Review: The Format – Boycott Heaven

The Format - Boycott Heaven
Adam Grundy

I had almost made peace with the fact that The Format would likely never make music again. The statement put out by the band on February 4, 2008 hit like a gut-punch from one of my favorite indie bands of all time, and now, almost 18 years to the exact day of the indefinite hiatus, The Format have returned. The roadmap that led to The Format making new music featured a few detours. fun. had formed shortly after the announced hiatus and would make a household name of vocalist Nate Ruess, and earn him his first Grammy Award for Song of the Year for the unstoppable “We Are Young.” The Format’s other half, Sam Means, would release a solo album called 10 Songs (which is definitely worth a listen if you never checked it out), while he watched his bandmate blossom in fun., and Nate’s own solo album entitled Grand Romantic. Much like the Interventions + Lullabies song of “On Your Porch,” Sam Means and Nate Ruess have always been drawn to making music together. The lyrics of, “So, now here I sit in a hotel off of Sunset / My thoughts bounce off of Sam’s guitar / And that’s the way it’s been / Ever since we were kids, but now / Now we’ve got something to prove,” feel a bit more emphatic now that The Format have reunited and released their third studio album of Boycott Heaven. Nate mentioned that he started to teach himself guitar during the pandemic, which seemed to unlock a key ingredient in the catalyst that brought him back to Sam. Shortly after the band had planned to reunite for a few returning shows, they re-discovered their love of creating art together, and I’m so happy The Format are back in full swing now.

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Review: Goldfinger – Nine Lives

Goldfinger-Nine Lives
Adam Grundy

The aptly titled ninth studio album from ska-punk legends, Goldfinger, features a litany of guest spots and a recharged, yet reflective sound from the band that is releasing their first taste of new music since 2020. Nine Lives was produced by band leader and scene stalwart, John Feldmann, who rounds out this era of Goldfinger with a powerhouse lineup of Charlie Paulson (guitar), Mike Herrera (bass), Nick Gross (drums), and Moon Valjean (guitar). The set was preceded by two great singles in “Freaking Out A Bit”, that featured Mark Hoppus, and “Chasing Amy.” The result is a pleasing collection of songs that showcase Goldfinger show little signs of slowing down and hit the listener with a blast of Summer vibes.

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Checking in on the Literal Dumpster Fire Platform

Twitter
Jason Tate

The New York Times:

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok, created and then publicly shared at least 1.8 million sexualized images of women, according to separate estimates of X data by The New York Times and the Center for Countering Digital Hate.

Starting in late December, users on the social media platform inundated the chatbot’s X account with requests to alter real photos of women and children to remove their clothes, put them in bikinis and pose them in sexual positions, prompting a global outcry from victims and regulators.

In just nine days, Grok posted more than 4.4 million images. A review by The Times conservatively estimated that at least 41 percent of posts, or 1.8 million, most likely contained sexualized imagery of women. A broader analysis by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, using a statistical model, estimated that 65 percent, or just over three million, contained sexualized imagery of men, women or children.