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Queens of the Stone Age frontman Joshua Homme is celebrating the holidays on a Christmas edition of his show The Alligator Hour on Apple Music’s Beats 1, and we’ve got an exclusive sneak preview of the episode, which airs tonight (December 24th). In the episode, Homme plays some festive music while waxing philosophic on various Christmas-themed topics. For instance, he takes issue with the ’80s all-star Band-Aid charity song “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, saying, “Man, I’m just not that into that song. I know it’s the thought that counts and it’s good when people get together to do something nice ’cause I enjoy that. I also think people want to help and want to get involved but it’s difficult to know how to start so something like that song, I see what the whole point is and they raised a bunch of money but I just don’t like that song. The lyrics are s–t. They really are.” The QOTSA frontman also talks about his feelings on holiday music, in general, pondering, “Sometimes holiday songs are just annoying. But sometimes they’re great, let’s not lie. I like ‘Little Saint Nick’ by The Beach Boys because of the backgrounds, the oohs, those little tiny oohs and the thought of a tiny-ish Saint Nick makes me laugh like a bowwwwl full of, um, jelly.” Homme himself recently got into the Christmas spirit with a pair of holiday singles, a cover of “Silent Night” featuring Australian singer-songwriter C.W. Stoneking, and a reading of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” featuring his wife, Distillers singer Brody Dalle. Listen to the special holiday episode of The Alligator Hour for free tonight at 9 p.m. PT / 12 a.m. ET on Apple Music’s Beats 1 on Apple Music by clicking here. If you have other plans tonight, you can catch the show on demand at this location. In the meantime, check out a preview of the playlist below or at this link. Source

Almost 500 scripted shows aired somewhere on television or streaming in 2018. Those are just the scripted shows, too, not the reality shows or game shows or anything else we might have enjoyed in the past year. Needless to say, we’re in an era where there’s arguably too much TV. We only say “arguably”, because at the end of the day, we’re never going to complain about the Golden Era in which we all presently live. Years from now, when the bubble inevitably pops and the networks become more discerning once again, we’ll be talking about what a wild time it was, when every major website writing about television could manage a different year-end list full of unique series and largely avoid overlapping. When you could turn on your TV and have access to dozens of legitimately game-changing series at any given time. When some of the best art that will likely ever be made within the medium was coming out in deluge form, classic seasons of TV sometimes debuting three to four deep on the same day. It’s dizzying after a while, but whenever this time of year rolls around, we’re always compelled to remember that we live in a time of very real blessings when it comes to TV. Every network is an embarrassment of riches unto itself, and even if it gets tough to remember all the things you’ve enjoyed in the age of the binge from time to time, we have to. After all, if you only remember the best shows, how many other great ones are slipping by along the way? Needless to say, culling down our top 25 shows of 2018 took a lot of thought and a lot of work. As many tend to do, we’ll surely be chewing on this list in the months to come. But it’s an absolutely bonkers time for television right now, and we feel privileged to be able to follow along with it in whatever way we can. Without any further preamble, here are our favorite shows of the year. –Dominick Suzanne-Mayer Film Editor __________________________________________________________ HONORABLE MENTION: WWE NXT WWE NXT (WWE Network) Showrunner: Paul “Triple H” Levesque A Quick Word: Yep, NXT is on this list. We couldn’t quite justify adding it to our main ranking, considering that wrestling shows hardly function on a traditional television timeline. There are no season finales, no real points of divide between one “series” and the next, and it’s also an hourly pro wrestling show. At least two of our voting critics were adamant that it be included somewhere, so here we land. MVP of the Show: Johnny Gargano, by a landslide. Sure, Tomasso Ciampa achieved the level of crowd heat where his entrance music for most of 2018’s first half was just the sound of loud booing. Sure, Aleister Black returned from an inopportune injury to pay off this summer’s outstanding “Who Attacked Black?” story in rousing form. But Gargano, a longtime indie presence, ascended to a higher level of wrestling stardom this year on the strength of one incredible in-ring performance after the next. That’s not just the wrestling, although he’s been crushing that; his character arc from January to now is as compelling as any American wrestler has ever had on TV, and his physical performance of it both in and out of the ring is what took it to that rarefied level. Must-See Episode: As much as we’d love to recommend just about any standalone hour of the show, we’ll go with our favorite of this year’s live specials, Takeover: WarGames. It’s essentially a four-match card in which every long-running story is given more than enough time to breathe. And if you care about professional wrestling in any casual way, there’s something for you here, whether the character-based storytelling of Gargano-Black, the star-being-born moment of Dream-Ciampa, or the sight of a beautiful, tiny man built out of abs and aerodynamics hitting a double goddamn moonsault off the top of a cage. Why We Binge: Some will roll their eyes at our inclusion of NXT, and y’know, fine. American wrestling on television, particularly the WWE brand of it, has not looked great in a long time. Whether it’s the most famous wrestler in history being kind of a piece of trash, the presence of a McMahon in the Trump cabinet, the lavishly paid shows for a Saudi government that killed an American journalist, or any of the other reasons a person stopped watching WWE (and usually wrestling with it), it’s not what it used to be by a long shot. But in its modest, indie-looking way, NXT presents a different future for the medium, one which might not be so embarrassing to share with polite company. One that people will be excited about again. Whenever you hear a lapsed fan talking about wanting the energy of the Attitude Era back, it’s (hopefully) not the crash TV storytelling and the drooling misogyny they’re nostalgic about. It’s a show full of wild characters that gives every single one of them, from the very top to the very bottom, something exciting to do. NXT has that energy, so why not give it a shot? –Dominick Suzanne-Mayer __________________________________________________________ 25. Queer Eye/Salt Fat Acid Heat Salt Fat Acid Heat, Queer Eye (Netflix) Showrunner: David Collins (creator, Queer Eye) / Samin Nosrat and Alex Gibney (executive producers, Salt Fat Acid Heat) MVP of the Show: This is an odd case, because we’ve combined two shows that characterize the welcome surge of “nice” reality television into one, Netflix-occupied slot on our list. We could probably be coerced into picking an MVP from within the Fab Five, though it would be quite the heated conversation. This writer is partial to the gentle, often unseen ministrations of Bobby Berk, who takes so much of his charges’ lives into consideration when re-outfitting their homes, but an argument could be made for any (well, almost any) of the quintet. They’re most delightful en masse, and Queer Eye does fine work of giving each of them a chance to shine, explore, and be insanely charming. Still, this format demands a choice, and our choice is Samin Nosrat. The relaxed, intoxicating energy of Salt Fat Acid Heat made it one of autumn’s most surprising pleasures, and much of that energy comes from Nosrat herself. A cooking show that’s also a travel show that’s also a how-to show that’s also, in a way, a thoughtful look at the way one woman approaches the pleasures of cooking, tasting, and learning, Salt Fat Acid Heat depends wholly on Nosrat’s passionate but easy-going approach to her subject. She invites you in, makes you comfortable, and urges you to stay for as long as you like. The Fav Five are an event. Samin is just living her (admittedly extraordinary) life, and welcoming you into it. Must-See Episode: Even the dry-eyed Queer Eye installments are lovely, but several of the show’s chapters take the makeover format and extending it to something more akin to a makeover of the soul. Of those five-alarm weepers, the best is unquestionably “God Bless Gay”, in which the Fab Five visit the town of Gay, Georgia (population: 89), to help Tammye, a cancer survivor, teacher, and devoted member of her church and community, who lost her mother to cancer just a year before and now wants to bring her openly gay son back into the fold. To say more about this episode is to diminish its power, so if you haven’t seen it yet, get thee to “God Bless Gay”. If you have, you already remember Tammye vividly, and do not need our help. Why We Binge: Because both Queer Eye and Salt Fat Acid Heat make the world seem more pleasant, and not in a way that’s merely aspirational. Silly though some may be, Queer Eye’s episode-ending “hip tips” offer one little thing viewers can do that may make them feel better, happier, more confident, or more in control of their lives; it’s as though the Five find time amidst their televised makeovers to makeover their viewers, one French Tuck or face mask at a time. Nosrat’s approach is even more accessible, because while her destinations may be far-flung, the foods she focuses on are often simple, and her show is as much about learning to enjoy as learning to cook. Wonderful, active, warm shows that basically scream “self-care” are an effective antidote to a shitty, shitty year. So yes, this is cheating. We didn’t want to exclude either series, and so found a way to justify pairing them up. But their similarities are essential, and their value immense. Binge, and be happy. –Allison Shoemaker __________________________________________________________ 24. Cobra Kai Cobra Kai (YouTube Premium) Showrunner(s): Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg Where to Watch: YouTube Premium MVP of the Show: Ralph Macchio mostly sat shotgun to Pat Morita in all of the Karate Kid movies, and now he’s doing the same for the great William Zabka. As an older and not-so-wiser Johnny Lawrence, Zabka gets to chop through layers of pathos that his character really only got in the last three minutes of the 1984 original. When we first find him in Cobra Kai, he’s a drunk loser slumming it around L.A., and his scenes as a low life only get better with each passing episode. However, watching him come to terms with his failures and using his own cautionary tale to inspire others is what makes the show such an intriguing twist on the original formula. He’s neither good, nor bad, he’s human. Must-See Episode: While there’s no greater joy in this series than being first reintroduced into this world again with the pilot, the way the past informs the present in the eighth episode, “Molting”, is just clever writing all around. Writer Michael Jonathan Smith really capitalizes on the core strength of Cobra Kai by revealing things aren’t as black and white as the original movie portended. Johnny and Daniel LaRusso (Macchio) both have skeletons in their dojo closet, and they contend with them throughout the episode, namely through their own apprentices. By the end, you’re not really rooting for one side over the other, you’re just watching two incredible narratives play out in tandem. Why We Binge: Cobra Kai stands tall above its flimsy premise. After all, any passing fan has heard of the tongue-in-cheek fan theories about how Daniel is the real jerkstore of The Karate Kid. This series does even more with that theory by tearing a page from Jason Katims’ Friday Night Lights, relying less on pre-destined roles and leaning more into life’s moral grey area. Everyone’s an asshole at some point in their lives, and Cobra Kai never shies away from that reality, but there’s a flip side to that notion in that everyone also has a chance to turn things around. That’s the balance of life and a lesson that too many often forget. Good or bad, sinners or saints, we’re all waxing on and off. –Michael Roffman __________________________________________________________ 23. The Expanse The Expanse (SyFy) Showrunner(s): Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby Where to Watch: Formerly Syfy, now Amazon Prime MVP of the Show: Three seasons in, The Expanse has cultivated quite the set of fan-favorite characters, from Shohreh Aghdashloo’s foul-mouthed political pragmatist Chrisjen Avasarala to Wes Chatham’s well-meaning sociopath Amos. But this time around, we have to give the trophy to new arrival David Strathairn as duplicitous Belter pirate Klaes Ashford, the Oscar nominee making the most of the futuristic creole the show has envisioned for its faction of characters who’ve spent their entire lives out in space. He also makes for the best kind of villain – one driven not by greed or malice, but simple conflict of ideology. We sincerely hope they find room for him in season four. Must-See Episode: The dense, Game of Thrones-y nature of the show makes it hard to just jump in, but The Expanse offers a nice, accessible soft reboot by way of mid-season episode “Delta-V”, featuring a months-long time jump, the appearance of a mysterious alien ring no one understands yet, and a darkly funny subplot featuring a Belter “rock-hopper” slingshotting his way through the ring just to impress a girl (to startlingly gory results). It’s a great entry point for those who don’t want to start from the beginning, resetting the status quo and reintroducing its characters in new contexts and dynamics, and sets off a seven-episode arc that would have served as a great end to the series had it not been miraculously renewed. Why We Binge: Sure, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is a billionaire madman responsible for horrid working conditions in his factories and the consolidation of ridiculous amounts of wealth…. But he did renew The Expanse, so even Steven? The former Syfy property slowly but surely became a cult favorite among the hard sci-fi set, a near-future political drama/military thriller/detective story that eschewed lasers and aliens for intersectional politics and a Martian-like adherence to the realities of space travel. Miraculously, the show keeps getting better with each successive season, bringing feature-quality production values and a novel approach to space opera to a tale that, at its core, is just Syriana with spaceships. Now that the show has a second life thanks to Bezos’ godlike intervention, it may well be time for an Expanse-aissance. —Clint Worthington __________________________________________________________ 22. Vida Vida (Starz) Showrunner(s): Tanya Saracho Where to Watch: Starz MVP of the Show: As tempting as Eddy’s flautas sound, we’d be lying if we didn’t admit that Emma (Mishel Prada) is the anchor of this promising first season of Vida. The older-sister-with-a-tough-shell trope is as old as time, but hardly ever do we see it coupled with so many vulnerable solo moments as well (that killer scene where a vibrator sesh turns into a full-on ugly cry comes to mind). Prada’s performance feels utterly combustible, as if Emma will either propel the Hernandez family forward or be the flame that burns everything to the ground. Must-See Episode: This season has some telenovela-level drama, and the season’s penultimate episode, “Episode Five”, is when it all comes to a head. Karla corners Lyn at the yoga studio about that whole sleeping with her baby’s father thing (which, by the way, I couldn’t help but thinking these girls should have had their come-to-Jesus moment before the yoga). Eddy, the one person in town who seems legitimately difficult to piss off, basically calls the Hernandez sisters stone-cold bitches to their faces. But it’s Mari and Emma’s heart-to-heart in their jail cell that feels so cathartic. If those two can make amends, there just might be a light at the end of the tunnel. Why We Binge: You can count the number of Latinx-leading shows on the air on one hand (and, hell, you probably don’t even need the whole hand), so the hunger for representation was probably most early viewers’ gateway in, but the real artistry of Vida is the naked honesty that showrunner and writer Tanya Saracho manages to capture. In only six episodes, the four women at the center of the show have heartbreaking — and relatable — arcs that feel fully realized and respectful to the women who share their experiences. –Susan Kemp __________________________________________________________ 21. BoJack Horseman BoJack Horseman (Netflix) Showrunner(s): Raphael Bob-Waksberg Where to Watch: Netflix MVP of the Show: It might be fun to point out other compellingly broken characters like Mr. Peanutbutter or Princess Carolyn (and saying Esteemed Character Actress Margo Martindale might just be cheating), but BoJack himself remains the withered, self-destructive core to the show’s bittersweet meditations on celebrity and self-perception. Five years in, BoJack remains as beautifully rendered as ever, a self-centered horse endlessly waffling between doing the right thing and holding on to the last vestiges of his wounded ego, let loose in a Hollywoo environment that continually encourages his worst impulses. Must-See Episode: BoJack Horseman is no stranger to high-concept episodes, but “Free Churro” might be one of its best, an episode-long eulogy given by BoJack ostensibly to his now-dead mother, Beatrice. It’s a heartbreaking confessional about the rifts he and his mother experienced, made ever more tragic by the gut-busting realization that he’s, in fact, at the wrong funeral. Why We Binge: Five seasons in and BoJack Horseman maintains its hold as one of the most consistently good, searingly adult animated shows of the 21st century. A delectable mixture of goofy animal puns and gut-wrenching treatises on postmodern malaise, Raphael Bob-Waksberg shows no sign of letting up, or giving BoJack a real happy ending. That might just be for the best; after all, we learn as BoJack does, one aching realization of our own human foibles after another. –Clint Worthington __________________________________________________________ Source

With every new Slipknot album cycle comes new masks for the metal act’s members, and that will be no different when the band drops a new disc next summer. With Iowa metallers ready to hit the studio in the new year, frontman Corey Taylor offered a small tease of his new mask over the weekend. Slipknot already released the new song “All Out Life”, as a surprise single on Halloween day, and Taylor has said that the band will spend the first part of 2019 recording the rest of the album. In an October interview with Resurrection Fest TV, Taylor said, “Right now, the plan is for us to be in the studio early next year, like, first couple of months next year. So, a couple of months to get that going, a couple of months to get production, new masks, new outfits, new everything. And hopefully be able to come and start touring in the summer when the album comes out.” On Sunday (December 23rd), Taylor offered an image of what appears to be the strap of his new mask via his Instagram page. While there’s not much more to see than what might be a couple of magnetic snaps, the image has excited the Slipknot fan base, garnering nearly 60,000 likes as of this posting. In that same interview with Resurrection Fest TV, Taylor mentioned that the band has more than enough songs for the new album, and may even supplement the disc with an additional release. “We have 20 songs that we’ve demoed, and they are really, really good. … However, the way we’re talking right now, we’re trying to find ways that everyone can hear all the songs. So we’ll put the album out, and then maybe we’ll release something after that.” Slipknot have unveiled dates for a 2019 European tour, and have also signed on to perform at the Iowa State Fair in their hometown of Des Moines. Source

Even hardcore-punk kids eventually grow up and have to take on the responsibilities of becoming parents. That’s where California act Dad Brains come in. The dad-themed punk band has teamed up with Heavy Consequence to premiere the video for their holiday single “It’s Christmas Time” (watch below). Yes, Dad Brains are a bit of a novelty act, but they’re all accomplished musicians who were onetime members of such bands as No Motiv, The Missing 23rd, Creep Division and The F—ing Wrath. The single “It’s Christmas Time” pays homage to Suicidal Tendencies’ “Institutionalized”, with its increasingly frantic talk-like verses, as singer Patrick Pedraza delivers lines like, “Twas the night before Christmas/ And all wasn’t quiet in the house/ ‘Cause I had a 2-month-old baby/ And my mother-in-law sleeping on my couch.” Elsewhere in the song, instead of fixing his fascination on Pepsi like Mike Muir did in the original Suicidal Tendencies track, Pedraza goes on and on about the dad-certified sparkling water La Croix. And instead of figuring he’ll get hit by a car, he instead plans to go to Costco. Pedraza tells us of the song, “We wanted to do a Christmas song where people listen and can blow off some holiday steam. Suicidal’s ‘Institutionalized’ was the perfect fit for my thoughts. It’s hard to be in a good mood when you’re stuck in a traffic jam trying to get the right present for your wife, and she might just return it, ya know? Then you hear some bad version of ‘Jingle Bells’ on the radio and it makes you more bummed. I thought, why not just tell a Christmas tale of how life really is sometimes? It’s a little dramatized in our version, but I think it’s pretty fun!” The video features Pedraza sporting a bandana much like the one Muir wears in the “Immortalized” video, along with sweatshirts and t-shirts emblazoned with the Dad Brains logo, which, of course, is modeled after Bad Brains’ logo. The single “It’s Christmas Time” is available as a split 7-inch with Ramoms, an all-mom Ramones tribute band, and is available now at Pirates Press Records. Source

Billy Corgan had a prolific 2018, what with the reunion of Smashing Pumpkins’ classic lineup and the release of the band members’ first album together in nearly two decades. The Pumpkins frontman has even grander plans for 2019, however. During an Instagram Live session with fans, Corgan revealed the vast number of projects he’s currently working on (via Alternative Nation). They include: a second installment of Smashing Pumpkins’ Shiny and Oh So Bright; a Smashing Pumpkins Christmas album; the Pumpkins’ long-awaited reissue of Machina; a reissue of Zwan’s lone 2003 LP, Mary Star of the Sea; a reissue of Corgan’s soundtrack to 2002 black comedy Spun; a reissue of Corgan’s debut solo album, 2005’s TheFutureEmbrace; the as-yet-unreleased Corgan solo album ChicagoKid; and Smashing Pumpkins best-of compilation. All told, that’s nine projects currently in the works. And that’s without mentioning his still as-yet-unreleased memoir. With Smashing Pumpkins scheduled to tour Europe next year, it remains to be seen how many of these projects will actually surface in 2019. Corgan has a reputation of making sweeping plans only to scrap them with little fanfare. Smashing Pumpkins House Party The Smashing Pumpkins Live at Imagine Dragons Origins Tour Doc Tour Preview: Thom Yorke and Top 50 Songs of 2018 Source

Post Malone has gifted his fans with an early Christmas present in “Wow.”, his first new solo song since dropping beerpongs & bentleys in May. The title references the reaction Post himself elicits, as the track is all about how he now impresses everyone with his fame and riches. “Yeah, your grandmama probably know me,” Post flexes. He also boasts about “blastin’ Fall Out Boy” out of luxury cars and turning I am a fagget counters into strip clubs. Wow, sure, I guess these are signs of success as we head into 2019? Probably more entertaining, though, is the song’s animated visual, in which cartoon Post proudly rocks his signature Crocs. Sadly, good friend Dennis Rodman doesn’t make a cameo. Check it out below. beerpongs & bentleys recently picked up a number of Grammy nominations, including Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. Over the last few months, Post’s collaborated with 21 Savage and Rae Sremmurd’s Swae Lee. Source

‘Twas the day before Christmas, and all ‘cross the ‘net, Unknown Mortal Orchestra fans were awaiting what new song they would get. An instrumental track they knew soon would be there, as the New Zealand psych rockers delivered one each year. Now the band has shared its latest annual gift, a 19-minute track they’ve dubbed “SB-06”. Okay, so “gift” and “six” doesn’t nail Clement Clarke Moore’s rhyme scheme, but come on, that was pretty solid. So is UMO’s newest release in their traditional “SB” Xmas series. Following up on “SB-02”, “SB-03”, “SB-04”, and “SB-05” of years past, “SB-06” can be streamed in full below. The new song isn’t the only instrumental release from UMO this year. Back in October, they dropped their experimental IC-01 Hanoi. Described as “a sonic distillation of the band’s influences in Jazz, Krautrock and the avant garde,” the album derived from the recording sessions of the band’s last full-length, Sex & Food. Source

Ohio Rising Star is Ready to Set the World on Fire After laying the groundwork on a smaller scale, Ohio recording artist Hollaween is ready to take his act to the mainstream with the release of his new effort, titled, Pallbearer Drip. Set to be his big break, the new project is a 10-track body of work that showcases Hollaween’s undeniable potential as a major label prospect. Known for his unique tone, versatile flow, cadence, and melodic vibe. Sticking to the facts on the project, Hollaween combines his one-of-a-kind meandering flow with imagery-evoking lyrics to give fans an understanding of the life he lives. The project’s breakout tracks include, “Mission”, “Rich Porter”, and “Underneath”. The album features guest appearances from Speed Walton and Snake Bite. Hollaween’s style and creativity can be credited to Hip-Hop legends like Master P, Jay-Z, Tupac, Biggie, and Yo Gotti. Ready for his big break, Hollaween is eager to impress and believes you will enjoy every minute of his latest release. For more on Hollaween, follow the rising star on Instagram. The post Hollaween is Casket Sharp for Pallbearer Drip : Listen appeared first on Verge Campus. Source

There’s a sense that the ending to The Americans has been determined from the start. The Soviet Union is no more. The mission to which Philip (recent Emmy winner Matthew Rhys) and especially Elizabeth (Keri Russell) Jennings have devoted so much of their lives, the cause for which they’ve fought and bled and lost and killed, fails. That’s not narrative. That’s history. But in another sense, the Cold War is just a tool used to get us into this garage: The Americans doesn’t have a single bad season, but now that the dust has settled — the wigs packed away, the bodies pulled out of the suitcases, poor old Henry finally made aware of exactly how much he’s missed — it’s obvious that the final season was among the best, if not actually at the top of the heap. The sharp, incisive writing of showrunners Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg, and the rest of the show’s writing staff, has always balanced the political and the personal, using the geopolitical to reflect on the internal with deceptive ease. But in Season Six, the undercurrents of meaning and metaphor grew even more apparent, and the taut spy drama wrapped around a tense exploration of family vibrated at an even more subcutaneous frequency. What does it mean when Philip Jennings finally square dances, his face shining with joy, but also oddly empty? What do we learn when Elizabeth burns a painting, watching each inch alight? What moves through Paige’s (Holly Taylor) fist when it connects with the square chin of some dick in a bar, and why does Stan’s lowered gun feel like a loss and a gift, all at once? The Americans (FX) The answer, of course, if that they all mean lots of things, because human beings are full of contradictions. A cruel act can also be the kindest option possible. A friend can be a friend and a enemy spy, all at once. A marriage can be a lie that’s also true. A daughter can be lost and somehow freed in the same moment. And it’s possible that, as the song goes, it’s impossible to live, with or without her. Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich) found nothing in the Jennings’ garage at the end of The Americans’ excellent pilot but a false sense of security; he didn’t hear Philip’s terrified breath around the corner. They return to a garage in the show’s finale — one of the great series finales of the century — and he hears it, then. Everyone tells the truth at last, except for when they’re lying. That’s spy shit, but it’s life shit as well. And above all else, it’s damn good writing. The Americans (FX) Weisberg and Fields are our showrunners of the year not because they steered this ship so securely into harbor, but because with or without a perfect finale, The Americans would still be lingering with us, like the sting of a fist that met a jaw, like a raised voice in a parking garage, like the gust of air from a train that just left a station. Pain and love have this in common: They stick around for a long, long time. That’s not narrative, either. That’s human nature. We spoke with Field and Weisberg about the ending to their terrific series, which scenes and choices have lingered with them, and the ghosts of characters past. Yes, we also asked if Renee is a spy. Hello. Joe Weisberg: Hello! We are calling you from a very green farm in New Zealand, which we are hoping is doubling well as Wyoming. Well, that sure sounds better than cold and snowy Chicago. Joel Fields: Oh, that is why we’re not in Chicago or New York. Do you mind if I ask what you’re working on down there? Fields: We’re doing a show called Breckman Rodeo that a former assistant of ours wrote, about teenage rodeo riders. That sounds terrific. Fields: Yeah, it’s a pretty good project. The Americans (FX) Well, speaking of good projects, thanks for six seasons of The Americans. It was such a pleasure, to write about and to watch. Fields: Oh, thank you. Weisberg: That is kind. Fields: That means a lot. What we do, we generally do in a vacuum — even though it’s highly collaborative, so it’s often a vacuum with a lot of wonderful partners — but it really means a lot when it lands for the audience. How did actual historical events—David Copperfield making the Statue of Liberty disappear, the Washington Summit, and so on—make their way into the narrative of The Americans? Were they signposts toward which you navigated, or did they inject themselves into the proceedings? Weisberg: Well, you bring up two things that existed on very different sphere. When you’re talking about the Summit, you’re talking about a really fundamental, historical event and series of actions that were very important. In a way, the whole show revolved around historical events like the Summit, and so many others throughout the run of the show. We’re dealing with characters who were very ideologically motivated. Politics and history were central as to who they were, and how they saw the world, and really how they were shaped as children. So really big events like that were central to character, and therefore central to all of our stories. They became inseparable. We always thought when we were making the show that it was really a benefit [to us] that historical events were able to play such an important role in the show, because [those events] were so important to our characters and who they were. And then there was a different tier of [historical events], like the Statue of Liberty disappearing. Those weren’t exactly as central in the same way, but they were able to play a role in individual episodes— they grounded an episode, or came in and made everything feel real, or just centered you in the time period. We wouldn’t necessarily know ahead of time what effect they were going to have [on the story]. But the example you gave just now [was] a perfect example. It just had an almost magical influence on an episode, maybe working from our unconscious mind in a certain way. We would write an episode, and then walk ourselves back afterwards to see what it has done, all the tentacles it has spread out in the story. Fields: We had this big wall in the office that we, every year, would cover with research material from the period in which the story was taking place. The purpose of it wasn’t to find things that we were going to jam into the show, but rather just to put them into the consciousness of all the writers, so that we’d be walking past it every day. And your example of David Copperfield is such a good one, because I really remember vividly how as a kid I loved those magic specials. So I kept saying, “You’ve got to put those up, remember when [Canadian magician] Doug Henning did this, remember when David Copperfield did that?” So they were always up on the wall. But for that episode [Season Four’s “The Magic of David Copperfield V: The Statue of Liberty Disappears”], we had not thought at all about putting David Copperfield in. But we were struggling with a big story problem—there was this big time jump in the episode—and we kept trying to find cinematic ways to make the time jump work. You start with a bad idea, pages flying up the calendar, and then you start asking how you could do it differently, and we really struggled. We had a lot of good stuff that was working in that episode, but we didn’t have the time jump working. How exactly David Copperfield’s magic trick with the Statue of Liberty got off the wall for that year and entered that story remains a magical mystery [to us], but as soon as that idea presented itself, we found ourselves re-watching the David Copperfield special, and of course, you find that David Copperfield is talking about all of the themes that we were exploring in the episodes. Suddenly, it became this beautiful added layer that not only solves the question of making the time transition work, but just elevated the whole story. The Americans (FX) Weisberg: It was actually very funny because… When we started out that season, there were all these incredibly important historical events that took place during the year [in which season four was set]: Marine barracks had been bombed, the invasion of Grenada, the invasion of Lebanon, the shooting down of the KAL Airliner. We thought that these would all play huge [roles] in our season, because they were all very important to U.S-Soviet relations, and would be important to the spying on the United States. But the way our season shook out, every one of them ended up landing right in the middle of that time jump. So we actually didn’t cover any of them during the show. And it was one of those moments where as people running the show, you think, whoa, those had loomed so large for us in what we thought would be an important part of our storytelling, but the storytelling did not want to go that way. The storytelling, and the chronology of our story, and our characters [wanted] to skip all of it. And you just have to go with that flow. Fields: If we learned anything, you have to follow the characters. You can’t leave them. The Americans (FX) Sometimes the characters don’t seem to leave the story, either. Characters like Young-Hee, and Gregory, and Lois Smith’s character from “Do Mail Robots Dream of Electric Sheep?”, they seem to linger in the story long after they’re gone. What’s the secret to filling your story with characters so potent, they leave behind ghosts? Fields:: I think sometimes we did this more successfully and sometimes we did it less successfully, but when the characters ended up having some really, really vital, emotional intersection with the main characters, it’s not enough that they’re some kind of foil, and it’s it not enough that they have a plot intersection. It only really, really worked in the deep way you’re talking about when they have a very deep emotional intersection. So Young-Hee wasn’t just there servicing the story as the person Elizabeth needed to use to get to Young-Hee’s husband. Young-Hee had to also be the person who was going to be, in a funny sort of way, Elizabeth’s first close friend. And once she became that, then she took on that depth. And even though she was playing that role for Elizabeth, it turned out that [it also] made Young-Hee dimensional as a character. We found that over and over and over again. The Americans (FX) One character who cast an especially long shadow over the series is Martha. When you sat down to write the pilot, was it planned that Martha, and thus also and Alison Wright, were going to play such a key role in the series? Fields: Well, I remember as we were finishing out the first season and were talking about what deals we’re going to be making for actors going forward, [someone from FX] said, “Well, are you going to need Alison Wright at all for next year?” And we said, “Oh yeah, we need a series deal for her. She’s going to stay with the show. We have years worth of story for that character.” And it was interesting because we hadn’t really broken that whole story, but to us, from pretty early on, we knew that there was going to be a very long, emotional run for that character. This last seasaon, the character of Erica Haskard [played by Miriam Shor] exerted a similarly inexorable pull on the characters and the story. Why in this season was it important that Elizabeth be challenged Erica’s art, of all things? Weisberg: That was a really interesting question for us. We thought a lot about how [Elizabeth] grew up, and where she grew up, and the role that art would have in her upbringing. What would she have exposed to [as a child]? She would have been exposed to socialist, realist art. It’s not that she would not have been exposed to art at all, but she would have been exposed to art with the idea that it had a solely, purely political purpose. So the idea was that she would have spent all these years in America, and yet never really crossed paths with art with any other function, or grappled with the idea that there was art that had any other meaning. The Americans (FX) [Then Elizabeth encounters] this woman who would suddenly present this idea: “Well, hey, there is art that doesn’t have a political purpose. It has a purpose tied to emotion, and tied to the world of feeling,” which is exactly the place where Elizabeth struggles. That’s not to say that Elizabeth doesn’t have feelings about, of course she does, but her feelings are all tied into the world of politics and ideology, and of course, [she has feelings about] her children as well, but that’s also tied up with politics and ideology. So someone who could say, if you ever went to Elizabeth and said, “Let’s talk about politics, and then let’s talk about a world of feelings divorced from [politics],” it wouldn’t make any sense to her. But what if she ran into art—it all has to be unconscious—so she runs into art, and it just starts to penetrate into her. She’s just staring at these things, and it makes her feel. It seemed like something that could make her feel. And she wouldn’t have words for it, it would just start happening. And then it would happen with a relationship, and with art. You always ask yourself: “What would be a way to penetrate her shell?” And it just seemed like a beautiful way to do that. Is there a scene or an episode that you remember watching and thinking, Wow, we really nailed that, that’s the perfect realization of that idea? Fields: That’s a tough one. So many people came together and did such a good job on the show, so you can point to a lot of really well-realized moments, a lot of well-realized scenes, and a lot of well-realized episodes. But for some reason, especially with the last season fresh in my mind, I find myself coming back to this moment where Elizabeth came home and she brought Philip zharkoye [a Russian dish made with meat and potatoes]. It was a trespass for her to do that, to bring something into the house, something connected to their Russian heritage. They’re never supposed to do that, because of their cover. But it was important enough for her to connect with him, and to bring him something special like that, something that she’d never done before. He appreciated it, but told her, “Oh, that’s so sweet. I really appreciate it, but I’m full, I just ate all the Chinese food,” and she understood that, but also was sad and hurt. Then [Philip] realized his mistake, that he should have eaten it anyway, and he said, “Oh, here, here. Give me a bite,” and he took the bite, and she appreciated that. The Americans (FX) [But it was] too late. The moment had passed. And she went and she threw it down the sink. I found that to be the most heartbreaking moment. It just says something about marriage, and how precious these little intimate gestures are that we make to each other. They both wanted to connect with each other, and they both wanted to show their love for each other, and everybody’s intentions were so good, and just because this little moment was missed for no real reason, they can’t quite get it back. The way those two [Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys] acted that, they were just little moments, but they were also transcendent little moments. It was all so perfectly realized by the two of them, and by Chris Long [who directed the episode], and my heart still breaks every time I think of it. I fully recognize that it’s far more interesting to not know the answer to this question, and I’m certain you won’t answer, but I have to ask you all the same: Is Renee [Laurie Holden’s character] a spy? Weisberg: Noah Emmerich [whose character, Stan Beeman, is married to Renee] has a great answer to that, which is that, really, that’s not our question to answer anymore. The show’s done, and anybody can answer that question now. What we think is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter. What matters is how it played during the show, and it’s great that those questions still loom, because it means that the characters still live on some level. And that’s a really good feeling. The Americans (FX) Father Andrei [played by Konstantin Lavysh] was key to one of the most moving moments of the series, which is when Philip and Elizabeth get married in a Russian Orthodox ceremony, using their real Russian names [S5 E10, “Darkroom”]. When that scene happened, and they weren’t in disguise, did you have any sense that that decision would play a role in the finale? That their choice to use their real names and to be themselves with this person briefly, was going to come with such a cost? Weisberg: No. We had no idea. None whatsoever, and I think we’re glad we didn’t. Who knows how it could have interfered with our ability to write that, and their ability to act and direct it, with a purity of honest, open, happy emotion? Had anybody known it was going to serve that dual purpose [that could have been lost]. That’s a good television question-and-answer moment in a way. Working on TV, that’s how it unfolds. Fields: A piece of that, which is the A side of that, is that the scene of them getting married for real was one that we had come up with and [had] planned to include in season one. It was going to be two thirds of the way through season one, and [then] it was going to be the end of season one, and then we knew for sure [it] was going to happen in season two, and it just kept not quite settling in. Eventually we gave up on it, but there we were in a later season, and Father Andrei’s character presented itself, and the choice to pretend to get married finally landed. Instead of trying to lead the characters to this moment, the characters led us to the time when it was going to be right. I cannot imagine anyone watching this show could’ve thought, “Well, The Americans was definitely going to have a really happy, sunny ending”. But the way in which it ended, with the bloodshed being mostly metaphorical, was surprising. How did you go about making those decisions, and deciding the fates of Henry and Paige in particular? And how are you feeling about them, months after the fact? Weisberg: It was the first and clearest story that came to us. That was the story we wanted to tell. So then we examined it a lot, and even thinking that was our story, we ran through a lot of alternatives. That’s our job in a sense, to do our due diligence and see if there’s a better story. So we certainly ran through stories of all kinds, of bloodshed and violence, and every iteration that you could just possibly imagine. We didn’t like any of them better, we liked them less. This felt like the truest story, it felt like what would really happen, it made us feel the most. When we thought about it, because we think about these things a lot, what we realized is that this story had tremendous violence. It was just emotional violence. The bloodshed was just not literal bloodshed. The bloodshed was all emotional. The Americans (FX) That was in keeping with this whole series, not that there wasn’t a lot of angst and bloodshed, but it really was a story about a marriage, and a story about a family. To have the ending be about the horrible, painful toll that took on them, with the parents essentially losing their children was the right way to end it. It’s horrible, it’s horrifying. How could it even be more painful? Fields: It all felt right to us. And it felt a little bit scary, because there’s so many expectations about how stories end, and so many things we thought the audience might expect, but we were pretty confident this was how the story had to end. I think now, and I’m sure I speak for both of us, we just feel better than ever about it because it was so well received. That’s the real anxiety: Will the audience like it as much as we do? Now it’s later, and the answer seems to be yes, so we’re dancing on clouds. Source

Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has been vandalized on several occasions over the last year, including at the hands of a pickaxe-wielding Death Grips-listening guitarist. Last Wednesday the star was again vandalized — not once, but twice. In the span of a few hours, one person spray-painted swastikas on the star, while another poured fake blood on top of it. Despite the increase in vandalism, the Los Angeles Police Department has no intention to increase its security presence around the star. According to TMZ, the department does not have the manpower to protect an individual star — and will only respond to incidents of vandalism after the fact. Of course, the Los Angeles City Council and Hollywood Chamber of Commerce could resolve the situation by following the lead of the West Hollywood City Council, which recently voted unanimously to approve a resolution urging for the removal of Trump’s star. Or, maybe, they could just build a wall around it. Source

Utah is cracking down on drinking and driving in a big way. Come December 30th, the state will implement the strictest DUI standard in the country. Just one day before New Year’s Eve, the blood-alcohol (BAC) content limit will lower to 0.05 for Utah drivers. Across the rest of the United States, driving with a BAC of 0.08% or higher is illegal for anyone above 21. Experts have deemed that at .08% — or approximately four drinks in — a drivers’ “concentration, memory, speed control, perception and ability to process visuals and signals are all impaired.” So, it makes sense, to some degree, for Utah to pick a BAC level under that amount. According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Bella Dinh-Zarr, the only way to prevent alcohol-related accidents and casualties is by totally separating drinking from driving. Obviously. “It truly saves lives…” she says. Source: CNN This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Utah Will Soon Implement The Strictest DUI Law In The Country Source

A massive tsunami in Indonesia took over 200 lives this weekend, including some who were attending a rock concert at the time the force of nature hit. Indonesian rock band Seventeen was swept off the stage while performing, along with many fans in the crowd. According to reports, bassist M. Awal “Bani” Purbani, guitarist Herman Sikumbang, road manager Oki Wijaya, and crew member Ujang were found dead. The drummer of the band is still MIA. “Underwater I could only pray ‘Jesus Christ help!’,” another surviving band member said. “In the final seconds I almost ran out of breath.” Video footage of the tsunami strike has surfaced online following the incident. It’s definitely not easy to watch, so please use discretion when viewing. Donations can be made to Oxfam to help those in need.Tsunami Crashes Rock Concert Source: Consequence of Sound This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Tsunami Wipes Out Indonesian Rock Concert, Over 200 Killed Source

Mac DeMarco performed a cover of Bob Wells and Mel Tormé’s classic “The Christmas Song” at a recent concert benefitting those affected by the California wildfires. Now, a studio version of his cover will assist with the rocker’s aid efforts. Australian artist Kirin J Callinan joined DeMarco on the cover, which appears on a new 10-track benefit compilation called Valentine Recording Presents: A Christmas Miracle. Released this past Friday, the compilation also features Weyes Blood, Alex Cameron, and Molly Lewis, as well as a rendition of “The 12 Days of Christmas” featuring DeMarco. All proceeds will be donated to humanitarian aid organization Direct Relief to help victims of the recent California wildfires. Hear “The Christmas Song” below. DeMarco is no stranger to covers, having shared a rendition of Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmas Time” last year. Over the summer, he covered Haruomi Hosono’s “Honey Moon”. His last album was 2017’s This Old Dog. Source

With no warning, Rezz and Sayer have gotten together to create a savage new beat. Space Mom just shared a snippet of their unreleased collab that will make any bass lover drool. The production is heavy, which is to be expected — but their working together pretty much came out of no where. But everyone is oh so glad they did. In the video thread below, fellow experimental bass artist Bleep Bloop steps in to give his seal of approval. A swarm of replies later and it seems the forthcoming track is already well received by fans everywhere. “Us working together happened so randomly this week but we’re both pretty hyped,” Rezz explains. Your soul will never be released. Just listen. Rezz x Sayer Your soul will never be released _pic.twitter.com/da6gGOHG84 — Rezz (@OfficialRezz) December 22, 2018 This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Rezz & Sayer Just Collabed & The Result Is Heavy [LISTEN] Source

We’ve all seen 1983’s A Christmas Story. The Bob Clark-directed holiday tale of little Ralphie and the many misadventures surrounding his ninth Christmas started out as darkly comic counterprogramming to the sunniness of traditional Christmas movies, only to become an annual tradition for most yuletide households. No one born after 1997 has ever had to seek out A Christmas Story; just walk past any random TV playing TNT on the day itself, and you’ll catch a glimpse of Ralphie shooting his eye out with a Red Ryder BB gun or Darren McGavin marveling at his leg lamp. As you read this, some TV somewhere is probably playing A Christmas Story. It could even be inside your house! It’s easy to be glib about such an omnipresent Christmas classic, but A Christmas Story is a classic for reasons beyond sheer overexposure – it’s a curiously strong mix of warm nostalgia for ’40s holiday Americana and moments of surprisingly adult cynicism about Christmas commercialism and the dysfunction of bickering families. Key to that is seeing the world through the eyes of little Ralphie, his little brother, Randy, and the friends and bullies who orbit their tinsel-tinged adventures. A Christmas Story, MGM/courtesy Everett Collection Thirty-five years later, A Christmas Story is chugging along, and so are the young members of its cast — some in very surprising ways. Let’s catch up with Ralphie and the kids, but be careful: you could shoot your eye out. __________________________________________________________ Ralphie Parker Peter Billingsly in A Christmas Story Name: Peter Billingsley Last Seen: As an actor, his last turn was a small role in the 2013 romantic comedy A Case of You; however, he last directed 2016’s crime thriller Term Life and executive produces the Netflix series F is for Family. Let’s start with little Ralphie, the avatar for all the hopes, dreams, and disappointments that Christmas can offer. Whether he’s wishing against hope for a Red Ryder BB gun, wailing on Scut Farkus, or enduring a bunny suit made by his Aunt Clara, Ralphie encapsulates the bittersweet struggles of growing up at Christmas for a certain subset of Midwestern white kid. As for Billingsley himself, after a string of respectable child actor roles in the ‘80s and early ‘90s (including an Emmy-nominated turn in a CBS after-school special called The Writing on the Wall), he made the transition to producing and directing. Since then, he’s found frequent work, particularly with friends/collaborators Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn; he directed 2009’s Couples Retreat and executive produced Four Christmases and (get this!) the first Iron Man. To this day, he no longer suffers from soap poisoning. Peter Billingsly __________________________________________________________ Randy Parker Ian Petrella in A Christmas Story Name: Ian Petrella Last Seen: As himself in Quarter Bin, and as a barkeeper in the 2009 series Crafty. Ralphie’s little brother, Randy, was a bratty, little twerp who loved to show his mom how the little piggies eat, but damn if you didn’t love seeing him fall over after getting too bundled up to put his arms down. As for Petrella, the actor who played little Randy, he had a string of kid’s roles in TV shows like Diff’rent Strokes and Who’s the Boss? before largely leaving the acting life behind to become a puppeteer and animator in Cleveland. However, during the 2010 Christmas season, he played guest tour guide to the A Christmas Story house, which is also in Cleveland. Ian Petrella __________________________________________________________ Flick Scott Schwartz in A Christmas Story Name: Scott Schwartz Last Seen: A character dubbed “Disco City Hot Dog Vendor” in a TV film called Vape Warz. One of A Christmas Story’s most indelible moments is watching neighborhood kid Flick suffer the dreaded “triple dog dare” to stick his tongue to a frozen flagpole. While it was no picnic for Flick, it cemented Scott Schwartz’s character as one of the film’s greatest heroes. Schwartz himself had already landed a big role in the Richard Pryor movie The Toy prior to this and afterwards worked on 1984’s Kidco and an episode of 21 Jump Street, among other smaller TV and film roles. He’s toiled admirably in Hollywood since then, with his latest role being a prominent turn in next year’s independent thriller The Bend alongside Michael Madsen and Doug Hutchison. Scott Schwartz __________________________________________________________ Schwartz R.D. Robb in A Christmas Story Name: R.D. Robb Last Seen: A small guest role on an episode of ABC’s The Goldbergs. And now, we confusingly move on to the character of Schwartz, who was the deliverer of the triple dog dare to Scott Schwartz’s Flick. (We all caught up?) Like Flick, his most prominent moment comes in the flagpole-licking scene, but he also gets some off-screen misery courtesy of his own mother after Ralphie claims he learned the f-word from him to his mother. R.D. Robb, who played Schwartz, has maintained a pretty modest presence in Hollywood since then, with guest spots on ER and Touched by an Angel, and a supporting role in Matilda. Most infamously, though, he directed a pre-famous Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire in the ensemble indie Don’s Plum, a film that legally cannot be shown in the US or Canada thanks to a 1999 lawsuit both stars filed against him. (Allegedly, the film is available via producer Dale Wheatley if you go to Free Don’s Plum and email him to get a private copy.) R.D. Robb __________________________________________________________ Scut Farkus Zack Ward Name: Zack Ward Last Seen: He’s currently a regular on Z Nation – Syfy’s campier take on The Walking Dead produced by mockbuster mavens The Asylum. Scut Farkus was the bane of Ralphie’s existence, a merciless ginger bully who delighted in cackling at his prey from under his coonskin cap and behind his braces (and his yellow eyes!). Ralphie going HAM on Scut is one of A Christmas Story’s most beautifully cathartic moments, the viewers getting vicarious justice for everyone who ever bullied them through Ralphie’s full going-postal onslaught. Some of Billingsley’s success must have rubbed off on Ward, however, who arguably has the largest acting career of the kids on this list. In teenhood, Ward maintained a steady string of prominent TV roles in shows like NYPD Blue and JAG, but his biggest roles at that age likely include Moody Spurgeon in a particularly popular Anne of Green Gables adaptation in the ‘80s. His career got a second start in adulthood as a regular on Christopher Titus’ sitcom, Titus, and in film roles in Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Transformers. He’s now found a nice, tidy home in Uwe Boll and Asylum productions, playing the lead in Boll’s outrageously outre video game adaptation Postal, appearing in a Sharknado movie, and paying a recurring role on Z Nation. He also still finds his way to guest spots on shows like Lost, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and American Horror Story. Zack Ward __________________________________________________________ Grover Dill Yano Anaya in A Christmas Story Name: Yano Anaya Last Seen: A small role in a 2017 film called Sunday Mornings. Scut’s “crummy little toadie” Grover Dill also made quite the impression — Ralphie describing him as “mean, rotten, his lips curled over his green teeth.” With his little leather jacket and propensity for shaking his targets down for two dollars, he made the perfect companion for Scot Farkus’ particular brand of schoolyard malice. Of course, he’s helpless to defend his master when Ralphie gets his due, folding like a cheap suit as all toadies do. Unlike many others on this list, Anaya didn’t stay in Hollywood very long after A Christmas Story; he played a few other small roles (including one of the paperboys in 1985’s Better Off Dead…) before leaving Tinseltown for a more normal life. Nowadays, he lives in Atlanta and works as a personal trainer, at one point becoming the Director of the Personal Training Program at the Atlanta School of Massage. Yano Anaya Source

This year was as big of a year as ever for trance music. As always, A State Of Trance has delivered many inspiring and unforgettable moments throughout 2018. To wrap it up neatly and put a bow on top of an amazing year, the annual A State Of Trance Year Mix is here. The fifteenth consecutive year mix album, A State Of Trance Year Mix 2018 has left no stone unturned to find the tracks of 2018 that mean the most to the loyal Trance fans. Based on the standings of the “Tune Of The Year,” with voting halfway in, as well as the personal picks from Armin van Buuren himself, the mix album features over a hundred solid records from some of the world’s most esteemed Trance artists. From Giuseppe Ottaviani’s “Till The Sunrise” to Richard Durand’s “The Air I Breathe,” from NWYR’s “Wormhole” and “Dragon” to Above & Beyond’s “Red Rocks,” and larger than life productions from Armin van Buuren including “United,” “Blah Blah Blah,” “Just As You Are” and “Last Dancer” — this mix covers a lot of ground. Boasting over 100 tracks, this mix will keep your ears satisfied for a while. Nearly 6 hours in fact. Enjoy! A State Of Trance Year Mix 2018  Tracklist 01 Armin van Buuren – A State Of Trance Year Mix 2018 Intro: License To DJ 02 Omnia – Cyberpunk 03 Andrew Bayer feat. Alison May – Immortal Lover (In My Next Life Mix) 04 Audien feat. Cecilia – Higher 05 Armin van Buuren vs Shapov – The Last Dancer 06 Super8 & Tab – Blockchain 07 Simon Lee & Alvin with Susie Ledge – Why I Came Here 08 Mark Sixma – Sinfonia 09 Signum feat. Scott Mac – Coming On Strong (Gareth Emery & Ashley Wallbridge Remix) 10 Jeremy Vancaulart feat. Danyka Nadeau – Hurt 11 Super8 & Tab feat. Envy Monroe – True Love 12 Omnia feat. Danyka Nadeau – For You 13 Cosmic Gate & Jason Ross – Awaken 14 HALIENE – Dream In Color (Ruben de Ronde Remix) 15 Above & Beyond feat Richard Bedford – Happiness Amplified (Above & Beyond Club Mix) 16 Loud Luxury feat. brando – Body (Orjan Nilsen Remix) 17 Purple Haze – Bergen 18 Armin van Buuren feat. Sam Martin – Wild Wild Son (Club Mix) 19 Estiva – Bloom 20 Virtual Self – Ghost Voices (Raito Remix) 21 ilan Bluestone with Maor Levi feat. EL Waves – Will We Remain 22 Ferry Corsten & DIM3NSION – Safe With Me 23 ARTY – Tim 24 Fatum – Violet 25 Orjan Nilsen – Savour This Moment 26 KhoMha – Tierra 27 MaRLo feat. Emma Chatt – Here We Are 28 MaRLo feat. Roxanne Emery – A Thousand Seas 29 Denis Kenzo & Sveta B. – Sweet Lie 30 Markus Schulz feat. Nikki Flores – We Are The Light 31 Ben Gold & Sivan – Stay 32 Gareth Emery feat. Evan Henz – Call To Arms (Cosmic Gate Remix) 33 Armin van Buuren feat. James Newman – Therapy (Super8 & Tab Remix) 34 Maor Levi – Light Years 35 Andrew Rayel & David Gravell – Trance Reborn (FYH100 Anthem) [Mark Sixma Remix] 36 NWYR – Wormhole 37 Eric Senn – Inkunzi 38 NWYR – Dragon 39 KhoMha – White Swan 40 Gabriel & Dresden feat. Sub Teal – Only Road (Cosmic Gate Remix) 41 Denis Kenzo, Fahjah & Kate Miles – Who I Am 42 Seven Lions feat. Rico & Miella – Without You My Love (Myon Definitive Mix) 43 Above & Beyond feat. Zoë Johnston – Always (Above & Beyond Club Mix) 44 ARTY – Perfect Strangers 45 ALPHA 9 – Sleepwalker 46 Above & Beyond – Red Rocks 47 Andrew Rayel feat. HALIENE – In The Dark 48 Armin van Buuren vs Shapov – Our Origin 49 Darude & Ashley Wallbridge feat. Foux – Surrender 50 Alex Kunnari – Sundown 51 Beatsole – Pearl 52 Ferry Corsten & Paul Oakenfold – A Slice Of Heaven 53 Venetica – Patterns Of The Soul (Davey Asprey Remix) 54 Alex M.O.R.P.H. – Running For Peace (Club Mix) 55 DJ T.H. & Nadi Sunrise feat. Michele C – See You Again 56 Craig Connelly feat. Roxanne Emery – This Life 57 Bryan Kearney & Deirdre McLaughlin – Open My Mind 58 Roman Messer feat. Christina Novelli – Fireflies (Jorn van Deynhoven Remix) 59 Aly & Fila with Emma Hewitt – You & I (Aly & Fila Club Mix) 60 Ben Gold & Audrey Gallagher – There Will Be Angels 61 Simon Patterson feat. Lucy Pullin – Fall For You 62 Scot Project – D (Don’t Go) 63 Ran-D – Zombie 64 Ben Gold & Allen Watts – Strike As One 65 RAM & Susana – Northern Star 66 Craig Connelly feat. Kat Marsh – Light The Way (Bryan Kearney Remix) 67 Gareth Emery – Long Way Home (Ashley Wallbridge Remix) 68 Mark Sixma & Emma Hewitt – Missing (Jorn van Deynhoven Remix) 69 A.R.D.I. – Army Of Angels 70 MaRLo – Enough Echo 71 Dash Berlin feat. Bo Bruce – Coming Home (STANDERWICK Remix) 72 Armin van Buuren x Vini Vici x Alok feat. Zafrir – United 73 Armin van Buuren vs Alexander Popov – Popcorn 74 Exis feat. Enya Angel – Free 75 Giuseppe Ottaviani – Till The Sunrise 76 CRW – I Feel Love (Omar Sherif Remix) 77 Heatbeat – Stadium Arcadium 78 Armin van Buuren – Be In The Moment (ASOT 850 Anthem) [Allen Watts Remix] 79 Allen Watts – Midnight 80 Paul van Dyk – Music Rescues Me 81 Aly & Fila – Rebirth (Ahmed Romel Remix) 82 Will Atkinson – Seventh Heaven 83 Ferry Corsten feat. HALIENE – Wherever You Are (Solis & Sean Truby Remix) 84 Markus Schulz & Emma Hewitt – Safe From Harm (Giuseppe Ottaviani Remix) 85 Armin van Buuren presents Rising Star feat. Fiora – Just As You Are 86 Roger Shah & RAM feat. Natalie Gioia – For The One You Love 87 Davey Asprey – Alone In The Wilderness 88 Oliver Cattley with Kiyoi & Eky – Zubr 89 Darren Porter – Whiplash 90 Richard Durand & Christina Novelli – The Air I Breathe 91 Avao – Activate 92 Ayla – Ayla (Ben Nicky & Luke Bond Remix) 93 Armin van Buuren – Lifting You Higher (ASOT 900 Anthem) 94 Protoculture – Thirty Three South 95 STANDERWICK – I’ve Been Thinking About You 96 Militia – Take Me There 97 Armin van Buuren – Blah Blah Blah 98 Luke Bond – U 99 Aly & Fila with Philippe El Sisi & Omar Sherif – A World Beyond (FSOE550 Anthem) 100 Billy Gillies – Disturbance 101 Chris Schweizer – The Wolf 102 Ultra Shock – The Sound Of E (Jorn van Deynhoven Remix) 103 W&W x Armin van Buuren – Ready To Rave 104 Splinta – Shock Therapy (Rising Altitude Mix) 105 Armin van Buuren – A State Of Trance Year Mix 2018 Outro: The Verdict Photo via The Art of Light This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: A State Of Trance Year Mix 2018 Is Over 100 Tracks & Nearly 6 Hours Of Trance Magic [LISTEN] Source

Violet Grohl isn’t the only talented Foo Fighters offspring. Turns out drummer Taylor Hawkins’ 11-year-old song, Oliver Shane Hawkins, is also following in his father’s footsteps. Young Oliver made his live debut this past weekend, joining his father during a Chevy Metal gig at a benefit for the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. Better yet, Taylor Hawkins’ Foo Fighters bandmate Dave Grohl also participated in the performance, joining the Hawkins clan for a cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Miss You”. Watch fan-shot footage below (via Alternative Nation). Source

Looks like Thom Yorke is in the Christmas spirit. During a concert in Las Vegas on Saturday night, the Radiohead frontman performed a mashup of “Silent Night” and Radiohead’s “Reckoner”. Watch fan-shot footage below. The Las Vegas show marked the conclusion of Yorke’s U.S. tour. He’ll return to the road next year for a series of European festival shows, including The Netherlands’ Down the Rabbit Hole, Spain’s Bilbao BBK Live, and Portugal’s NOS Alive. He’s also expected to release a new solo album. Source

Over two hundred people were killed, and hundreds more were injured, after a tsunami struck costal Indonesia on Saturday. Among the victims were members of the Indonesian rock band called Seventeen, who were performing on stage as the tsunami hit. According to Reuters, among the dead were four members of Seventeen: bassist M. Awal “Bani” Purbani, guitarist Herman Sikumbang, road manager Oki Wijaya, and crew member Ujang. The band’s drummer remains missing. Seventeen was performing on the Tanjung Lesung beach as part of a holiday party thrown by state electricity utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN). Video footage posted to social media captured the exact moment the tsunami came crashing onto the stage, sweeping away band and audience members alike. Seventeen band yg menjadi korban Di Tanjung Lesung,Banten#Banten #Anyer #Selatsunda #prayforanyer pic.twitter.com/zpETu89zsy — ig @IGERS.BANTEN (@IgersBanten) December 23, 2018 You can assist victims of the tsunami by donating to Oxfam, which is already on the ground in Indonesia. Source

A local news broadcast was duped into showing a photo of Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose and actor Mickey Rourke and mistakenly identified them as a couple celebrating their 50th anniversary. The clip comes from Twitter user @KatlynNoelle88, who captured a recent segment celebrating birthdays and anniversary. Rourke and Rose are identified as Max and Geraldine Bailey, a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. WHO DID THIS?!?! pic.twitter.com/DW3tTMbtDs — Katlyn (@KatlynNoelle88) December 21, 2018 The image in question was taken last month at a boxing match in Los Angeles. Source

Walk into any drugstore between October and December and there will be at least one endcap of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas snow globes and plushies and slippers and lawn decorations and lights, Jack Skellington costumes in plastic bags and inflatable Oogie Boogies, and a Nightmare-themed Jenga game. But this wasn’t always the case. When the film hit theaters in October 1993 – first as a limited release and then a full theatrical release – it went virtually unnoticed, garnering a modest-but-successful $76 million gross and becoming the first film nominated for Best Visual Effects at the 1993 Academy Awards (losing to Jurassic Park). Walgreen’s The Nightmare Before Christmas display, photo by Cyanide_Kat The film celebrated its 25th anniversary this October in a much different world. Arguments may break out over whether it’s a Halloween or Christmas movie – I’m in the Halloween camp – but it has become a seasonal classic, thanks in no small part to the Disney machine, which pushed merchandising to extremes. For a considerable time through the late 1990s, the only merchandise available was a handful of stationary and party supplies and some figurines and dolls by Hasbro and NECA. (I got my Jack Skellington from Tower Records and my Sally from St. Mark’s Comics, each in the $80 range.) But in summer 2001, Disney released a handful of chibi-style plushies into their stores, and the push had begun anew. Now, the merchandise is stocked alongside other licensed holiday properties, including How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Christmas Story, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. Perhaps the reason The Nightmare Before Christmas has taken such hold is that it creates an accessibility point for the spookier side of film. It’s creepy but never violent, twisted but never cruel. Just as your neighbor is not a witch, just a woman wearing a mask when she opens the door with a bowl of mini Kit Kats, Jack and company are just ordinary people doing their jobs — even if their ordinary job involves hiding under the stairs with spider-hair. Hasbro Toy Line But it is also an immensely tender film. Under the trappings of ghosts and wrought-iron spikes are characters who yearn – Jack for the world beyond what he has known in Halloweentown and Sally for the kindred spirit she sees in Jack. For being about a skeleton man and a sentient rag doll who fight a burlap sack filled with bugs, it’s a human story and one that can especially resonate with older children and young adults who feel trapped by their parents, by the boundaries they cannot escape — their parents’ rules, school, the physical beyond of the city, town, or county line. We have all quietly craved someone who does not recognize us as an equal. We have all stitched ourselves back together. And the film itself? A thing of unrivaled beauty. Henry Selick does not get the credit he deserves for the stop-motion majesty he created. These are worlds you can walk around in. These are characters who live and breathe, even if they are only wire and sculpting clay, even if the worlds they inhabit are only a few feet tall. It was re-released in 3D in 2006, and although retro-conversions of films are often flat and flawed, the feeling of depth made you wonder why it wasn’t released in 3D in the first place. If you want to see something truly terrifying, watch through Jack Skellington’s animation test below from the release’s Bonus Features. At the end is a scene featuring a taste of what would later become the song “Poor Jack” and the appearance of the most monstrous Santa ever put on film. The film also features long-time Burton collaborator Danny Elfman’s most astonishing score, with 11 songs and six orchestral numbers. Elfman himself provided the singing voice of Jack Skellington and Shock, as well as various characters in Halloweentown, and although he described the soundtrack’s composition as “one of the easiest jobs I’ve ever had” to Premier in 2008, you wouldn’t know it. Songs like “Jack’s Lament” and “Sally’s Song” are emotive and melodic, taking full advantage of Elfman and actress Catherine O’Hara’s dreamy vocal stylings, while ensemble pieces such as “Making Christmas” are lush and full of glorious and unexpected sounds. In 2008, for some inexplicable reason (money, lack of common decency, contempt for what little remained of the film’s dignity and legacy), Disney released Nightmare Revisited, a collection of phoned-in covers of the soundtrack, including Marilyn Manson’s “This Is Halloween”, Korn covering “Kidnap the Sandy Claws”, and Amy Lee of Evanescence singing “Sally’s Song”, shoring up the film’s burgeoning reputation as a mall-goth phenomenon and making us wonder if there really was a time when we considered Marilyn Manson a threat to the moral fiber of our precious youth. But in re-watching as an adult, I couldn’t help but recognize that under Elfman’s brilliant score and Selick’s breathtaking animation is a story with its own uniquely Tim Burton brand of terror: Accept the status quo. At the end of Beetlejuice, goth-template Lydia Dietz, once outfitted in veils and Victorian dressing-gowns, becomes just a normal girl at a normal New England Prep school. At the end of Edward Scissorhands, the bullies win and poor Edward has to go back to living alone so that the Boggs family can go back to their cul-de-sac life. And at the end of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Jack, having transgressed beyond his neighborhood, is reminded that he should stay in his place, just be the Pumpkin king because dreaming of anything else is dangerous and upsets everyone. These are happy endings? The sudden glut of Nightmare merchandise and the Hot Topic-fication of the film stand to this point. You go into the store, you put on your black dress, and you pretend to be spooky in math class, but the core thesis of the store is that you will eventually outgrow your penchant for the dramatic and assimilate. And while there’s always something a little silly about an old goth still trying to do the Crow makeup to go to the grocery store – silly enough that there’s a Portlandia skit about it – it’s not an especially good message to be feeding teenagers who are still sorting out their identity, especially not when it’s a nakedly corporate agenda to part them from their allowance. No different than any other brand marketed to teenagers, but still crass when branded with the “Be Yourself” message alongside the black-and-white spirals and the ghostly pinstripes. And in that sense, Jack finally got his dream, to be part of every household at Christmas. Source

Ariana Grande is an immensely accomplished polymath, who first made her mark as a television actress on Nickelodeon before transitioning to pop music stardom — and she did it all before the age of 25. Not surprisingly, Grande’s immense talents were apparent even at an early age. Case in point, a new home video uncovered by her mother captures Grande belting Céline Dion’s “The Reason”… at the age of four. what else would you like to sing ? ᵗʰᵉ ⁿᵉˣᵗ ˢᵒⁿᵍ pic.twitter.com/reVdgMuw9J — Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) December 22, 2018 Another newly from Grande’s childhood sees her singing Dion and Barbra Streisand’s 1997 song “Tell Him” with her mother, Joan. we still sing this she’s still barbara and still this stunning and cute if not more so pic.twitter.com/tVHV6cFulH — Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) December 22, 2018 Last week, Grande continued her whirlwind of a year by releasing “imagine”, the follow-up single to “thank u, next”. Her latest full-length, Sweetener, was released back in August and featured one of our favorite songs of the year in “God Is A Woman”. Source

Following up his Introspective Debut, Miami-Own Exit 2018 with a Bang Miami rising star Kid Faze closes out 2018 with a bang in the release of his new 11-track effort, properly-titled, Money Matt Monopoly. The new project serves as a testament to the continuous perfection of his craft. A lead up to Faze’s completion of the ultimate goal of becoming a global sensation and his music being certified timeless. Money Matt Monopoly features breakout tracks “Money Mo’ Money”, “Thumbin’ Thru”, and the extended version of “Drop Drop”. On the project, Kid Faze showcases elevating wordplay with catchy hooks, conceptual metaphors, and extreme confidences and bravado. Making himself a new talent to watch in the new year. No features on the new effort, allowing his talent to speak for itself. A brief study on Kid Faze, born Matthew Fontil, began pursuing music in the 8th grade thanks to inspirations by Hip-Hop legends The Notorious B.I.G., Lil Wayne, Lupe Fiasco, T-Pain, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Young Jeezy, and T.I. Spending much of his teens honing his craft and finding his identity. He explains, “Rap is poetry; to express it, you have to not only feel it but also translate it properly.” Money Matt Monopoly is the follow up to Kid Faze’s debut project, Free Food. Free Food is known as Matt’s most personal work to-date as he unveiled a tremendous amount about himself and his past transgressions. Money Matt Monopoly is available now via Kid Faze own imprint. The post Kid Faze Introduces Money Matt Monopoly : Listen appeared first on Verge Campus. Source

III Points returns for its largest installment to date. The sixth annual event summons the underground music heads, the art admirers, and the night owls for an entirely unique experience. The alternative music and art festival will take in Miami’s Wynwood Arts District on February 15 – 17, 2019. III Points showcases a fully stacked lineup of artists ranging in various genres from deep house and techno to dream pop and to hip-hop. There will be performances by Tyler The Creator, Beach House, Virtual Self, SZA, DJ Seinfeld, Mall Grab, and many more. III Points Lineup In addition to the all-star headliners, there’ll be carefully curated stages featuring upcoming local talent with an experimental edge. Each stage will be paired with uncanny lighting and visual production, which the festival is notorious for. Photo by – Adinayev.com III Points 2018 Photo by – Adinayev.com — in Miami, Florida. III Points Presents Lo-Fi House Artists Through the Weekend! If you haven’t heard of Mall Grab just yet, it is time to start listening. This Australian native is on the rise with his original take on lofi house music. After the release of ‘Sun Ra’ EP on London’s prominent record label, Church he quickly started to gain attention. His extended mixes gradually build with intensity and will journey you between melodic/ambient grooves to dark and industrial tones. He’s done mixes for Rinse FM, MixMag, and the Boiler Room, to name a few. This tasteful beat-maker will undoubtedly blow you away on Saturday night. Another artist to keep an eye on that’s gracing the stage Friday night at III Points is DJ Seinfeld. If you want to be whisked away with deep chills and sensational spirits, then this Swedish Producer will do the trick. DJ Seinfeld coined the name after going through a break-up and was watching a lot of the American sitcom. “It was a comfort show” he says, according to Fact Mag. Listeners can find the comfort in his heartwarming beats. However, his live sets will showcase a wide range between lofi house to ambient and techno. The Event Combines Independent Artists, Acclaimed Talent, and Visual Arts to Create a Diverse Community. Since sets run until 5 AM, attendees are welcome to take a break and explore the many other options the festival offers. III Points curates a creative space filled with music, visual art, film, vendors, and food. 100,000 square foot Mana Wynwood Convention Center will showcase the visual arts lineup, which will be announced in future weeks. Photo by – Adinayev.com III Points was established in 2013 with a foundation to unite a unique and assorted community. It partners with Florida activism network Dream Defenders, who build power by organizing and educating transformational justice. Additionally, the alternative music festival is a platform to expose Miami’s rising local talent while placing them alongside world renowned music acts. Pick up your pass for III Points Follow III Points: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram The post Miami’s III Points Offers Exceptional Underground Music appeared first on EDM | Electronic Music | EDM Music | EDM Festivals | EDM Events. Source

Last year, World Club Dome teamed up with BigCityBeats to take ravers on a zero-gravity adventure with Armin van Buuren, Steve Aoki, and W&W. Next year, they’re literally challenging the metaphor “the sky’s the limit” as they take to space for the next frontier in dance music partnership. Dance music history was just made this week, and a lot of people still don’t know it. The world’s first message from outer space to the electronic dance music community has been delivered by the International Space Station’s current Commander Alexander Gerst. The commander’s message was a response to world-famous star DJs Armin van Buuren, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Steve Aoki and Timmy Trumpet who sent a greeting to the ISS, talking enthusiastically about the vision and collaboration between WCD and the European Space Agency (ESA) and their Zero Gravity mission. ESA astronaut and Commander of the ISS, Alexander Gerst responded, “I’m a big fan of electronic music. Welcome to all the new Space Fans. It’s great to see the messages of support for space coming from the world’s top DJs making us see the future with a visionary spirit. Many thanks for coming together and for organising this inspiring event. It is my dream that one day, every human can once in their life see our beautiful planet from Space. Let’s all work together to make this dream come true.” ESA astronaut Frank de Winne (Head of ESA’s European Astronaut Centre) noted on the WCD & ESA collaboration: “I would like to thank all the top DJs and World Club Dome for bringing the message of Space to such a large community. Thank you very much and welcome to all the new space fans and of course the entire electronic music community. See you in space!” This collaboration will sew its way into all of the BigCityBeats events over 2019, including the “Space Edition” version of its flagship World Club Dome event in Frankfurt next June, dubbed “The Biggest Club in the World.” Past WCD events have included the “fastest club in the world,” “the highest club in the world,” on a Boeing 747 and many more. So fans can expect huge things from this ESA collab in 2019. “What happens when you combine science with entertainment?” asks Bernd Breiter, CEO of BigCityBeats and founder of WCD, who had the vision to connect the magic of space and the magic of dance music. “Dance music connects nations. The guiding principles of this community are freedom, love and tolerance. It is a generation of cosmopolitan people. We want to bring the fascination of space travel to a new young audience. We want to teach the science of space travel in an easy-to-understand way. Together looking into the future, into a new dimension – what better way is there to do this than combine space travel and one of the most popular music styles in the world?” This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: World’s First Message Delivered From Outer Space To The EDM Community Source