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Lying

Listen to Gorillaz and Idles’ New Song “The God of Lying”
Music

Listen to Gorillaz and Idles’ New Song “The God of Lying”

by jummy84
written by jummy84

Damon Albarn has released another song from the forthcoming Gorillaz album The Mountain. The new single, “The God of Lying,” features Idles. Check it out below.

Albarn wrote “The God of Lying” with Idles frontman Joe Talbot. He recorded it in London and Devon, England, and Mumbai, with bansuri player Ajay Prasanna and percussionist Viraj Acharya. In a statement, Gorillaz’s fictional frontman, 2D, said, “Can I tell you a secret? Doubt is very tiring but questioning things is really good for you.”

The Mountain is out March 20. The follow-up to 2023’s Cracker Island includes recent singles “The Happy Dictator” (featuring Sparks) and “The Manifesto” (featuring Trueno and the late D12 rapper Proof).

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Soulwax 2025
Music

Soulwax Scare Us on ‘All Systems Are Lying’ » PopMatters

by jummy84
written by jummy84

In this post-truth, post-trust era, the assurance that all systems are lying can feel oddly comforting. Floating on flux rather than guided by facts, we can liberate ourselves from the institutions and verities that are no longer stable or credible. Rely on “my truth” instead and indulge self-gratifying private urges: “I wanna run free / With the music / A beautiful mistake / Try not to lose it / Faster all the time / Smoke and abuse it … / Play the wrong chord / Say something stupid.”

Those lines are from the new Soulwax release, All Systems Are Lying. It’s been eight years since their last one and arguably much longer than that: their previous album, From Deewee (2017), was recorded in one live take with a session band that included three drummers. (You have to go all the way back to 2004’s Any Minute Now to find a traditionally tracked Soulwax LP).

All Systems Are Lying has a creative conceit of its own: It’s a “rock album made without any electric guitars”, according to David and Stephen Dewaele, the Belgian brothers behind Soulwax, “built entirely from modular synths, live drums, tape machines, and processed vocals”. The record is billed as “a fractured mirror held up to modern society on the brink—where truth is distorted by filters, algorithms and noise”. Also see OK Computer and The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, not to mention Spoon‘s Hot Thoughts (2017), which used a similar Oulipian approach, omitting acoustic guitars and relying primarily on synths, percussion, and studio craft for its construction. (It’s perhaps no surprise that All Systems Are Lying occasionally calls Spoon’s music to mind.)

In addition to maintaining Soulwax, the Dewaele brothers are accomplished DJs and remixers of some of the most beloved dance music of the last 20 years (e.g., tracks by Daft Punk and LCD Soundsystem). They’ve long been experts in the advanced sciences of moving bodies on a dance floor, but All Systems Are Lying finds them contemplating the drawing board. “We’ve got to find a more efficient way / We’ve got to try to find another way”, muses the almost motionless “Constant Happiness Machine”, which has no drums as well as no guitars.

That song’s successor, the pitiless, march-like, not very danceable “Polaris”, keeps telling us: “You don’t seem to realize / You don’t seem to realize / It’s happening right in front of you.” Having put us on alert with that unsettling reminder, the Dewaeles turn the surveillance cam on us: “It’s happening all because of you.” We may be increasingly powerless drones, but we are nonetheless to blame for our own “modern society on the brink”, as when a nation elects to the seats of power precisely the officials who will abuse the systems they now control to increase their wealth and power, and our peril, poverty, and pain.

The unspoken word here is fascism, of course, and one of the canniest things about All Systems Are Lying is that it is both a critique and an example. “Have I told you how I feel? / Have I sold you what to feel?” asks the menacing narrator of the spooky “Meanwhile on the Continent”. Most of the album’s songs are delivered in the persona of an omniscient (if not omnipresent/omnipotent) Übermensch, perhaps a cyborg, or even a bodiless and sinister authoritarian AI: a “Constant Happiness Machine” that pitilessly delivers an “Engineered Fantasy” (the title of another song) to mere humans—a fantasy that is “just for you / Not for me”, promises a robotic voice who is “here for business, baby, not for fun” (later “business class”).

It might seem cheering to hear that we flesh-and-blood creatures are “Hot Like Sahara”, a song that rocks like Lenny Kravitz (if it had guitars) and also cooks; but that’s only because the whole earth is cooking, and “we never had a say in this” either, and “even the sea will be sold”. Yet, like everything else, it’s (y)our fault: “You danced around / Damage is done / Air conditioned rooms.”

In the end, we’re a civilization of “Idiots in Love”, which could also be a Lenny Kravitz song. Idiots in love with what, though? It’s hard to tell; certainly not with each other: “There is no afterlife / I’m going home alone tonight / Border walls are gonna fall.” It sounds like some terrifying cinematic Eurodystopia: either a picture of a frantic revolution or, more likely, the quashing of one.

What we idiots are really in love with is enumerated near the album’s end on the herky-jerky, LCD Soundsystem-like funk of “False Economy”, which smashes the idols of personal indulgence, decision, and projection, and refutes the voice of public officialdom: “Your melodies and tears … public safety brief … blackmail of ‘likes’… curated playlist … endless updates … potential matches … humblebrags … tiny Ziploc bags.” These are the factitious transactions of the false economy, and the reasons why “it’s happening all because of [us]”: We feed ourselves into the system, and the system metabolizes our substance into lies that are fed back.

“I always hated what you liked,” the song’s narrator coolly declaims. “I let the market decide,” but the Dewaeles know full well that the market is the most lying system of all, and that the music Soulwax creates (and we buy, or don’t) is part of that system. They’re selling you what to feel, or at least what to think, while you listen to this enjoyable, very efficient album that never plays the wrong chord or says something stupid, doesn’t need guitars to rock, and delivers its message in concentrated and relentless doses.

The more you listen to this record, the less comforting and more frightening it becomes. It all starts on the very first track, a spacey intro (with a strong resemblance to Spoon’s “The Ghost of You Lingers”) that repeats its title, “Pills and People Gone”, some 22 times. That’s how it reads on the lyric sheet, anyway. What your ears hear, thanks to those “processed vocals”, is “pills and people get along” and the more disturbing “guilty people get along”. It’s happening all because of you. Reach for your tiny Ziploc bag, smoke and abuse it, but you can’t run free with the music. All systems are lying—including this one?

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Soulwax Rock, Sans Guitars, On 'All Systems Are Lying'
Music

Soulwax Rock, Sans Guitars, On ‘All Systems Are Lying’

by jummy84
written by jummy84

The intersection of rock and electronic music has been clusterfucked for years, and it takes extraordinary skills to stand out. Belgium’s Soulwax have been in that nexus for decades. The group’s creative core of David and Stephen Dewaele have gone from generating convincing facsimiles of grunge on their 1996 debut LP Leave the Story Untold to the leftfield-techno tracknology of 2018’s Essential. 

For All Systems Are Lying (DEEWEE/Because Music), the Dewaeles said, “We wanted to capture the feeling of a band playing electronic instruments — live, loud and loose.” Using modular synths, live drums, tapes machines, and processed vocals, Soulwax claim to have made “a rock album … without any guitars.” One quibble: All Systems only occasionally rocks. And that’s okay.

Perversely, Soulwax open with “Pills And People Are Gone,” which sounds like an end-of-the-party lament that would make Radiohead weep. “Polaris” is a suspenseful pulse-pounder, like Philip Glass jamming with Justice. The methodically percolating techno-rock of “The False Economy” scans like a denigration of social-media strategies, sung in a sneering, Trent Reznor-like tone. “Engineered Fantasy” bears the woozy, oneiric vibe of Tobacco, but with clearer, more earnest singing.

Album highlight “Run Free” rides rugged, midtempo beats, rubbery bass synths and features the best singing on the record. Flush with yearning, it’s an escapist joint with an undercurrent of peril, buoyed by an acidic 303 solo, a massive swell of synths and a chunky breakbeat. Is it rock? No… it’s better than that.

The closest Soulwax come to rock, as most know it, is “New Earth Time,” in which disaffected vocals float over a beat-heavy attack with vibrant percussion timbres and warped synth zaps. The ominous title track recalls Visage, with its nervy, swerving synth fibrillations and sharp percussion slaps. Later, robust techno beats barge in, with metallic accents and chopped-up female vocals. It’s an exemplary manifestation of Soulwax’s thesis of society’s downward spiral triggered by technology’s most nefarious side effects. And you can dance to it.

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Kevin Gates Shares Message About Life While Flirting In Bed With His New Bae (WATCH)
Celebrity News

Kevin Gates Gives Life Advice While Lying With New Girlfriend

by jummy84
written by jummy84

Kevin Gates and his new boo, Jelenny Tejada, are seemingly still solid and moving forward! She recently had him cheesing while he tried to deliver a “positive” message about letting life be. Their appearance on the ‘gram together is the second time in recent weeks that we’ve seen the rapper flexing his new romance after Dreka Gates and Brittany Renner called their “marriages” with him quits!

RELATED: A Timeline Of Kevin Gates & Dreka Gates’ Relationship Amid Her Filing For Divorce

Who Is Kevin Gates’ Bedroom Message For? 

The internet was still trying to piece together Kevin Gates’ new relationship timeline when he suddenly confirmed it had progressed in at least one way! Kevin and his new bae aren’t just popping out to functions together; they’re also spending time in bed. TSR can’t speak for what’s going down when the cameras are off, but while filming recently, Kevin Gates got on his preacher tip! Amid flirting with Jelenny Tejada after she caressed his head, Gates shared a message about the importance of letting life flow! “Wait ’til I get you by myself,” he told Jelenny.

He didn’t specify whether he was aiming it at anyone, but is it giving a little taste of shade?

“I was bout to say life is beautiful if you just let it be. Just let it be,” Kevin said before chuckling. “Yes lord.”

The first glimpse of Jelenny Tejada on Kevin Gates’ arm dropped after Louisiana State University’s football game against the Florida Gators. They were dressed glam-casual, with him in a black suit and her in a matching black halter top short dress. He released clips of them together on IShowSpeed’s stream as part of his visual for the song ‘Ima Dog.’

 

Dreka Gates Chucked Up Her Deuces After A Decade

As previously reported, Kevin parted ways with two women in his life. The most prominent update came when Dreka Gates filed for divorce in late July. As Kevin publicly flaunted other romances for years, Dreka continued to live her soft farm-loving, herb-growing, motherly side on social media. Occasionally, we’d see her and their two kids pop out to celebrate dad’s big moments. So, when she finally filed to end the marriage, social media was gagged to say the least! In her paperwork, she reportedly listed irreconcilable differences as the reason. Their date of separation? July 10 of this year, after nine years married and even more as a couple.

Is Dreka dating now? Only time will tell because the streets have not yet whispered! Earlier this year, though, she slammed longtime rumors that she cheated in her marriage with her female personal trainer.

RELATED: Clock It! Dreka Gates Breaks Silence & Addresses Allegations Of Cheating With Personal Trainer

Kevin’s Alleged Ex-Wife Is Seeking Child Support From PJ Washington

Just a few months ago, Brittany Renner was the woman Kevin Gates was bringing to livestreams with him! Let’s take it back. These days, Renner has been flexing her more risqué looks, from mini dresses to high-slit gowns. But last August, she gagged her followers when she went the conservative route with her public image, leaning into preaching Allah’s teachings from her POV and starting wearing a hijab and traditional Islam-acceptable clothing.

RELATED: Risqué Flirting To 52-Day Marriage: A Timeline Of Brittany Renner & Kevin Gates’ Relationship (VIDEOS)

By March of this year, Renner pulled up with Kevin Gates to a livestream with DDG. The two had a flirty history going back a few years. The rapper and social media influencer allegedly married about two weeks after the stream, per Brittany. Their marriage, mutual public praise, and red carpet appearances lasted 52 days. She confirmed and explained their Islam-rooted “divorce” in June.

It’s unclear where she stands regarding dating following her split. But one thing Renner is doing is filing court documents to secure and increase her child support payments from PJ Washington. The former couple co-parent their eldest child—her only one—and she’s asking the court to bump his monthly payments up to maintain a lifestyle that matches his dad’s.

RELATED: Brittany Renner Seeks MAJOR Child Support Increase To Match PJ Washington’s Lavish Lifestyle, Wife Seemingly Reacts (UPDATE)

What Do You Think Roomies?

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