Future Islands: Seasons (Waiting On You)

DJ Harvey's Wildest Dreams, a #PrivateJam from HUH's Joe Reeve, remembering DJ E-Z Rock and more in the music we tweeted this week

First forming in 2006 while at art school in Greenville, North Carolina, now Baltimore-based Future Islands has been steadily gaining a substantial following with their resonant vocals and distinct synth-pop style. 2014 might be their biggest year yet; the band is signed to the distinguished indie music label 4AD, and their recently released album Singles has landed them a spot on The Late Show with …

Link About It: This Week’s Picks

NPR joins the internet, SFW adult coloring books, "Tatoueurs, Tatoués" in Paris and more in our weekly look at the web

1. The Electric Eel and Open-Source Sex Toys You can never predict the wild and exciting results of a hackathon, and yet two UPenn students truly changed the game with “Electric Eel.” This Arduino microcontroller-powered sex toy zaps waves of low-voltage electricity through a man’s genitals. Reportedly it causes quite a pleasurable sensation—enough to stimulate, but not enough to burn. This isn’t the first transgressive …

Marvin Gaye: Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)

Marvin Gaye on Earth Day, a mix of yacht disco hits, DJ Tim Sweeney's #PrivateJam and more in our week of music

The world celebrated Earth Day this week and, to mark the environmentally minded holiday, we put on Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology),” a chart-topper from his 1971 album What’s Going On. The heartfelt single—released just a year after the first-ever Earth Day in the US—channels the concern shared by the peace activists of that generation. Over 40 years later, we are still arguing …