Beauty Sleep

Riding the success of their award-winning breakthrough Take Me Back to Eden, the undefinable enigma that is Sleep Token made a quick turnaround with their stunning major-label debut, Even in Arcadia. A streamlined evolution of their established sound, this ten-song set tightens their rule-shattering whirlwind into a focused assault on the senses and emotions. The faithful will have a pretty good idea of what to expect, but for newcomers and the uninitiated, Sleep Token presents a wild mix that may be confusing and even off-putting to a casual observer. However, if the listener can lock in, it's a refreshing thrill to hear so many styles smashed together. Smooth jazz saxophone, sweeping strings, and twinkling piano crash into crushing djent-y riffs, pummeling drums, and proggy time signatures…

The Go-Go's were the most popular all-female band to emerge from the punk/new wave explosion of the late '70s and early '80s, becoming one of the first commercially successful female groups who weren't controlled by male producers or managers.

Opia is a Gothic Doom Metal band that straddles the line between atmospheric beauty and crushing heaviness. Formed between the UK and Spain, the band combines the brooding weight of Death/Doom with haunting, ethereal melodies, creating a sound that is as introspective as it is powerful. Their debut album, “I Welcome Thee, Eternal Sleep”, is set for release in Spring 2025, marking the emergence of a new force within the Doom Metal scene. The band’s upcoming debut album, “I Welcome Thee, Eternal Sleep”, explores themes of mortality, despair, depression and grief. It is a deeply atmospheric record, where slow, crushing tempos intertwine with ethereal melodies to create an experience that lingers long after the music fades. Through its intricate songwriting and evocative mood, Opia’s debut offers a glimpse into the bleakest aspects of the mind, capturing the melancholic beauty in the acceptance of the inevitable.

It’s not quite right to say that the Go-Go’s' 1981 debut, Beauty and the Beat, is where new wave caught hold in the U.S., but it’s not quite wrong, either. Prior to this, there had certainly been new wave hits – Blondie had been reaching the Top Ten for two years running – but the Go-Go’s ushered in the era of big, bright stylish pop, spending six weeks at the top of the U.S. charts and generating two singles that defined the era: the cool groove of “Our Lips Are Sealed” and the exuberant “We Got the Beat.” So big were these two hits that they sometimes suggested that Beauty and the Beat was a hits-and-filler record, an impression escalated by the boost the Go-Go’s received from the just-launched MTV, yet that’s hardly the case. Beauty and the Beat is sharp, clever, and catchy, explicitly drawing from the well of pre-Beatles ‘60s pop – girl group harmonies, to be sure, but surf-rock echoes throughout – but filtering it through the nervy energy of punk.