year-and-a-half long, gruelling tour and then start writing a record the next day. I just was ‘on one’ as they say, and some parts are blurrier than others if I’m very honest. But it’s not that I think of my life in specific eras. It’s more like I look back and try to figure out what was happening in my life by which record I was doing. That’s how I trace life and death and relationships, you know.”
‘All Born Screaming’ is out now via Total Pleasure and VMG
The rapper, singer and guitarist has gotten himself into the deep end of controversy with other artists throughout his career, and therefore been on the receiving end of beef from their fan bases. However, according to a new interview, he has no intention of upsetting Swifties.
He made the comments during a new edition of Hot Ones Versus – a truth-or-dare version of the popular show hosted by Sean Evans. In the episode, MGK went head-to-head with Trippie Redd, and the two posed tough questions to one another, where they had the choice to either answer truthfully or instead eat a spicy chicken wing.
“Ladies and gentlemen, you have got to be out of your motherfucking mind if you think I want any smoke with that fanbase,” MGK responded instantly, refusing to take the bait.
“Taylor is a saint and very nice to me. And Travis is my bro.”
Redd then tried to lure him into answering the question, joking: “Kiss her feet while you’re at it”, but the guitarist continued: “She’s very nice. She’s very, very nice.”
He also went on to explain his offer to Kelce in more detail. “To the narrative of people that were like, ‘That’s it?’… I said I would give him $1million spending money on top of whatever the NFL [gave him]. I’m not the fucking NFL, so obviously I don’t have to pay him, like, $30million or $40million, whatever.
“I said I’ll give you a bonus of $1million and we can — I’m just gonna eat a chicken wing.”
The Unheard Edition is available to pre-order now, and comes with guaranteed access to the beta version of Escape From Tarkov alongside a number of perks that offer players an ingame advantage, including an enhanced stash size, more slots at the flea market and expanded PMC pockets.
Players will also get access to all future expansions, a “unique melee weapon” and early access to highly-anticipated single player co-op mode alongside “Access to PvE co-op mode with persistent progression. Progression will not be reset with wipes,” wrote Battlestate Games, which goes against their current approach to Escape From Tarkov.
“Sorry guys, there really isn’t any justification on this package,” wrote one fan. “It’s far too expensive and adds questionable features to the game. It’s ‘unheard’ of to charge such a high price for features in an early access game that is expected of a base game.”
Sorry guys, there really isn't any justification on this package.
It's far too expensive and adds questionable features to the game.
It's "unheard" of to charge such a high price for features in an early access game that is expected of a base game.
Battlestate Games had previously sold the £94 Edge Of Darkness edition of Escape From Tarkov that promised players access to all future updates, as well as perks like extra stash. However, it has since been removed from sale, with Battlestate Games now claiming that the PvE co-op mode included with the Unheard edition isn’t an update but a “unique feature”.
A number of players have taken to the official Discord to share a message that read (via GamesRadar): “This is unacceptable. This is selfish. This is disrespectful. You’ve disgraced yourselves completely. You’ve lost loyal players, you’ve betrayed the idea. It’s disgusting. To everyone who feels the same way – don’t be silent. Spam, make memes, spread the word wherever it’s relevant. This cannot be tolerated.”
Elsewhere the mods of the Escape From Tarkov subreddit have said players can “complain away. It’s pay-to-win and a betrayal of players’ trust / support of this game over the years. We’re just as livid as you,” the post continued.
At first, Battlestate Games accused Arena Breakout Infinite of plagiarism following their attempt to scoop up disgruntled Tarkov players instead of responding to the backlash, but the studio has since released a number of updates “to honour the owners of Edge Of Darkness and their indelible importance in the Escape From Tarkov universe”.
These include unique items, priority access to matching and a special questline, as well as “temporary access to PVE” which will launch as soon as the studio can “reinforce server infrastructure. We use totally different servers for that and now there really is a limited amount of them,” the post continued.
However fans are still not impressed. “This is what you promised: ‘Free access to all subsequent DLC’. ‘Access to offline PVE for six months’ is not that’,” reads the top-rated reply on Reddit, with others furious that priority access to matching is now a thing.
Despite many netizens criticising her appearance and attire during the press conference, others had seemingly taken a liking to the music executive’s outfit with Koreabooreporting that the sweater own by Min had sold out in less than a day after the event.
Her green stripped sweater is the Organic Cotton Long-Sleeve Cut and Sew from Japanese apparel brand California General Store, which retails for 8,800 yen (about £45). The same sweater is only available in two colour ways – the green as seen on Min and a cream-coloured version. Both versions were sold out on the store’s website.
Lily Allen has given an update on her upcoming new music, saying that there is currently no “deadline” to release anything.
During the latest episode of Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett’s Dish podcast, the singer and actor was asked whether she felt any pressure from record label executives to make a specific type of material.
“I’ve got a distribution deal, but it means that I don’t really have, like, an A&R team – which is Artist & Repertoire, or the people who help you with, you know, the music and putting it together,” Allen replied (via Music News).
“So, I’m kind of left to my own devices and I haven’t got, like, a deadline… No one has any anticipation.”
Allen’s fourth and latest studio album, ‘No Shame’, was released in 2018. Earlier this year, the artist said she was working on its follow-up. “I am making it now, I don’t know how long it will take, but you will be able to hear some things soon,” she wrote on X/Twitter.
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