issue 10 - the bumper-sized anniversary edition

updates, lots of new music and mixes, intimate live sets, crossing the harbor, Chris Evans Plays With Puppies, the FRESH by wing fryup and more

Jul 01, 2022

(note: this issue is very long and will get cut off in your email mailbox, please do click into any cuts to expand and read the full issue!)

welcome back to FRESH! it’s been a hot minute - how have you been? things have gotten busy these past few weeks and i haven’t been able to keep up with the main Sunday issues, let alone the Friday paid issues, so some housekeeping updates first:

for the meantime, paid Friday issues will be going on a hiatus - Sunday issues will switch to an ad-hoc basis. paid subscriptions will still be available if you would like to support us!
our paid subscriptions start from USD$5 a month: we’d like to keep writing as accessible as the price of a coffee ☕
you can manage and upgrade your subscription right here - thank you so much for considering a paid subscription, and we appreciate your support.

alright let’s get on with the issue - we’re on to the big 1-0, double digits of FRESH!! thank you for being here for this milestone, let’s have some fun - lots to cover from the past few weeks so we’re going to condense some parts into bullet points to cover as much as we can!

FRESH: new music

SINGLES:

Touch - Golden Features (feat. Rromarin)

some tracks you just instantly know you’ll love, even before actually hearing them. Touch is one of them for sure, and it was what Golden Features himself described the track as in his Instagram post that swayed me:

It's a song about the feeling after the rave. At the kick-on laying with your head in somebody’s lap, smoking a cigarette, listening to the birds wake up and praying the sun won’t rise.

that feeling is one i’m constantly nostalgic for, and reminds me of the concept behind Anjuna’s newest Reflections label - we went into a little about its announcement back in issue 09!

i’ve been waiting for Spencer Brown’s rework of Kx5’s Escape ever since deadmau5 himself (as his Testpilot alias) first dropped the track in this home DJ set of his. absolute banger, would go off in any warehouse rave for sure.
the long-awaited ‘Prada bag’ ID is not an ID no more - Wavedash and James Ivy make a wonderful pairing on Chicago Loop - perfectly captures that heartwarming, start-of-summer feeling.
Always Been marks I.JORDAN’s first release as their updated artist name (you may be familiar with them as India Jordan - this was their new name announcement post). another lovely, laid-back groove just in time for summer!
Phoenix is back with their first single in two years, the funky-fresh Alpha Zulu - just in time for hot indie summer! assumedly, Alpha Zulu will be part of their upcoming next album, which has yet to have a title or release date announced. more to look forward to!

EPs/LPs:

Inside Out - Tourist

Inside Out marks Englishman Tourist’s fourth studio album. it’s a wonderfully understated electronica album, even by Tourist standards - the magic in listening to this album lies in being able to quiet your senses and your mind, to tune into the delicate sounds it presents. the very first single, Your Love, still remains my favorite track off this, but We Thought You Were Sleeping has become a very close contender too.

Le Youth’s first artist album, Reminders, is a knock out the park and perfectly encapsulates his new-era progressive sound. (he’s come a long way since the days of C O O L and Dance with Me - the nostalgia!) Feel Around You is the highlight of the album for me - it touched something in my soul hearing it in mixes when it was still an ID, and discovering that it was on the album was such an “ah, finally” moment.
Anjunabeats is back with the Anjunabeats Worldwide 10 compilation, mixed by the Fatum boys. a solid hour and a half of released and unreleased Anjuna goodness - some highlights are Alex Sonata & TheRio’s powerhouse of a tune, Cala Luna, and a still yet unreleased gorgeous rendition of ALPHA 9’s Before The Dawn by none other than Grum.
G Jones and Eprom finally have a collaborative EP, Acid Disk 2, after a string of b2b sets together and their first collab track Daemon Veil from back in 2019. full of breakbeats and acid galore!
a new Flume album is always lots of fun, and Palaces is no different. Love Light and Go in particular are getting a lot of airplay from myself. head over to this interactive playlist for the full audio-visual album experience curated by Flume too!

Honestly, Nevermind - Drake

oh yes, Drake has gone House (all backlash aside), and i’m all here for it. i’ve been rooting for a More Life-vibe comeback, and here it is! quite a few electronic producers of note helped to craft the album, including Skrillex himself, Black Coffee, Gordo and Klahr. i’m honestly vibing with the whole album, but i’ve been partial to Flight’s Booked lately - maybe because i’ve been trying to book some flights of my own.

Harry’s House - Harry Styles

much has been said already about Harry’s House, here’s my two cents from my post-pop post-indie perspective - i absolutely adore it, and i fully wasn’t expecting to. i hadn’t, and still haven’t fully dug my teeth into Harry’s first two solo albums, but Harry’s House was incredibly easy to dive into as a very casual listener. Cinema may just be one of my favorite indie-pop releases of the past few years, and Late Night Talking, Daylight and Grapejuice have been the perfect sounds to lounge around the house to.

get hyped for that new incoming The 1975 album also - here’s the tracklist and title reveal!! the first single off the album, Part Of The Band, is set for a July 7th release.

MIXES:

it’s been two years since the last edition of ODESZA’s NO.SLEEP mixes, they make a triumphant return with NO.SLEEP Mix. 13! stellar tracklist all round, excellent vibes.
another change of season means another Lane 8 seasonal mixtape - here is the Summer 2022 mixtape to usher in the summer! i’m making my way through it as we speak, and Kafo by Guzy is my newest discovery from this mix.

FRESH: events and happenings

In The Forest With Porter Robinson

Electric Forest continues its reputation as a festival with magical happenings - most recently, this intimate acoustic piano Porter Robinson set, that Porter only quietly announced on his Instagram stories. enjoy this 15 minutes of bliss, and shoutout to Nancy for recording this!

Air2Bonaroo

speaking of, Porter also played another intimate set recently as his Air2Earth alias at the Bonnaroo campgrounds. (thank you Noah for recording!) without spoiling too much, the set starts off in customary airy progressive territory, but makes some bold style divergences along the way - have to agree with the pinned comment on the video, that this is perhaps the most stylistically diverse Air2Earth set we’ve seen yet, and it’s marvellous. kudos to Porter for getting some Andrew Bayer, Uppermost, Qrion, Baltra, Bonobo and EJECA into that stacked setlist, and my favorite DJ Koze remix to top it all off!

EDCLV Roundup

still not quite sure what happened during Porter Robinson’s set on Friday, and the Potaro plushie punching that was happening. Madeon’s Friday set was also a lot of fun, and Air2Earth made for a flawless daytime opening set.

as usual, here’s a playlist of songs:

MTR East Rail Line Cross Harbour Extension, feat. Local Dinosaur

Vicky Wong 黃瑋殷 @vickywong710

Dinosaur excited about new East Rail line extension

the East Rail Line extension in Hong Kong has been teased for many a year with many a delay, and it feels like a miracle that the cross-harbor link finally opened last month. as a long-term frequenter of the line, it was very surreal to ride those two extra stops for the first time.

the built-up anticipation made for some dramatic rushing-to-the-starting-line scenes at station entrances, and even an impromptu Cantonese rendition of Never Gonna Give You Up.

hoi ying @hoiying_22

Even if the happiness is something as fleeting/shallow as celebrating a celebrity’s birthday or riding the first train on a cross-harbour railway line, if it makes you happy I say go for it. The bar is low but it is what it is. God knows we need some cheer and joy in this city

FRESH: interviews

Chris Evans Plays With Puppies

America’s sweetheart-heartthrob Chris Evans has been making the rounds of press junkets for his latest film Lightyear, where he voices none other than Buzz Lightyear himself. among the many junkets, the gem is Evans’ long-awaited appearance on Buzzfeed’s celebrities-with-puppies series. this interview feels like it should belong in 2012 peak Tumblr era (with a matching GIF set to match), not in 2022, but it is much appreciated regardless.

MTV’s Josh Horowitz always does a great job of fun, insightful interviews - this time around, he grills Evans’ for the tea behind the great text battle between his Cap co-stars Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan.
also been enjoying Variety’s Actors on Actors interviews series - this Jennifer Aniston & Sebastian Stan one was a fun watch, and the iconic Zendaya & Andrew Garfield team up made for some heartwarming laughs and discussion.

FRESH: television

Ms Marvel is so much fun - she is representation done right, and honestly so cathartic to watch. i’m watching this for teenage Wing, who would’ve loved to go to AvengerCon (at Camp Lehigh no less!!)
Daredevil is finally looking like it’s officially in the works at Disney+! perhaps the series i’m looking forward to the most right now, been a long time coming since it’s cancellation on Netflix, and about time!!

Westworld also dropped a Season 4 trailer out of nowhere back in May! the first episode is now out on HBO - can’t wait to sink my eyeballs into it. S3 was a lot of futuristic dystopian fun, it was a fascinating watch and sets up so many possibilities for them to continue exploring in S4.

FRESH: cuisine

The Good Ol’ Fry Up

one of the things i miss most about living in the UK is a good ol’ fry up (in particular - bubble and squeaks. gosh). i haven’t yet found a place outside of the UK that serves up ones that hit the same way (please send me recs if you have any?), so i took matters into my own hands the other day. the FRESH by wing fryup features a cheese and leek tartlet, stir fried greens, roasted tomatoes and a hash brown to top things off. deliciously satisfying.

to take things as a metaphor - a fry-up is once again a great one for FRESH, a little bit of everything served up plate by plate, perhaps a good weekend hangover cure also.

FRESH: bling

i’ve been a bit swamped and overwhelmed with creating custom orders this past month, hence why i haven’t been able to keep up with FRESH. that said, i’m intensely grateful that i get to sell my original artwork and creations - that’s something i’ve always dreamed of doing as a child, doodling away on any scrap paper i could find. whenever the process gets stressful or demanding, i come back to that thought to remind me of what this all means to me.

collaboration between creators, particularly across art mediums, is something i greatly cherish, and i’m still so overjoyed at this illustration piece that the lovely Leire @la.indecisa drew for bling by wing. look at all the little easter egg pieces in there, look at the detail!!

blingbywing

A post shared by ✨bling by wing✨ (@blingbywing)

alright, over to you now! hit up the comments section with your thoughts, or if you enjoy a little prompting:

what was a song you just instantly knew you would love, even before actually hearing it or knowing the name of it?
which upcoming album release are you most excited for?
which food is a good metaphor for your life right now, and why?
what is your favorite iconic press junket moment?