Transworld Skateboarding magazine announced on Instagram today they will stop publishing the print version of the magazine after 35 years. They will continue with digital projects only.
This is a loss for skateboarding and sad for me personally. Although, I haven’t picked up an issue in decades, I was a diehard Transworld subscriber circa 1989-1992 and it was my window into the world of skateboarding. It also provided me with a glimpse of magical sunny life in Southern California. It’s probably indirectly responsible for my decision to move to California from Ohio after college.
This week was a good week for aging indie rock fans like myself. The National released an excellent new single “You Had Your Soul With You” and announced a new album I Am Easy To Find will be out May 17. The song features vocals from Gail Ann Dorsey, who played with David Bowie. After 7 albums, it’s great to hear them adding new collaborators to keep things sounding fresh and interesting.
Mac DeMarco released a chill new track “Nobody” as well as a weird lizard person video to go along with it. The video was apparently edited by Robert DiNero. The song kind of goes nowhere, but I don’t mind. He has a new album coming out May 10 called Here Comes the Cowboy, which he describes as “my cowboy record.”
Vampire Weekend released two new singles from their upcoming Father of the Bride album which is due out May 3. The first single “Sunflower” has kind of a light jammy-jazzy feel and the second “Big Blue” feels more like classic VW. Both are great.
May is going to be a solid month for new albums.
Edit: Hold up. Just when you thought the best week of dad rock ever couldn’t get any better the Black Keys showed up on Thursday and and released “Lo/Hi,” their first song in 5 years.
As always, you can listen to these songs and more on the Smoothspin Hot 100 Spotify playlist which I update weekly with the best new music out there.
Coffee & Flowers is a new podcast about the National. Their first season is solely focused on dissecting their 2007 album Boxer, which is the best National record ever made (second place is Alligator). While I dearly love the National, even I have to ask the question: Does the world really need a 15-episode podcast dedicated to the National’s Boxer?
I rode one of the new model Jump bikes today. They have a different display than the previous version and a holder for your cell phone so you can use a navigation app while you ride.
