Curated by Shawn "JAY Z" Carter, JAY Z's Life+Times is a digital experience covering art, sports, music, fashion and culture.

Glass Animals are a Grammy and BRIT-nominated British band whose genre-blending sound and cult-like fandom have made them one of the most exciting acts in global pop. Their third album Dreamland became a cultural multi-platinum selling phenomenon and spawned Heat Waves, the record-breaking single that topped charts worldwide and made history as the first UK band to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in nearly 30 years. Last year, the band released their fourth critically acclaimed album I Love You So F**ing Much, a sci-fi-infused odyssey about love, connection, and what it means to feel real in a surreal world. It arrived alongside a 44-date world tour that included headlining The O2 Arena in London and Madison Square Gardens in New York. Frontman Dave Bayley — also one of pop’s most in-demand producers — writes and produces every song, often with an experimental DIY edge that blurs the lines between music, tech and visual art. This experimental production is particularly evident in the band’s Fresh Fruit series. Bayley uses these standalone singles to bring in guests and collaborators, giving himself space to play with new sounds. Their live shows are euphoric and surreal, driven by a deep connection with fans built through open-source creativity and unexpected digital drops.

thegloriousdead.com BETTEROFFDEAD. 9/15/23

Sam Lachow is a producer, songwriter, rapper, videographer, director, and editor of video and music. Raised in both Seattle and New York City he's been making videos since elementary school, and as a seventh-grader began a group called Shankbone. Sam began directing and producing music videos with Shankbone, and went on to create videos for various other artists.

In 2011 Sam released his debut project as a solo artist, "Brand New Bike". Produced entirely by Sam, the album utilized many live instruments from musicians based in Seattle and New York. The next year Sam released 2 EP's, and produced/directed dozens of music videos from the projects on his YouTube channel, which now has over 7 million views.

After successfully raising 20K on Kickstarter in 2014, Sam’s second full length album Huckleberry independently debuted #6 on iTunes Hip Hop. He then unexpectedly released a free project titled 80 Bars, which surpassed a million plays on Soundcloud for multiple songs. Riding that momentum Sam became the first local headliner to sell out Seattle’s 1,000 cap Neptune Theater, co-headlined a 29 city national tour, and rocked the main stage at Washington's biggest music festival Sasquatch. Sam’s EP Friends, Funk & Liquor debuted at #2 on iTunes Hip Hop top albums.

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