Black is the New AP Style

Over the years of writing mostly songs of heartbreak and unrequited love, I have come to a realization that when confronted with those simultaneously expansive and crushing feelings, I tend to dive into something intense to distract myself. Or in which to pour the frenetic energy left behind in me in the echoing hollow of unanswered questions.

In 2010, I moved from sunny LA to a literal log cabin on a lake in the wilderness outside of Seattle.

In 2011, I packed up and went to Edinburgh, Scotland for a month performing on the Royal Mile (my first taste of making a living with my songs).

In 2012, I took the leap of funding, recording and releasing my first full-length album independently.

In 2015, I pushed the heart pain out by running up and down ALL the stairs of “The Swamp” - the 92,000 seat football stadium in my hometown of Gainesville, FL. Then my legs hurt instead. They actually hilariously didn’t work. I casually went to lunch with my family afterward and when we got up to leave, my legs crumpled under me. Laughter helps too.

In 2018, right after a break up, I watched 52 movies in one week. I was on the SAG Nomination committee so I actually had a reason and a deadline for voting, but I don’t think most people watch ALL the movies they are sent - at least not in that time frame. It certainly put a filter on my experience of the films which were interspersed by alternate bouts of crying and laughing/dancing/dramatic speeches about the films to the entertainment of my sister and brother-and-law, all fueled by wine and cupcakes.

Partial rundown of my observations on the films (if you’re curious):

14 had vomit scenes (there may have been more. I didn’t keep track the whole time. Why? Why so much vomit?)

4 were about the rise of a musical star and their relationships

3 were about teenage sons doing drugs and things being sad and hard for their families

2 were about talented women and the men who took all the credit for their work

1 of them made me sleep with the light on for a week

In 2019, I had written “I Hope I Never Fall In Love Again” which is the first single from my new album That Siren, Hope and then inevitably had fallen in hope and infatuation again, only to be sorely disappointed by a multi-faceted rejection and I decided to get in my little aqua-colored Prius C with my guitar and perform in every state in America.

All 50 of them.

I did that in 5 and a half months.

It was hard.

And glorious.

People kept calling me brave and I guess I was but I didn’t feel it at the time. I discovered that America is beautiful! So much of it has incredible tear-inducing nature that I didn’t know about. I saw Mt. Rushmore, swam in hot and cold springs, backpacked to and camped beside a glacier under all the stars in the sky, was charged by a moose, saw so many awe-inspiring sunsets, saw myself on billboards in Chicago and NYC, rode in two helicopters, stood under a waterfall, rode a red bicycle with a wicker basket around a town from another time, became addicted to McDonald’s fries and coffee (I never go to McDonald’s in my normal life but those golden arches got me through some long drives!), hid in a motel bathtub during a tornado, was kissed by another guy who will become a song or two, and discovered my favorite definition of adventure: “When you’re scared and having fun at the same time”, which may be applied to many things in life, if you’re doing it right, including love.

The best, most heart-healing thing that I experienced on my travels was the generosity and kindness of people all over the country. Long-time friends and strangers (mostly friends of friends or friends of the venue) allowed me into their homes with open arms and warm conversation! One moment along the tour, somewhere in the southeast, paints a pretty good picture of the tour as a whole. I was pumping gas…and weeping…(like you do) and a woman came up to me, looked me in the eye without speaking for a few seconds, gave me a strong hug, then walked away. No words needed. I was lonely and still held, tired and energized, frustrated and grateful.

So, though the album is called That Siren, Hope after the song of the same title, which paints hope as a mythical siren who deceptively lures you into a crashing end, I think and hope that the light also shines through these songs, if only in showing people going through those feelings that they are not alone. The last song on the record, “Misplaced Hope”, which was recorded raw and live with just vocals and acoustic guitar, encourages one not to be afraid because though it may seem like hope is lost; it’s just that it was put in the wrong thing. Don’t stop wanting, but let things go. Let your heart be stubborn. Be gentle with it. Though it causes pain at times, if it keeps beating, and you let it, it will eventually lead you to where you want to be, even if it’s unexpected, with many visits to joy, fear and love (however fleeting), along the way.

Take heart, my love.

Visit krisangelis.com to learn more and pre-order That Siren, Hope.

The Mists of Avalon, one of the first fantasy books of its kind to tell a well-known legend through the eyes of the female characters, made a major impact on author Marie Benedict during her informative junior high years.

When she decided to shift careers, The Mists of Avalon circled back in her mind. She was an avid history lover (she received her undergraduate degree in the subject) and always had her nose in a book, but never thought she’d end up as a writer.

“I think I was intimidated by the fact that there were all these books that I absolutely adored and writers that I loved but I never really thought I could walk in their ranks,” she said.

However, the idea of unearthing little known perspectives and voices of history lead her to starting a series focusing on the women whose stories deserve to be told.

The first novel, The Other Einstein, focuses on Albert Einstein’s first wife, Mileva. A physicist herself, it is widely debated on her contributions to the theory of relativity and how she became lost in Albert’s shadow. The second novel, Carnegie’s Maid, gives Clara Kelley the recognition of businesswoman that Andrew Carnegie relied on. The third novel, The Only Woman in the Room, shares more than Hedy Lamarr’s story as a screen star but as an immigrant and inventor. The latest in the series, Lady Clementine, focuses on a woman who was much more than “the woman behind the man” - Clementine Churchill.

Once Benedict committed to writing this specific genre of nonfiction-meets-fiction, she really developed what she calls an “antenna” to finding these women. As she was conducting research for The Only Woman in the Room, she kept stumbling across Winston Churchill and wondering, who were the women in his life?

Turns out Clemetine was in his life throughout all aspects. With all the roles Winston took on through World War I and World War II, Clementine was more than just by his side. She was his global partner in every capacity, taking on the burden of leadership just as much as he was. She was his advisor, his speech editor; she had a hand in everything he did and everything he was.

When Benedict researches these women of history, she makes it a point to find original source material that make her novels as authentic as humanly possible. She has combed through letters, journals, photographs and any kind of documentation she can find. Only as a secondary source would she use materials such as biographies.

“I wanted to make my own decisions about what I thought about the letter they wrote and pictures they took and journal entries they made,” she said. “One of the reasons why I write fiction instead of nonfiction is because it's only recently that documentation, research material, narratives about women have really been considered worthy of keeping. The original materials are hard to come by so you have to use a blend of imagination and logic to fill in the gaps that the research leaves.”

In addition to these novels, she also started an Instagram campaign called Shift the Lens. For Winston Churchill, if the reader shifts the lens on any of his famous photographs, they’ll see that Clementine is either physically present in the focus that intended on exclusively being him or was such a part of making the moment captured on film that she might as well be in the picture.

“If you shift the lens in terms of your understanding of how that picture created how that important key moment actually was formed, then you would see she's been in the picture all along,” she said.

Shifting the lens works on the present, as well. Benedict explains that if the historical narrative isn’t rewritten to include women and their contributions, then history risks carrying on with the preconception that allowed the past to marginalize them.

“In order to shift our understanding about what women have done and what women are capable of doing, I think we need to understand what they've already accomplished,” she said.

Marie Benedict’s dedication to sharing the history of important women while giving it her own fictionalized spin creates a world that women of any age can dive into and come out wanting to know even more. These are the types of novels that start a conversation and keep that conversation going in hopes of history refusing to repeat past mistakes.

It’s a question asked by many but can never reach a collective response: which is better, the book or the movie?

Margo Donohue and Margo Porras have a lot in common besides their names. They are both writers, ran in the same circle of fitness bloggers and had recently strayed away from the avid reading that was always a staple in their lives. More than five years ago, they had met through the power of Twitter and a convention geared towards fitness bloggers. Once they met in person, they got on the topic of what would ultimately change their lives - John Berendt’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

The nonfiction novel is based around real-life events in 1980s Savannah, Georgia, where local sex worker Danny Hansford is murdered by a respected antiques dealer. As they were discussing the book, the Clint Eastwood film adaptation was brought into the conversation. Porras remembers the movie being “ok” while Donahue found it “terrible”, but it sparked an organic conversation that they still remember to this day.

“At the end of the conversation, I don't even know how I thought of it, but I just asked, ‘Would you want to start a podcast about book versus movie?’ and she automatically said yes,” Donohue said.

As they began Book VS Movie, that organic conversation continued to flow as they discussed these topics for the first time. They don’t go off of a spreadsheet or specific layout; they just talk as they would normally. Not only is it organic, but it creates that easy-listening feel that fans of the podcast enjoy.

It also makes their friendship that much more unique. With Porras in San Diego and Donohue in Brooklyn, the podcast is one of the more entertaining ways to keep their friendship going.

“It's really like a book club in that sense that she goes into her corner and I go into my corner of the continent and we read the book and watch the movie and we have this little meetup,” Porras said.

It may have just started as a conversation between the two of them, but it grew into so much more. Their active Facebook Page and Group, with over 1,000 followers combined, keeps the conversation going and has actually been the inspiration behind some of their episodes.

At over 100 episodes and counting, Book VS Movie is the conversation book lovers can never seem to get enough of. Join their conversations by subscribing to the podcast here.

When art pop collective Hello Forever began creating their debut album, Whatever It Is, they wanted the final product to be, well, whatever it is.

They have a wide range of influences that span from doo-wop and jazz to skiffle and R&B. On top of that, they add elaborate arrangements to create songs that turn the deepest of frowns into a radiating smile. But how do they find the best fit for these influences to create a song they’re collectively happy with?

“It’s not really a selective process of discernment for us,” they said. “We try our best not to make any decisions about the music, and just let it write itself. We are enculturated by the music we love to listen to, and the music that people around us listen to. It all comes in and we don’t really want to set restraints on how it comes out.”

As far as where these songs came out, they recorded wherever, whenever and however they could. In a span of 200 days they created music in various bedrooms and borrowed studios until they had the final product. They called the process “magical”, but would ultimately love to have a home studio in their native Topanga, CA.

“...There is a special clarity out here in nature,” they said.

Since they wanted the album to be whatever it is, they really found a chance to just let the music flow and see where it took them. They didn’t want to overthink it or get into such a headspace that it prevented them from creating the best album they could make.

“This can be a challenge,” they said. “The ego is desperate and insecure and vain. Sometimes our smallness wants to get in the way and try to control things and make ourselves important. Or we get scared of making mistakes and suffering. It is a daily practice, which we experience both through art making and outside of it — to allow what is to be, whatever it is.”

That being said, they want listeners to take away whatever meaning they can find within it. Whether it’s truth, clarity, fun, joy, inquiry, resolution, friendship, grief… if an emotion stems from listening to their music, they’ve accomplished exactly what they wanted out of these songs.

Hello Forever’s Whatever It Is is out February 21, 2020.

Starting in the winter of 2018, Mohawk Bends was founded by four like-minded Austin musicians: Alex La Fuente, Colin Clay, Chris Michael and Jonathan More. Following a private performance for close friends and family during SXSW with the touring California-based act, Hate Drugs, Mohawk Bends immediately began writing their first record.

In the following months, the band made their public debut in high-profile Austin venues, including Stubbs and the Mohawk, and immediately charmed audiences with their polished, energetic performances.

Their latest single, “See What You Do To Me”, is an electrifying yet relatable exploration of creative freedom and the liberation that comes with getting out of one's own way. Instead of being driven by their personal expectations and concerns and writing the songs they thought they should be writing, with "See What You Do To Me", Mohawk Bends remains true to their vision while letting go, having fun and taking their fans along for the ride in the process.

“When we approached ‘See What You Do To Me’, we wanted to create something that would allow our audience a certain amount of escape,” the band said. “We didn’t want to get political, we didn’t want to get too ‘real’ - we just wanted to write a fun, relatable rock tune that people could get lost in. This song is the result of us letting go of our expectations, concerns and our self consciousness about what we thought we should be writing. We wanted to write something we’d enjoy, that our fans would enjoy, and that’s exactly what we did.”

Be one of the first to listen to “See What You Do To Me” right here on Black is the New AP Style!

A little bit about myself before I jump into this story: I am a huge Twenty One Pilots fan. You could say I have been to too many or my fair share of their concerts. Now that we got that out of the way...

I had this best friend in college, her name was Meaghan. Meaghan was a gift. I don’t even have words to describe the type of person she was; she was more than amazing. She had so much love and care in her heart. Well, Meaghan didn’t always make the smartest choices. But you could never talk her down from the choices she did make. March 8, 2015, Meaghan had just traveled up to Buffalo, New York by herself from Salem, Massachusetts to go see her boyfriend. I was not fond of the idea. A friend called up my roommate (who was also one of Meaghan’s best friends and mine) and said she saw an accident on the news that occurred on the Mass Pike where an unidentified woman had died on site. Being the person I am, I thought everyone was getting ahead of themselves and we tried to resume our day.

A half an hour passed and this is where I got worried since none of us could get a hold of Meaghan; the whole “she’s driving, that’s why she’s not picking up” came into play. Then I contacted her boyfriend who stated he had spoken to her around 8:45 a.m. and at this point it was well after 10 a.m. Now I started to panic. Cue the phone call that changed my whole entire life. Her brother calls my roommate and I think you all can understand what happened next.

This is where music comes in. Attending a Twenty One Pilots show was never the same. Most activities are never the same after you lose someone. You become a different person. A piece of you tends to die with the person. I remember attending my first show after the incident. June 14, 2016, Boston Massachusetts at Agganis Arena. I went with my sister and three close friends I met through the band/fanbase.

If you are familiar with the duo, you know they always end with a song called “Trees” - well it hit me harder than words could ever express. Tyler Joseph hit one note on his keyboard and I just felt this rush of emotions leave my body. It’s a song I always resonated with Meaghan, but having it live, in front of you, is a more powerful feeling. As Tyler screamed the words “hello” I just felt this overwhelming sensation over me, as if Meaghan was with me. I cried openly in front of a crowd of thousands of people and I didn’t even care. I can’t even listen to the song to this day without crying. I am teary eyed typing this out in the airport. She passed back in 2015 and the song still hits me with so much power. I cry to this day, every time I hear it in concert. Music does that. Music is that power.

Gather 'round the open fire for Chimneyside Chats - a monthly feature with holiday stories from our favorite artists. See what's in their stockings this year as they reminisce on Christmas memories, share their favorite recipe and more! Here's what girl band Lez Zeppelin had to say:

It all began on a cold, dark Hallow’s Eve in 2015 when we were asked by Cleopatra Records for a contribution to their Riot Grrrl Christmas compilation. We were excited to participate! But, did Led Zeppelin ever write a Christmas song? There is one about the “land of the ice and snow”, but that is mainly about immigrants. (Incidentally, you can hear that one on our latest release, The Island of Skyros.)

There are songs about misty mountains, various characters from The Hobbit, up-tempo ballads that contain recipes (“Custard Pie” and “Lemon Song”) and of course, myriad songs that serve up precious instruction on how to win the hearts, minds (and various other parts) of members of the opposite sex. But, there are none about Christmas. Not exactly.

 So, we set out to change all that. We decided it would be most fitting to take the best known of all of Led Zeppelin’s compositional masterpieces -- Stairway to Heaven -- and mold that into… well, something a little more frosty. What could be more frosty than the snowman, himself?

And so, with a bit of sculptural reconstruction of musical limbs we managed to mesh a corn-cobbed pipe with a bustle in the hedgerow and came up with this hybrid of two great classics. We called it “Mystic Snowman” and quickly put it out -- before our snowballs melted away.

 The holidaze will never be the same.

Gather 'round the open fire for Chimneyside Chats - a monthly feature with holiday stories from our favorite artists. See what's in their stockings this year as they reminisce on Christmas memories, share their favorite recipe and more! Here's what synth pop duo Moonray had to say:

So here we are: it’s approaching Christmas. Husband and wife, experiencing the scarce luxury of sitting in a hot tub together, toasting anything at all positive we can think of, having just spent the early hours of the morning in the funniest, longest, deepest, most searching one-to-one conversation we’ve ever had together whilst swimming around a lit-up swimming pool we miraculously have all to ourselves… a rare and pretty magical moment of heaven interrupting our lives.

Rewind six years, the first snowfall of the holidays and of the year is happening late at night outside my London flat. Having been together for six months I go out into the untouched snow and write huge across the road ‘Will you marry me? and yell at Jen to come to the window. She looks super happy and excited and torn…

Jen wraps up in her layers and comes outside to join me to play in the snow and says, ‘I want to marry you but I need you to know something, and not just know about it but really think about it and understand the permanent nature of it.’ I ask her what it is and she responds, ‘I never ever want to have children. If you were to spend the rest of your life with me you wouldn’t have any children and I need you to have really thought that through and know where you stand with it.’

I knew Jen’s completely understandable fears around having children and understood and had empathy for where she had come to on it. In that moment I felt I just wanted to say that this was fine and let’s just be together out of our love for each other, but I could see she needed something more than that to feel loved and respected and so I said I would think about it for three months, which I did before proposing again at my favourite place in Ireland - a sublime, sea storm-battered beach on the west coast of Ireland listening to a song I had recorded for and about her. This time she said yes.

Fast forward back to our six-years-later holiday hot tub toasting life session… we’ve now been together through a bunch of triumphs, tragedies, learning curves and generally taking the piss out of each other, and in this hot tub, Jen is unexpectedly pregnant. We clearly didn't pay attention in biology class. We don’t quite know how we journeyed here really, but we’re surprised again by laughter and joy, in fact, we're giddy. Somehow, whilst understanding and living out Jen’s valid reasons for not ever having kids, something along our journey has changed both our lives together and how we experience the world and here we are having a once-unthinkable happiest of holidays.

Just before sunrise at the end of this very night as Jen falls asleep and the first light of dawn came, feeling full of both the beautiful and broken moments of the last number of years, I write a love song called ‘Heavening’ which we, OFFICER, have just released as our new single from our upcoming album, Night Tennis. I’d love you to have a listen to it and share it with your friends and family this holiday season.

Gather 'round the open fire for Chimneyside Chats - a monthly feature with holiday stories from our favorite artists. See what's in their stockings this year as they reminisce on Christmas memories, share their favorite recipe and more! Here's what synth pop duo Moonray had to say: