Celeste: Love is Back

From Not Your Muse, the forthcoming debut full-length studio album by California-born British singer-songwriter Celeste (aka Celeste Epiphany Waite), “Love is Back” ushers some uplifting, soulful spirit into the start of the year. With Waite’s vibrant vocals guiding a lavish retro production, the track sizzles from start to finish.

Bakar: Having A Good Time, Sometimes.

British recording artist Bakar (aka Abubakar Baker Shariff-Farr) closed 2020 with three consecutive releases: two collaborations with artist Lancey Foux, “Play” and “Poison,” and a solo effort called “Having A Good Time, Sometimes.” The latter, an R&B/indie tune, relies on generated drums, filtered accents and a screeching guitar crescendo. Paired with a video focused on Bakar and his dog, the track proves personal though riddled …

Cambridge University Announces “The Cambridge Companion to Video Game Music”

Cambridge University will publish The Cambridge Companion to Video Game Music, a “comprehensive, up-to-date survey of video game music,” online this March, and a print edition will follow shortly after. Academics and gamers will contribute to the effort, which aims to assess the sonic contributions games have made in popular culture. Edited by Tim Summers and Melanie Fritsch, the book strives to be a formal …