Month: August 2020

Tennessee whiskey is, by its very design, a more refined version of bourbon. And things don’t typically taste worse the more refined they become. For me (as someone who drinks a fair amount of whiskey for a living), the juice from Tennessee is more interesting to me (in general) than its Kentucky cousin. Both because of that refinement and the relative scarcity of the stuff compared to the much more ubiquitous bourbon.

What sets Tennessee whiskey apart from Kentucky’s bourbon is one step in the entire distilling/bottling process. For the most part, Tennessee whiskeys and ryes have to follow the same rules as standard bourbons and ryes. Except for a bottle to be called a “Tennessee” whiskey or rye, it has to go through the Lincoln County Process. This is a filtration step — usually before aging — where the hot juice is run through or steeped with sugar maple charcoal, to add more depth of flavor and color to the juice. This process was popularized by the legendary first master distiller of Jack Daniel’s distillery, Nathan “Nearest” Green. (Just to be clear, “Tennessee bourbon” does not have to go through the Lincoln County Process. It’s usually just bourbon made in Tennessee.)

If you’re feeling a little burned out on Kentucky’s signature tipple, it might be time to put down the bourbon and reach for a bottle of whiskey from Tennessee that’s newer to your palate. To help you get into the style in a little more depth, I’m calling out eight bottles I dig. Some of these are going to be pretty easy to find, others… not so much.

Still, tracking down a good bottle of booze in half the fun.

Uncle Nearest 1884 Small Batch Whiskey

ABV: 46.5%
Distillery: Nearest Green Distillery, Shelbyville, TN (Sourced)
Average Price: $45

The Whiskey:

This label, which celebrates Uncle Nathan “Nearest” Green and his achievements in Tennessee whiskey, is a great entry point into the style. The juice is sourced but the barrels are hand-selected by descendants of the Green family who still work either for Uncle Nearest or Jack Daniel’s.

Tasting Notes:

The nose comes in a mildly sweet with a note of earthiness and clear vanilla. That vanilla carries on, as a nice spice kicks in alongside a tart fruit edge. The sip holds onto the cinnamon spice as light flourishes of more fruit and even florals dance in the background on a lingering finish.

Bottom Line:

This is a very solid bottle for mixing cocktails. Try it in an old fashioned and go from there.

Nelson’s Green Brier Tennessee Whiskey

ABV: 45.5%
Distillery: Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery, Nashville, TN
Average Price: $30

The Whiskey:

Nelson’s Green Brier is on the frontline along with Uncle Nearest in bringing the spotlight back to Tennessee whiskeys. This signature expression from the shingle uses a corn base with a dose of wheat and malted barley — essentially making this an analog to a “wheated” bourbon. The juice is slowly filtered with sugar maple charcoal before aging in new oak until it’s just right.

Tasting Notes:

Caramel apples spiked with sharp cinnamon mingle with an oily vanilla bean pod. The cinnamon, apple, and caramel carry on through the taste as a sense of dark chocolate powder ebbs late. The sweetness edges towards a wet brown sugar that pushes the tart apple and cinnamon into baked apple crumble territory, with a fleeting hint of dark berries on the very end.

Bottom Line:

I dig this stuff a lot. I use it mostly for highballs with soft mineral water to help all those notes really shine.

Davidson Reserve Tennessee Whiskey

ABV: 48%
Distillery: Pennington Distillery, Nashville, TN
Average Price: $35

The Whiskey:

Davidson Reserve from Pennington’s stills in Nashville is a Tennessee whiskey version of a “high-rye” bourbon. The corn and rye are the stars of this mash with a small supporting role from malted barley. The juice is filtered and then spends at least four years in the barrel before it’s blended into small-batch bottlings.

Tasting Notes:

Crème brûlée covered in fresh strawberries draw you into this sip. The sweetness is pure maple syrup that supports a baked peach fruitiness alongside notes of mild nutmeg and flicker of pineapples baked into sugar cookies. The warming end embraces all the fruit as a quick flash of fresh mint arrives right at the end to close things out.

Bottom Line:

This is a great cocktail base to have on hand. All that fruit and a little bit of mint make it work well in a whiskey smash or mint julep.

George Dickel Bottled in Bond Distilling Tennessee Whisky

ABV: 50%
Distillery: Cascade Hollow Distilling Co., Tullahoma, TN (Diageo)
Average Price: $45

The Whiskey:

Master distiller Nicole Austin might be one of the sharpest distillers working today. Case in point, this bottled-in-bond release highlights Austin’s keen sense for when whiskey is ready for the bottle. This expression spent eleven years aging in Cascade Hollow’s rickhouses under bonded supervision before it was filtered and bottled under Austin’s watchful eye.

Tasting Notes:

Christmas spices and pecan pie greets you. The sip stays bold with a sense of tart apple orchards next to bushels of sweet red berries as notes of vanilla pop up alongside a continued sense of all those spices. The fattiness of the nuts peeks in again as the fruit mellows into a buttery and spicy cobbler.

Bottom Line:

I drink this stuff on the rocks mostly. Though if it’s around the holidays, this becomes the go-to Manhattan base, with a nice and herbal sweet vermouth.

Fugitives Grandgousier Tennessee Whiskey

ABV: 47%
Distillery: Nashville Craft Distillery, Nashville, TN
Average Price: $60

The Whiskey:

This single barrel expression is all about the grain-to-glass experience of Tennessee. The mash uses a Hickory Cane heirloom corn that was cultivated in the area long before Europeans showed up. They also use Irish malted barley to round out the mash bill before small-batch copper pot distillation. The juice is then filtered with their own sugar maple charcoal. Then the juice goes into the barrels until it’s just right.

Tasting Notes:

Roasted corn cobs dance next to caramel covered apples and a hint of freshly baked biscuits dripping with butter. That buttery biscuit note carries on as flavors of fruit, vanilla, and spice mingle on the palate. The sip ends slowly with a return of the corn and caramel as a faint wisp of smoke.

Bottom Line:

If you can get your hands on this one, try it as a sipper with a single rock or few drops of water.

Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Select Tennessee Whiskey

ABV: 47%
Distillery: Jack Daniels Distillery, Lynchburg, TN (Brown-Forman)
Average Price: $50

The Whiskey:

You can’t have a list of Tennessee whiskeys without Jack Daniel’s … you just can’t. This expression is a great highlight for the mammoth brand. Each bottle is hand-selected from the upper floors of the rickhouses. Each barrel is selected for its character and depth that best represents what a great dram of Jack can be and is then bottled individually.

Tasting Notes:

Toasted oak is the dominant note up front with a hint of dark spice and maple sugar. Subtle vanilla sits next to a very slight essence of banana as the spice and wood continue to be the center of the sip. The spice gets a little peppery on the end as the vanilla marries to the toasted oak before the sip slowly fades away with one last gasp of fruit.

Bottom Line:

I tend to drink this with a single rock, though I’ve been known to use it as a cocktail base as well.

Collier and McKeel Tennessee Whiskey

ABV: 43%
Distillery: Pennington Distilling, Nashville, TN
Average Price: $55

The Whiskey:

As much as Jack Daniel’s feels like and an “old school” whiskey, Collier and McKeel really feels like a throwback (even though it’s not, really). The rye in the all-locally-sourced mash bill helps to amp up the distillate. But it’s really the slow, drip-by-drip sugar maple charcoal filtration that comes to define this dram.

Tasting Notes:

There are clear notes of bourbon vanilla, caramel, and oak up top. Hints of honey mingle with notes of apple, worn leather, and a distant whiff of pipe tobacco smoke. The sip holds onto that thin smoke as it hits the honey-sweetness and bourbon-y notes again on the slow fade.

Bottom Line:

This makes for an exceedingly interesting highball base… if you can find it.

Clayton James Tennessee Whiskey

ABV: 45%
Distillery: Tenn South Distillery, Lynnville, TN
Average Price: $35

The Whiskey:

This wheated Tennessee whiskey takes things very slow. The tiny craft distillery really focuses on the Lincoln County Process by taking that step their own way. Instead of slowly dripping their hot juice through the charcoal, they steep the whiskey with the charcoal under high-pressure conditions for a solid week. This adds some serious depth to the dram that really highlights what that sugar maple charcoal filtration can do.

Tasting Notes:

Blooming fruit orchards — peach, pear, cherry, apple — greet you with big notes of vanilla and caramel. The sweetness of the sip leans towards a Grade A maple syrup stewing all those fruits with dashes of dark spices and a billow of smoky wood. Then the sip takes a turn, offering up an almost vegetal note with a savory herbal touch that somehow works before the end embraces the spice, fruits, and mild smoke on the medium-length finish.

Bottom Line:

This is a fascinating sip that works in any application, especially a highball.

If you missed Michelle Obama’s speech last night at the (virtual) Democratic National Convention (DNC), you missed a doozy. In the words of conservative media icon Matt Drudge’s site, Drudge Report, Michelle’s effort was one that “roasts and gags” Trump. Fox News host Chris Wallace noted that the former First Lady “frayed, sliced, and diced” the president. And, as evidenced by Trump’s “unhinged Twitter meltdown” this morning, it’s blatantly apparent that Michelle “drew blood,” in the words of the Washington Post‘s Greg Sargent.

Writes Sargent:

The strength of her scorching indictment of Trump — delivered on Monday night — resides in the fact that everyone, or at least a majority, knows it is true. As Trump’s meltdown shows, his only available response is to swap in an entirely invented tale, one hermetically sealed off from reality in just about every conceivable way.

Her case, boiled down, is that Trump inherited a country that, for all its deep problems and lingering inequalities, was on the mend following another previous crisis. Trump proceeded to utterly wreck the place through his incompetence, malevolence, corruption and depraved conviction that stoking as much civil conflict and racial incitement as possible helps him.

Trump’s tweets started bright and early this morning:

And they picked up again closer to lunchtime on the East Coast:

Tonight, former president Bill Clinton and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are slated to speak, so brace yourself for more Trump tweets incoming late tonight and early tomorrow morning.

For all the rappers who fancy themselves basketball players, there’s one who has been taking the road less traveled by his lyrical brethren. Schoolboy Q picked up golf on a bet a few years ago and he’s been a self-described addict of the sport ever since. However, because it’s a less-popular sport among the hip-hop demographic (there’s a lot of old, white guys in the pros), he hasn’t always had the best luck finding four to play with — until now.

Schoolboy’s golf dreams have come true courtesy of PGA Tour 2K21, this year’s addition to 2K Sports’ golf simulation video game. Q appears in the official ad for the game, playing online against WWE Superstar The Miz, PGA Tour cover athlete Justin Thomas, and Christopher McDonald — aka “everyone’s favorite golf villain” Shooter McGavin from Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore.

The ad sees the four trading tees in the game, with Q producing a yellow pro jacket he says he got at a thrift store (seriously, watch Happy Gilmore, it’s great), and McDonald experiencing a fit of gaming rage as he clearly falls behind while his three opponents celebrate their birdies, eagles, and holes in one.

Watch Schoolboy Q in the trailer for PGA Tour 2K21 above, and get the game when it arrives this Friday, August 21.

This best new pop music this week saw an array of unexpected collaborations and stand-out singles. Miley Cyrus signaled a new era with her ’80s-inspired single, Dua Lipa tapped Madonna and Missy Elliot for a revved-up remix, and Charlie Puth teamed up with Blackbear for a heartfelt number.

Each week, Uproxx rounds up the best new pop releases. Listen up.

Miley Cyrus — “Midnight Sky”

Miley Cyrus’s new single is a standout of this week’s best new pop. “Midnight Sun” follows Cyrus’ 2019 EP She Is Coming and shows the singer is back in her musical groove. The song itself is an empowering nod to enjoying the single life while the track’s instrumentals hum with ’80s-inspired synths.

Dua Lipa — “Levitating (Remix)” Feat. Madonna and Missy Elliot

Dua Lipa debuted her shimmering sophomore album Future Nostalgia earlier this year but that hasn’t stopped the singer from sharing even more music. The singer called upon DJ The Blessed Madonna to transform the laid-back, groove-driven beat with revved-up bass and fluttering synths. “I decided to take the party up a notch,” Lipa wrote about the remix.

Charlie Puth — “Hard On Yourself” Feat. Blackbear

Charlie Puth has an undeniable knack for crafting summery pop tunes, even getting the chance to collaborate with the iconic Elton John. Following his buoyant track “Girlfriend,” Puth linked up with “Hot Girl Bummer” singer Blackbear for the honest track “Hard On Yourself.” Over a skipping beat, the two singers wonder why their love interest is so hard on herself.

Alicia Keys — “So Done” Feat. Khalid

Gearing up for the release of her seventh studio album, Alicia, Alicia Keys teamed up with crooner Khalid for the soaring track “So Done.” Over a subdue beat provided by Black Panther composer Ludwig Göransson, the two sing of giving all the energy they possibly could to an exasperating situation.

Gianni Lee — “Gas” Feat. Andrea Valle

Two of Philadelphia’s rising singers, Gianni Lee and Andrea Valle, linked up this week for the silky-smooth number “Gas.” Andrea’s captivating vocals are at the forefront of the single, supported by mesmerizing 808s and slow-burning synths. “I think a healthy collaboration between strong Black women and strong Black men is needed,” Lee said about the track. “I believe this release speaks to that, it speaks to friendship, it speaks to the idea of heroism and standing up for what we believe in. The release and the artwork scream AFROFUTURISM and the continued spread of its message and aesthetic in my artwork and everything that I touch. I’m a big afro-futurist.”

Christine And The Queens — “La Vita Nuova (A.G. Cook Remix)” Feat. Caroline Polachek

Back in February, Christine And The Queens shared the 6-track EP La Vita Nuova alongside a cinematic short film. Now, Christine has tapped a number of frequent collaborators to reimagine the EP’s title track with Caroline Polacheck. A.G. Cook stepped up to the challenge and added a shimmering, electronic edge.

Alaina Castillo — “Tonight”

Alaina Castillo continues making a name for herself with a number of slow-burning singles. Following a handful of singles and EPs, Castillo infuses a bit more energy onto her track “Tonight.” With expertly-layered production, Castillo delivers one of her most upbeat singles yet.

Lany — “You!”

LA-based trip Lany is gearing up to release their third album Mama’s Boy after two successful albums and a high-profile collaboration with Lauv. Now, Lany gives fans a taste of their impending release with the reflective track “You!” “There was only one person in the world I cared about hearing Malibu Nights,” said lead singer Paul Klein. “Now, there’s not one person in the world I don’t want to hear Mama’s Boy.”

Holly Humberstone — “Drop Dead”

Buzzing songwriter Holly Humberstone shared her debut EP Falling Asleep At The Wheel this week and on it arrived the stand-out track “Drop Dead.” “I wrote drop dead about a troubled and manipulative relationship that despite how bad it is, you can’t get out, because love can often be blinding,” Humberstone said. “I think a lot of people have been through something where you’re with someone that was no good and for some reason all they have to do is look at you and you go straight back.”

Benee — “Snail”

Rising New Zealand songwriter gained notoriety when her track “Supalonely” went viral on TikTok and now the songwriter offering a closer look at her songwriting with a handful of recent singles. With “Snails,” Benee drew inspiration from being stuck inside: “When we were in lockdown, I was fascinated by snails. There wasn’t really a lot to be doing, so I would spend a lot of time outside looking at snails and would think about how they’re doing their own little thing and they’re all free. I just played around with the idea of being kind of like a snail and how I come out in the rain. Being stuck inside because of COVID, it’s kind of my lockdown song.”

Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

On Monday, Jon Jones relinquished his stranglehold on the light heavyweight division that he has kept for the most part locked down over the last 10 years. The vacant title sets up a likely showdown between Dominick Reyes and Jan Blachowicz as Jones turns his attention to the heavyweight division, where a showdown with Stipe Miocic is expected, eventually.

While Jones-Miocic is an unquestioned money fight — one Dana White is undoubtedly considering as the UFC negotiates the former light heavyweight champion’s return to the Octagon — the UFC president was clear after UFC 252 that the next title shot should go to Francis Ngannou.

Jones could test the waters with proven veterans like Junior Dos Santos, heavy-handed knockout artists like Derrick Lewis or hungry challengers like Jairzinho Rozenstruik. But the fight that would be the most intriguing at heavyweight would be against the recently-retired Daniel Cormier.

Cormier’s history with Jones is well established: the two feuded over the light heavyweight title, with both bouts going in Jones’ favor. Cormier has fought Jones twice, losing via unanimous decision in 2015 at UFC 182, then getting knocked out in 2017 at UFC 214. That second loss was overturned to a “no contest” after Jones tested positive for a banned substance. He’s continued to have ‘adverse findings‘ in his drug testing in the years following his UFC return, but USADA ruled the small amount has no performance-enhancing benefit. Before settling for a retirement bout in a trilogy fight against Miocic, Cormier even pleaded for a showdown against Jones.

“It’s all I want,” Cormier said in 2019, per ESPN. “When I fight Jones, I feel most complete when I’m preparing for competition against that guy. It makes me train harder. It makes me train smarter. I do everything right in preparation, and I believe that if I do stick around that would be the fight that I do it for. It would be at 205 pounds because I need to go and get that back from him.”

Instead, Jones will make the leap the heavyweight, aiming to be the sixth UFC fighter in history to hold championships in two different weight classes.

As for Miocic, his bout against Ngannou will be one of his toughest to date. Miocic smothered the Cameroonian fighter in their first showdown, forcing Ngannou to completely abandon his camp’s gameplan and fall victim to a five-round wrestling clinic. It appeared the top contender’s career was completely off the tracks, as he followed up his championship opportunity with an ugly decision loss to Derrick Lewis.

“I have carried my fear from the last fight to this one. I completely understand the frustration and anger that it has caused to my fans, coaches, teammates, family and friends and I am truly sorry for that,” Ngannou said, per ESPN. “I won’t let everyone down again. All I can do now is prove myself and make you proud again.”

He has stayed true to his word in his last four fights, finishing Rozenstruik, Dos Santos, Cain Velasquez and Curtis Blaydes in less than three minutes total.

“Francis is definitely next,” White told reporters after UFC 252, per MMA Fighting.

“Francis has been out there destroying everybody, and if you look at how long ago it was that he got that title shot, he’s worked his way back,” White continued. “It belongs to Francis Ngannou. But yeah, Jon Jones going to heavyweight is very interesting.”

Ngannou-Miocic seems like a lock for what’s next in the title picture. But Jones could shake things up, and be in for a major payday if he can convince Cormier to return from retirement. Depending on how Cormier’s torn cornea heals, it could be an opportunity too good to pass up.

Game 1 of the first round series between the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Clippers delivered almost everything anyone could have wanted. Paul George and Kawhi Leonard were terrific for the Clippers, leading them to a 118-110 win. Luka Doncic was sensational, becoming the first player in league history to drop 42 points in his playoff debut, to go along with nine assists and seven rebounds.

Kristaps Porzingis is the fourth star in the series, but he only played 20 minutes, scoring 14 points and pulling down six boards, before he was ejected for picking up his second technical foul when he came to Doncic’s defense in a scuffle with Marcus Morris. Both technical fouls he received were questionable, and his ejection drew the ire of LeBron James and other NBA stars watching the game who couldn’t believe he was tossed in a playoff game for a shove and saying a bad word after a foul call.

Still, after the game Porzingis and the rest of the Mavs seemed ready to move on and move forward from the incident, rather than dwell on it. For Kristaps, he hopes it serves as a learning experience both for himself and his team, as they have to understand that the Clippers role players are well versed in the art of provocation, and Dallas can’t fall into that trap.

Between Patrick Beverley and Marcus Morris, the Clippers do certainly have their fair share of instigators on the floor and it was clear the goal of the Clippers was to bring an added level of physicality to Game 1, particularly in their treatment of Doncic. They wanted Doncic to feel their presence every trip down the floor, and early it led to a number of turnovers and an 18-2 run. To Doncic and the Mavs’ credit, they fought through that to take leads at various points in the game, but the frustration from all those bumps and grabs and hits was apparent in that brief kerfuffle with Morris.

Dallas now knows what L.A. is trying to do and it’ll be incumbent on them not to fall for it, as Porzingis says. If Kristaps and Morris both get tossed for an altercation, the clear winner in that situation is the Clippers. The Mavs, particularly their top stars, have to make sure cooler heads prevail, even in the face of master instigators on the other side.

Kyle‘s wild, animated, hip-hop sketch comedy show Sugar & Toys is returning for a second season September 20 on Fuse TV to lampoon all your favorite rappers, from the Lil’s to Drizzy, with Kyle hosting the proceedings from his living room — sort of. Due to current events, Kyle’s live-action segments had to be cut but fortunately, the show already has a team of animators ready to turn Kyle himself into one of the illustrated cast. Watch an exclusive clip introducing the new, animated version of Kyle above and the season two trailer below.

Kyle, who is fresh off the release of his latest album, See You When I Am Famous!!!!!!!!!!!!, explained the inspiration behind the show in an interview with Uproxx when it first premiered. “The morning cartoon is just such a nostalgic thing that every human, every race, ethnicity, rich, poor… we all experience the same thing,” he said. “I really like relating to the most innocent parts of people. The most innocent memories we have, the purest kind… We all went through it, we all have those memories.”

Watch the exclusive introduction of animated Kyle and the season two trailer for Sugar & Toys above and catch the season two premiere 9/20 at 11pm on Fuse TV.

Kyle is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The cable and streaming “late-night” landscape has been flush with Daily Show ex-pats doing their best to blend comedy with a penetrating examination of the issues that often get underreported or outright ignored by the mainstream media in their trance-like quest to signal-boost the Trump chaos machine. Some shows have been a success like those guided by John Oliver and Sam Bee. Others have failed to find the same level of audience/buzz despite doing great work (Wyatt Cenac, Larry Wilmore, Jordan Klepper). And now, sadly, we must add Hasan Minhaj’s Patriot Act to the list of shows that are no longer.

According to a tweet from Minhaj, “Patriot Act has come to an end.” The journocomic hybrid went on to thank Netflix while reflecting on the passage of time and changes in his life (such as having two kids) during the show’s run and his opportunity to work with an immense staff of researchers, writers, producers, and animators. It took a village to make that show, as Minhaj has always been eager to point out., right through the end. So, what now?

First, let’s process the surprise of this. Netflix churns out a ton of original programming with its GDP of a small country-sized budget, but Patriot Act seemed like a jewel in its crown. Particularly in terms of late-night, where it has struggled to find consistent wins. We don’t have hard numbers, so it’s somewhat impossible to know how much of that was hype, but hype is currency in this media climate. Just not enough, I suppose.

The loss of the show is, first and foremost, a human one. Business is business but those researchers, writers, producers, animators, and everyone else involved in the creation of the show are now going to be without a paycheck at a time where it is quite brutal to be in that state. I don’t mean to be that guy, but that’s on my mind as I think about the loss of the show.

On a more global level, the loss of this show and its voice is troubling. Not because there aren’t other shows that live in the same space of creative dissection and exploration of deeper cut stories like the eviction crisis and food/worker safety. There are, but there are more shows that loudly and proudly abdicate the responsibility to shine a light on the myriad things that impact and threaten us on the regular, instead choosing to divide, scare, shock, and reap the rewards of low hanging fruit harvesting. And so when the chorus of good weakens, it’s a sad thing. The Patriot Act was in the chorus of good with a voice that resonated and stood out for its cleverness and inventiveness (and for its host’s flair for storytelling). But mostly, I dug how it hung back to consider things. Check out our interview with Minhaj and his thoughts on that when we discussed Kanye’s entry into politics. Let’s also point out that “late night” is whiter after this move. Representation matters, influencing the stories we see and the knowledge we gain. Minhaj’s blistering and timely look at racism within the South Asian community following the murder of George Floyd is a primary example of a story that comes from a perspective that is not in abundance in the political comedy zeitgeist right now. So there’s all of that to consider.

The proximity of this move to a vital election is another thing to consider. No TV show has the ability to change the world, and most people seem to be dug in with their views and their vote, but The Patriot Act‘s highly visual and fact-driven approach always held with it the promise of being able to activate people around a specific issue that mattered to them. And it’s sad to think that the show won’t have the chance to go all-in on the things that are swirling around this election and this moment. A Patriot Act episode around the grim nonsense around the U.S. Postal Service would really hit the spot right now or at any point as this roller coaster continues its ride, but it’s apparently not meant to be.

Apple Music’ Beats 1 radio station launched five years ago, in the summer of 2015, nabbing UK radio legend Zane Lowe to anchor the station and make it an important part of the global music landscape. Now, though, it’s time for some change, as Apple is tweaking its approach to radio. From now on, Beats 1 will be known as Apple Music 1.

Apple has also launched a pair of new stations, Apple Music Hits and Apple Music Country, which, along with Apple Music 1, will operate under the Apple Music Radio banner.

Zane Lowe said of the change:

“Apple Music is home — it’s home to artists, it’s home to fans, and it’s home to incredible music. I’m an obsessive music nerd. I love searching for the most exciting new artists and playing them right alongside the most essential, established artists of our time, because great music does not know the difference and Apple Music fans just want to hear great music. That’s what Apple Music Radio is all about.”

Oliver Schusser — vice president of Apple Music, Beats, and International Content — also said, “For the past five years, if ever there was a meaningful moment in music culture. Beats 1 was there bringing human curation to the forefront and drawing in listeners with exclusive shows from some of the most innovative, respected, and beloved people in music. Now, Apple Music radio provides an unparalleled global platform for artists across all genres to talk about, create, and share music with their fans, and this is just the beginning. We will continue to invest in live radio and create opportunities for listeners around the world to connect with the music they love.”

I have not re-watched an episode of Breaking Bad since Better Call Saul premiered in 2015 (with the exception of the Netflix movie), but I imagine it’s a weird experience. The wacky lawyer you know and love, Saul Goodman? His name isn’t actually Saul Goodman; he’s Jimmy McGill, a grifter / mail room employee-turned-talented lawyer who had to drink his own pee after becoming a “friend” of the cartel. Also, he might be married to a woman he never mentioned on Breaking Bad. Unless his wife is now dead. And he eventually works at a mall Cinnabon. Like I said, a weird experience.

It will be interesting to go back and watch Breaking Bad once Saul wraps up knowing what we know now. Let alone what happens in the final season, which co-creator Peter Gould admitted will change the way people view the original series.

“I think by the time you finish watching Better Call Saul, you’re going to see Breaking Bad in a very different light,” he told the Hollywood Reporter. “I think we’re going to learn things about the characters in Breaking Bad that we didn’t know. We’re going to learn things about the events of Breaking Bad that we didn’t know. And we’re going to learn things about the fates of a lot of these characters that may surprise people or certainly throw them into a different light.”

It’s hard to imagine there being another series set in the Breaking Bad universe, so Gould and Vince Gilligan only have 13 more episodes to connect the threads between BB and BCS (including, “Where is Kim Wexler when Saul Goodman is Saul Goodman dealing with Walt and Jesse?” as Gould put it) and wrap up the saga of Gene Takavic. That’s a heavy task, but considering they made a spin-off about a strip-mall lawyer that’s arguably better than one of the greatest TV series ever, I have complete faith in them.

(Via the Hollywood Reporter)