Month: January 2021

Ryan Hemsworth has been unstoppably prolific for the better part of the last decade. After moving away from traditional indie rock arrangements and more toward electronic-based production, Hemsworth’s latest project, Quarter-Life Crisis, is built upon collaborations with various artists who have come to prominence over the past couple of years, fine-tuning their craft and building their fanbase through scrappy shows in the DIY scene. The new self-titled EP features vocal songwriting contributions from Hop Along‘s Frances Quinlan, Hand Habits‘ Meg Duffy, Hovvdy‘s Charlie Martin, Yohuna, and Claud.

With each collaborator bringing their own unique approach to their tack, Quarter-Life Crisis shape shifts across six songs, leaving something for everyone. To celebrate the new release, Hemsworth sat down to talk Imogen Heap, Titanic, and a man who harvests very large carrots in the latest Indie Mixtape 20 Q&A.

What are four words you would use to describe your music?

Super chill vibes brother.

It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?

“Wow this stuff sounds great on my iTelekinesis X Vibephones. You’re telling me this was made before the Great Loudness War of the 2030s? I’m impressed. Does he have a Discordian Fleet page I can follow? Oh, he resides in the woods with his alpacas now? Fair enough.”

What’s your favorite city in the world to perform?

Oakland.

Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?

God, aka Imogen Heap. Her sound palette is crunchy, glitchy, soft, harsh, soothing, it’s perfect.

Where did you eat the best meal of your life?

Katsudon at Zuicho in Shibuya.

What album do you know every word to?

Merzbow – Pulse Demon.

What was the best concert you’ve ever attended?

Radiohead when I was like 16 lolz.

What is the best outfit for performing and why?

Sweatsuit with a cape. because duh!

Who’s your favorite person to follow on Twitter and/or Instagram?

The old guy who harvests very large carrots, I forget his @.

What’s your most frequently played song in the van on tour?

Is van another word for private jet? If so, “Camptown Races.”

What’s the last thing you Googled?

How to spell ‘telekinesis’.

What album makes for the perfect gift?

Californication, on top of a plate of spaghetti. So you have some Jamming Tunes while you’re monching on your ‘sta.

Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?

The same hotel room they shot the “It G Ma” video in.

What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?

Two butterflies fanning each other, lower back, I don’t want to talk about it.

What artists keep you from flipping the channel on the radio?

Is radio another word for Chill Vibes playlist? If so, Pitbull, Flo Rida, Jason Derulo and will.i.am.

What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?

Someone at a show in Seoul painted my cat with watercolour on a tote bag. I still use it for groceries.

What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?

If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you’re gonna see some serious sh*t.

What’s the last show you went to?

Maybe The Hives? hahahh it was tite.

What movie can you not resist watching when it’s on TV?

Don’t have cable but I assume Titanic still plays four times a week so probably that.

What would you cook if Obama were coming to your house for dinner?

You know what? I’d love for him to make me a meal for once. I cook for him every night of the week. I’m tired.

Quarter-Life Crisis is out now on Saddle Creek. Listen here.

Los Angeles’ ABC affiliate reports that Dr. Dre’s Brentwood home was the target of a “burglary ring” that attempted to break in. He’s currently hospitalized while recovering from a brain aneurysm, giving the thieves the opportunity to try to get in, although police told ABC nothing of value was taken. The would-be burglars tried to break in at around 10 pm — rookies — but were not able to get inside.

The police had been staking out the neighborhood after the thieves had been reported trying to break into other homes in the area, and a short chase ensued when police spotted the SUV they were using. Four people were arrested in Pacific Palisades and police found saws, crowbars, and other tools in a backpack in the vehicle.

Meanwhile, Dre posted a short message to his Instagram yesterday, thanking fans for their support and the staff at Cedars Sinai Medical Center for their care, declaring he’s “doing great” and expects to be “back home soon.”

Dre was rushed to the hospital Monday after surviving a brain aneurysm, and at the last update, doctors were running tests to discover the cause of the bleeding. He was reportedly in stable condition before putting up his own post.

It’s a tricky business to try and predict which artists are going to “blow up” in any given year. For one thing, as we learned in 2020, a lot can happen in a year. The whole music industry can shut down, just like that, leaving a lot of up-and-coming names lost in the lurch when it comes to commercial success and public recognition. A breakout is hard enough under normal circumstances, so when a pandemic threatens the livelihoods of an entire industry, making assumptions can feel a little like throwing darts at a wall of index cards. Even defining what a “breakout” means is a complicated question based on expectations and circumstances — and whether those are reasonable or not.

Even if you’re confident that someone’s buzz has reached the level that they can break through the mainstream’s radar ceiling, there are still the dark horses who come from seemingly nowhere to blow up “overnight,” the blind spots that keep critics like me from recognizing a rising star in the making before they go supernova, and the unexpected flameouts thanks to social media cancel culture, encounters with the law, or worse, the sudden demises of artists caught up in street life as they take steps to leave it behind.

So, it’s not a normal year and this isn’t supposed to be a comprehensive or surefire list. But the artists here are primed for their proverbial mango seasons. Maybe they have well-received mixtapes or EPs out that have put them in a position to overtake the competition. Perhaps a hot single has a grassroots movement of fans eager to see what they come out with next. Or they’ve been slowly building their buzz over the course of the last year, with a promised album prepared to push them over the top. These artists may not be guaranteed to become the next No. 1-selling hitmakers or ubiquitous corporate pitch people, but you may want to keep an eye out for them. Their fuses are lit and targets are set, now all that remains is to see whether they can live up to the hype and really bring the noise.

By the way, if you don’t see a name here you expected to, you may want to check out Uproxx’s upcoming 2021 Most Anticipated Albums list, where quite a few rising artists have placements thanks to their previously announced albums we expect to drop at some point this year.

Baby Keem

Kendrick Lamar’s cousin was a 2020 XXL Freshman but didn’t release much new music last year to capitalize on the added attention. That seems fine, though, because the buzz from his 2019 single “Orange Soda” and the fan fervor for a follow-up seem to be enough to warrant watching out for any moves the Vegas-based upstart makes this year.

Blxst

Hailing from Los Angeles and arriving with his solid No Love Lost EP, Blxst made a splash after solidifying his underground support with a strong feature run. After releasing the deluxe version of his debut, Blxst became a fan favorite whose melodic blend of West Coast cadences and soulful content made an impact that has fans everywhere anticipating a full-length.

BRS Kash

“Throat Baby” is being hailed as an underrated classic in the making that just needs a push, and with his partnership with Atlanta-based LVRN, it’s one he’s almost certain to receive. The indie is home to previous breakout stars like 6lack, Shelley (FKA DRAM), and Summer Walker, so they’re batting close to 1.000 so far. There’s no reason to think they won’t make a star of the raunchy crooner as well.

Coi Leray

Coi Leray may have been introduced to curious fans as the girlfriend of Trippie Redd or the daughter of Benzino, but her Now Or Never EP firmly established she’s got chops of her own and enough charisma to carry her own career unassisted. It doesn’t hurt that she’s an exuberant Instagram extrovert who accumulates views by the bunches with her bubbly dance videos and unique fashion sense.

J.I.

Thanks to his 2019 video “Need Me,” the self-declared “Prince Of N.Y.” may very well be the second alum of Lifetime‘s The Rap Game to find his way onto XXL‘s coveted Freshman cover (after season one winner Mulatto). He’s received cosigns from Drake and Lil Tjay, built up a respectable collection of mixtapes, including 2020’s Welcome to GStarr Vol. 1 and Hood Life Krisis, Vol. 3, and has nailed the signature sing-rap style his city’s become known for. All that adds up to a potential star who racks up the YouTube views by the millions.

Hotboii

I’ll admit I slept on this Florida native and almost put fellow Floridian Jackboy here in his stead. But then he released Double O Baby at the end of 2020 and blew me away with his polished presentation and ability to rack up views in bunches. With a distinctive look — I know you see that hair — and an engaging style that justifies the attention, Hotboii looks like as much of a sure bet to blow up as it gets.

Kota The Friend

Although Brooklyn’s Kota The Friend is already two incredible albums into an auspicious career, his penchant for building out his albums’ rollouts with impressive features and polished presentation has the potential to make him one of the most commercially viable indie artists since Chance The Rapper. With his second volume of Lyrics To Go dropping this month and plans for a follow-up to 2020’s Everything, Kota may be one of those underground breakouts no one was expecting but few will be surprised by.

Lakeyah

Say what you want for Quality Control’s alleged treatment of its artists, the label’s track record speaks for itself. The latest acquisition, Milwaukee’s Lakeyah, looks like a shoo-in to continue that winning tradition, especially after her City Girls-featuring, Time’s Up single “Female Goat” drew attention to her sharpshooter flow, converting some of her labelmate’s fans into her own.

Lil Eazzyy

Chicago rapper Lil Eazzyy popped up from seemingly nowhere in November with the Underrated EP, earning a sizable buzz on Twitter and ensuring the eventual obsolescence of the EP’s title. His drill-influenced style combined the bouncy, chatter-box rhyme style of DaBaby or Chicago’s Midwestern cousins in Detroit with the moody, menacing beats favored by fellow Windy City native Polo G into something singular and captivating.

Mario Judah

The imposing Mario Judah is certainly a beguiling figure within hip-hop right now. He looks like a cross between the school bully and the weeb that bully regularly victimized while throwing trap, heavy metal aesthetics, and an impressive fearlessness into the blender. He’s also got a strong grasp on marketing himself — while he already has an innovative style of his own, he also used a witty campaign of trolling Playboi Carti to piggyback on the more popular rapper’s buzz, ensuring more exposure for himself. That’s turned into a real groundswell of support that may very well pay off big this year.

Toosii

The melodic rapper from Raleigh turned a flurry of projects in 2020 — Platinum Heart, Poetic Pain, and the 11th-hour release Dickpressed — into a truly deafening buzz in relatively short order. “Love Cycle” and “Sapiosexual” with Summer Walker have garnered a massive and vocal female audience, while a cosign from resurgent Chicago drill Renaissance man Lil Durk is sure to increase Toosii’s popularity.

Young Nudy

Young Nudy’s been bouncing around the industry for a few years but until recently was best known for his 2019 arrest alongside his cousin 21 Savage. However, after making a strong debut that year with the Pi’erre Bourne joint project Sli’merre and following up with 2020’s expressive Anyways, Nudy appears to be just one hit song away from making the leap to superstardom. His ability to crossover from doing tracks with Dreamville on Revenge Of The Dreamers III to featuring on Lil Uzi Vert’s Lil Uzi Vert vs. The World 2 doesn’t hurt either.

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

In 2014, Alice Glass left Crystal Castles, later crediting her departure to “almost a decade of abuse” from bandmate Ethan Kath. Around the time she shared that news, she also dropped her debut solo project, a self-titled EP that was released in August 2017. Since then, fans have been waiting for new material from Glass, and today, she has delivered. She is releasing her debut full-length album in 2021, and now she has shared a video for “Suffer And Swallow.”

The stop-motion video (animated by Lucas David) stars a doll version of Glass in a number of creepy and unsettling settings and situations, like having worms crawl into her eyes and sitting on a blood-soaked bed. At some points, the doll’s mouth moves in a more natural-looking way than the jerky stop-motion of the video, which adds a strong creepiness factor. Press materials note of the track, “The song is true to the singular vision that Glass has crafted over the course of her career, but finds her exploring the dichotomy of pain and beauty in a manner more stark than ever before.”

It’s not yet clear when her album will be released, as press materials say it’s “due later this year” and instruct fans to “stay tuned for more from Alice Glass soon.”

In the meantime, watch the “Suffer And Swallow” video above.

The Karate Kid tells you everything that you need to know about the movie: it’s about a kid… who does karate. Perfect. More television show and movie titles should be that literal (it’s one of many reasons why Dunston Checks In is a cinema classic). But as star Ralph Macchio revealed during Tuesday’s episode of The Tonight Show, director John G. Avildsen originally wanted to go with a different, more confusing title.

In a segment called “The Final Word,” Macchio was asked to clear up rumors involving The Karate Kid, including whether the actor liked the title. “I thought, and I was not the only one who thought, it was kind of a hokey, kind of a cheesy title for a movie being directed by the guy who made Rocky,” he told host Jimmy Fallon. “But maybe it was foreshadowing. Maybe I thought if I ever got the part I’d have to carry the damn thing for the rest of my life.” The title could have been much worse, though: “I think John Avildsen, our director, said maybe it’s East Meets West in West?” Yikes. If The Karate Kid had been called East Meets West in West, it probably wouldn’t have become an ’80s classic and there would be no Cobra Kai, which is a real “darkest timeline” scenario. I am curious to hear Avildsen’s pitch for an alternate title for My Cousin Vinny, another Macchio movie. Innocent Until Proven Vinny doesn’t have the same ring to it, y’know?

You can watch The Tonight Show clip above.

There’s a lot of emotion swirling out there as the Georgia Senate runoff election keeps hurtling toward a conclusion. Obviously, conservative firebrand Tomi Lahren is not happy, nor (presumably) is Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell, who is poised to lose his status as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell after Rev. Raphael Warnock defeated incumbent Kelly Loeffler, and Jon Ossoff will almost certainly hold his lead over David Perdue. With two Republican seats going to Democrats and incoming VP Kamala Harris acting as tie-breaker, Mitch is out of his lofty gig and headed for a demotion.

New York’s Chuck Schumer was waiting in the wings and has duly declared himself to now be the Senate Majority Leader, and people are loving it. Well, McConnell set himself up for people to declare that he had it coming, given that he recently stood defiantly firm on the issue of stimulus checks while millions of Americans are struggling, so people are more than happy to see him lose his leadership role. Many are celebrating the (reluctant) passing of the baton.

Actually, people are really, really thrilled at the opportunity to say “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell” even more than they want to say “Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.” Nothing against Chuck, of course, but Mitch kinda asked for this revelry. And it’s pouring down like a joy-filled thunderstorm.

Oh yes, Hillary Clinton heard what happened, too.

In closing, it seems like a good time to repost this 2019 photo of Jon Stewart smirking as Mitch walked by on Capitol Hill. Officially, Stewart was on hand to celebrate the U.S. Senate’s permanent authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, but he couldn’t resist a little jab at Mitch. Good morning to Jon Stewart.

After Peacock scooped up The Office from Netflix, the heavily-binged sitcom is clearly the biggest feather in Peacock‘s tail right now, and man, is the streaming service leaning into it hard. The show officially joined the NBCUniversal app’s library at the start of the new year, and with that move came an addendum to Peacock’s pricing tiers. While other streaming services base their plans on things like ad-free experiences, 4K video, or how many devices will be using the account, Peacock will be charging users on how much of The Office they want to watch. Check out these pricing tiers:

FREE: Watch The Office seasons 1 & 2—plus thousands of hours of movies, TV shows, news, and pop culture—for free.

PEACOCK PREMIUM: Unlock every episode of The Office, plus extended cuts with never-before-seen footage & deleted scenes. Also get access to every movie, TV show, Premium sport & more. $4.99/month

PEACOCK PREMIUM PLUS: All of The Office, and everything in Premium, without ads. $9.99/month

In Peacock’s defense, the streaming platform paid top dollar to score The Office, which was the most watched series on Netflix for years. Fans of the show spent their New Year’s Eve mourning the show’s move to Peacock, so it’ll be interesting to see how truly attached they are to the Dunder Mifflin crew. Do they love the antics of Dwight Schrute or Michael Scott enough to pay at least $4.99 a month for it? Because, right now, that seems to be the basis for Peacock’s subscription tiers, and frankly, there have been much worse bets in these streaming wars. Peacock might actually be onto something here.

(Via Peacock)

In July of 2018, Cardi B gave birth to her and Offset’s daughter Kulture, who is now about two-and-a-half years old. Last night, though, Cardi had some of her fans thinking that she had another kid on the way thanks to a misinterpreted Instagram post.

Cardi shared a photo of Offset grabbing her butt and captioned it, “Can’t wait to get home ….HornyHyena.” However, the comments were filled with people who thought that Offset was actually holding onto Cardi’s pregnant belly and the post was Cardi making a pregnancy announcement. Indeed, the way Cardi’s arm is positioned in the photo makes it look sort of like it’s resting on a pregnant stomach (especially if you don’t notice or pay attention to the bottom of her butt cheek on the edge of the photo), and the large tattoo on her side could have been mistaken for the bottom of a shirt.

Not long after the Instagram post, Cardi took to Twitter to point out the confusion and clarify the situation, writing, “Not me posting a picture on IG of Set grabbing my ass cheek and people in the comments thinking he touching a pregnant belly [unamused face emojis] ….Sexy mission fail [facepalm emoji].”

Speaking of parenthood, Cardi recently faced some backlash after sharing a video which revealed that she doesn’t let Kulture listen to her explicit hit “WAP.”

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

Some MAGA supporters recently went viral for their enthusiastic claim that their vibrational frequencies will protect them from COVID-19, but at one Beverly Hills mall, things got ugly, fast, on the same subject. A group of “Beverly Hills Freedom Rally” members (that’s the sweatshirt emblem that some of them wore, anyway, and they also, according to Mediaite, appear to be referring to themselves as “Shop Free Los Angeles”) stormed luxury stores, demanding that masking ordinances be revoked because of “freedom.”

One Inside Edition reporter interviewed a woman whose outburst has to be seen to be believed. That moment happens at the end of the above video, in which a brave Lisa Guerrero spoke with MAGA devotee Shiva Bagheri, who went from defiant to flat-out unhinged while explaining that Lisa and much of the world needs to stop telling her what to do with her face.

After a lengthy exchange, during which Guerrero did her best to maintain masked distance, Bagheri went to town on “fake” statistics that are ruining her shopping experience. “My point is freedom. You do not tell us what to do with our faces” she eventually exclaimed. “And what you’re doing is you’re part of a Satanic mask-wearing ritual wearing that thing! You are part of a satanic mask-wearing ritual!”

At that point, Guerrero got the hell out of there, and no one could blame her one bit for doing so. Stay safe, everyone.

It was a good night for Democrats in Georgia on Tuesday, as Rev. Raphael Warnock defeated Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler to become the first Black senator in the state’s history, while Jon Osoff currently has a slim lead over David Perdue that’s expected to hold (the Imagine Dragons fan has declared himself the victor). It was a bad night for Tomi Lahren, however, making it an entertaining night for us.

The Fox News personality was optimistic enough about the Senate races on Tuesday afternoon, tweeting, “We are in for the fight of our lives this week. Do not take it lightly. Do not cower quietly. Georgia, you’re up first.” But before long, she was back to your usual kvetching about fraud this and socialism that. “I wonder when the water main is gonna burst in Georgia…,” she wrote before siding with Eric Trump’s plea to “personally work to defeat every single Republican Senator / Congressman who doesn’t stand up against this fraud – they will be primaried in their next election and they will lose.”

Lahren went full conspiracy theorist as the results started to look promising for Warnock and Osoff. “Democrats scrounging up votes from mystical places again…” she tweeted, followed by, “The steal is in the making in Georgia. Wait for it.” She also retweeted Kayleigh McEnany, which is the conservative version of the Spider-Man pointing meme.

But Lahren’s night wasn’t over. “Only an idiot or a nonexistent voter would vote to give up their own freedom and submit to the Democrat’s control agenda,” she wrote before getting to her masterpiece: “Bout to get real socialist up in here. I hope you Democrats enjoy control, tyranny, big government and infringements as much as you thought you would. Freedom, so overrated right…” I think @fart speaks for everyone when he says: