issue 31 - let's catch up, shall we?

more health and travel updates, five weeks worth of new music, surprises from Coachella, the anti-heroes from House of the Dragon and more

hello again dear FRESHers, it’s been a while and we’ve missed you all! it’s not our regular Sunday yet, but we wanted to send you an update mid-week anyhow.

as we mentioned last issue, it indeed turned out to be a jam-packed April: after attending Creamfields, i headed straight to London for two weeks, then to Paris for a week. we’re now back at FRESH HQ’s homebase in Hong Kong, ready to kick back into speedwriting gear as we’ll be setting off once again next week! our publishing schedule may be irregular for the next month or two - please do bear with, and know that we’ll be back as soon as we can.

let’s start with housekeeping updates: in terms of recaps, we’ll be aiming to split coverage of the London and Paris adventures into two separate issues coming up, to have enough room to dedicate to all the things we want to share! this issue, we’ll catch up on Creamfields and other wider happenings the last few weeks.

FRESH: self

Rest, Recovery, Crashing and Burning

this has been my default state of mind recently

since coming back from the trip, my sleep schedule has been quite off-kilter for the past week or two. i wish i could say it was just jet lag, but i don’t reckon it is. usually i handle jet lag like a pro and sleep it off in the first day or two, so this feels very unusual for me. perhaps it’s the result of accumulated exhaustion and my body catching up to itself and demanding extended rest, which i know better than to be stubborn and fight against.

an update also from issue 29: my diet nor appetite has fully recovered yet, since the nausea debacle. i’m still way more sensitive to dairy foods than i used to be, and try to steer clear of them as much as possible. my overall food intake has also stayed reduced, mainly due to feeling hunger less often. i’m lending myself and my digestive system as much grace i can spare, and accepting that what feels best for my body might differ from socially-accepted standards, and what i’ve come to expect as ‘normal’.

FRESH: new music

we have just about 5 weeks of new music to catch up on, we’ll keep it as concise as possible:

Shield - salute

Austrian powerhouse salute is back with a new four-track EP titled Shield - his collaboration with No Rome, Run Away With You, has been one of our most anticipated releases and it does not disappoint! salute’s signature bouncy house grooves prove to be a perfect match for No Rome’s buttery smooth vocals. don’t miss the closing track Feels Like My Hands Are On Fire, a slower downtempo cut fitting for those late nights.

never worry - Snakehips

it’s been a long time coming for Snakehips’ debut album, since their early days and breakout hit All My Friends back in 2015 - but it was worth the wait! never worry is a sonically cohesive body of work that captures the British duo’s R&B-influenced production and summer poolside energy, whilst keeping it interesting with a varied roster of vocal features. notably, Tinashe returns for another iconic collaboration with the duo on the closer track Who’s Gonna Love You Tonight, their first reunion since All My Friends!

more new albums to keep your eardrums occupied:

• Secret Life - Fred again.., Brian Eno

• Arrived Anixous, Left Bored - Flume

• Pure Imagination - moistbreezy

Anjunadeep 14: Live from Qarraba Bay, Malta

keeping with tradition, label heads James and Jody have once again recorded a three hour live mix of Anjunadeep’s annual compilation of new and unreleased tracks, this time on the majestic shores of Malta! Free and Sloane + Sibs are currently firmly stuck in my head.

FRESH: events and happenings

Creamfields Hong Kong

we’ll keep it short and sweet - the highlights were hearing John Summit drop his new single with Hayla, hearing this throwback gem from Above & Beyond, and ticking off some of my 2013 bucket list ten years later by finally seeing Calvin Harris and The Chainsmokers live. tried and tested - any track off 18 Months still sounds as fresh today as they did eleven years ago.

you can find my bootleg setlist from the festival here!

Coachella 2023

proving themselves to be the kings of live music streaming, Coachella unveiled their brand new extended coverage this year, with not just three but six livestreams from each of their different stages!

over on Mainstage on Sunday, Porter Robinson performed his last US Nurture Live shows, with a surprise appearance from fellow musician Madeon to sing their collaboration Shelter - six years on from their 2017 Shelter Live Tour finale on the very same stage. the talented TEED (Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs) also made an appearance to sing a duet with Porter on their track Unfold.

on Weekend 2, surprise headliners TBA appeared on the lineup to close off Sunday - revealing themselves to be none other than Pangbourne House Mafia themselves: Skrillex, Four Tet and Fred again..! enjoy their full set below:

FRESH: television

Secret Invasion: Official Trailer

arguably, some of Marvel Studios’ finest works to date have been ones keeping a more grounded and serious tone, tackling darker thematic material: think WandaVision’s exploration of Wanda’s grief, Civil War’s legal conflict between Steve and Tony, and of course, The Winter Soldier’s incredibly personal political and moral storyline centered around Steve and Bucky.

Secret Invasion looks to be following in the footsteps of TWS, both in plot and tone - Nick Fury is back from the dead, and on a personal quest to settle a long-standing vendetta. needless to say, this trailer got our anticipation skyrocketing!

Secret Invasion lands on Disney+ June 21st - are you ready?

House of the Dragon

spoilers for the show ahead!

at least we’ll always have Episode 4.

i procrastinated for a good nine months or so, but i finally sat down to marathon the whole season of House of the Dragon recently and was oh-so pleasantly surprised - the same way i was about Rings of Power. HOTD pulls off the seemingly impossible: a reverential return to Westeros with the same level of world-building and production quality, that quickly gets you invested in a whole roster of completely new (to screen) characters.

where Game of Thrones felt all over the place at times by necessity of needing to cover so many different storylines, HOTD thrives by focusing its narrative onto a handful of key family members of the Targaryen dynasty, two centuries before the infamous Daenerys was born. instead of feeling like a sprawling war epic like GOT, HOTD reads more as a family drama with castles and dragons - it’s refreshing to have a zoomed-in take like HOTD within the vast Westeros universe. (the big, sudden time jump halfway through the season is another issue, but we’ll let it slide.)

i emerged from my marathon with a strong affinity for (pre-time jump) Rhaenyra, Criston and surprisingly, Daemon (probably because of Matt Smith). indeed, it is exhausting always rooting for the anti-heroes.

that said, it is gratifying to see these three characters in particular champion a stronger (yet still flawed) sense of agency over one’s intimate affairs, in contrast to the loveless, arranged marriages and one-sided eloping that has been the norm in not just Westeros, but a lot of television and film.

there is something to be said about our collective gravitation towards and fascination about forbidden love, and wanting what we can’t or shouldn’t have. these three certainly tick those forbidden boxes: incest, grooming and vows of chastity, to name just a few. maybe a topic for a future FRESH issue.

here’s the trailer from last July, if you need more to wet your appetite before diving in!

FRESH: design

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s Hidden Los Angeles Home

fresh off my HOTD marathon, i went back to skim through some old Game of Thrones episodes and reignited my love for Brienne of Tarth and Jaime Lannister’s road trip through Westeros in Seasons 2 to 3. in the spirit, here is Jamie Lannister himself, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, doing a show-and-tell of his Scandanavian-inspired LA home complete with resident Brienne of Tarth plushie doll.

FRESH: bling

our STARLIGHTER necklace was recently featured on Delightfultack! she’s made primarily of star-shaped and baroque pearls, and adorned with plenty of delicate faux gems.

delightfultack

A post shared by Slow Fashion Platform & Stylist (@delightfultack)

i loved this piece so much after creating it that i kept it for myself - we’re open for custom requests in this style, so shoot us a message below!

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big ups to you, for sticking through this jam-packed issue! we’ll be aiming to craft our write-ups of London and Paris soon, and get those out to you hopefully in the next few weeks. until then, take care of yourselves!

love and dragons,

wing

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

• how have you been taking care of your physical and psychological energy levels lately?

• what upcoming summer releases are you excited for?

• what are your thoughts on forbidden romance?

• who did you root for in Game of Thrones, and why?

head over to freshbywing.com to catch up on past issues of FRESH, and find us on instagram!