Month: March 2021

A decade in the rearview, 2011 has revealed itself to be a very interesting year for indie rock. There are several albums that were considered to be very important in the moment, but have, in the years since, faded from the spotlight to become not much more than asterisks. Remember Whokill? How about Wild Flag?

That said, there are still some albums that stand the test of time today: self-titled efforts from Bon Iver and Joyce Manor, Real Estate’s Days, M83’s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. In this episode of Indiecast, Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen are reflecting on the first year of the 2010’s to determine which albums still have that staying power.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Cohen is vibing with Green To Gold, the latest album from 2010’s stalwarts The Antlers. Hyden, on the other hand, is plugging his new retrospective on Stone Temple Pilots’ Tiny Music. Check that out here.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 33 on Apple Podcasts and Spotify below, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts here. Stay up to date and follow us on Instagram and Twitter. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

Vic Mensa‘s triumphant comeback continued today with the release of his I Tape EP, the follow-up to his August V Tape release. To accompany the new EP, Vic also shared the fiery “Fr33dom” video with TDE singer Zacari. The video finds Vic Mensa once again in conflict with the authorities, as viewed through the framing device of a child’s room filled with posters of revolutionaries. In one scene, Mensa stands victorious over one of the greatest symbols of the establishment, Uncle Sam, clad in boxing trunks and gloves.

Vic’s two most recent projects have highlighted his redefined role as a rebel with a cause. Whereas prior efforts saw him position himself as a punk rock rabble-rouser along the lines of a Sid Vicious, all chaotic energy and self-destruction, he seems to have shaken off that outlook on newer tracks like “Shelter,” on which he reunited with longtime friend Chance The Rapper.

His community-focused efforts have taken the forefront of his artistic messaging, and he continues to promote them despite some setbacks — like when his nonprofit was robbed of $40,000 worth of donated sneakers on New Year’s Eve. In all, though, watching him tap into his socially conscious roots has been an encouraging sight.

Watch the “Fr33dom” video above.

I Tape is out now on Roc Nation Records. Get it here.

Maya Rudolph returns to her Saturday Night Live roots this weekend but this time as the host, and she’s bringing along musical guest Jack Harlow. In a new preview for Saturday’s episode, Maya’s joined by Harlow and SNL cast member Chris Redd, who thought it was his own birthday until Rudolph reminded him that she’s the host, so therefore, it’s her birthday. The hilarious actress and comedienne then burst into eloquent tribute to spring, and it’s hard not to notice a little bit of Rudolph’s Emmy winning voice work as Big Mouth‘s Connie the Hormone Monster in there. Although, it wasn’t in the preview, SNL fans can probably expect more of Rudolph’s other Emmy winning performance as Kamala Harris when this week’s episode hits.

As for Harlow, he was mostly quiet during the preview, but he’s been pumped for his first time performing on SNL ever since the news dropped back in February. “I grew up watching SNL with my family every weekend,” Harlow tweeted at the time. “I vividly remember seeing Kanye perform Love Lockdown and Heartless in 2008. Thank you for making this happen. Another dream come true.”

Rudolph’s hosting gig also arrives on the heels of news that she’ll be starring in a new comedy series for Apple TV from creators Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard, who Rudolph worked with on Amazon’s Forever. The untitled show will feature Rudolph as Molly, “a woman whose seemingly perfect life is upended after her husband leaves her with nothing but 87 billion dollars.” Sounds rough.

If any Marvel Cinematic Universe fan felt skeptical about whether introducing Phase Four on the small screen would go well, WandaVision dashed any such fears by midseason, but I gotta say this: Disney+ keeps upping its own game, and it’s already doing so marvelously with Episode 2 of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. That is to say, whereas WandaVision was a mediation on trauma, through which Wanda Maximoff felt compelled to escape into unreal-land, Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes are here with a major reality check. It’s an interesting juxtaposition, and it’s important to point out that while WandaVision was never trivial by any stretch, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is certainly tackling things on a more real-world scale. Look, people (myself included) were obsessing last month over silly Mephisto, and now, we’re watching systemic racism in action as it unfolds in the MCU. Not only did the debut episode show a Black man (Sam is also a veteran) being pressed to relinquish the shield (and Sam also struggled to secure a bank loan after helping to save the world), but this week, sh*t gets even realer.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s still plenty of Marvel fun here, which is mainly illustrated through Sam and Bucky’s antagonistic, begrudging buddy-comedy chemistry, and the way that’s woven into the reality of what it’s like to be Black in America is stunning. Take, for example, the scene where cops mistake the slightly grumbly banter between Sam and Bucky as the former “bothering” the latter. Bucky finds himself insisting that, nope, he’s not being bothered, and then the cops realize that they didn’t recognize a pair of Avengers. Not only that, but they tried to explain that they didn’t realize that they were trying to arrest Falcon because he wasn’t wearing his wings and carting around props. It’s not a good look, but it’s an accurate one.

Plenty of social media attention is rightfully landing upon that scene, along with the other heavy hitter, which is the introduction of Carl Lumbly’s mystery character, who is (as suspected) Isaiah Bradley, a.k.a. the first Black Captain America and a Black veteran. Isaiah explained to Sam and Bucky that he received the super serum decades ago and was subsequently criminalized and imprisoned by the U.S. government for 30 years. His story is a one-man stop in worldbuilding and adds a lot of texture to what we see Sam going through in his post-blip life (after we also learn that, unlike Tony Stark, the other Avengers didn’t make out so well financially).

As Bucky later revealed to Sam, he knew about Isaiah’s plight for years, but he never publicly revealed what happened because the guy had gone through enough already. That says a lot. It’s also worth noting that when the Isaiah Bradley character surfaced in comic form (in 2003’s miniseries, Truth: Red, White and Black), his backstory went way back to the 1940s and acted as a scathing commentary upon the Tuskegee Syphilis Study that took root during that era. There’s no telling if we’ll see Isaiah again on the series, but regardless, his cultural resonance weighs heavily upon Sam’s current treatment by the U.S. government, cops, and the system at large. Once again, a Black Cap is being pushed down, so a white dude (no offense intended to Steve Rogers, who clearly wasn’t aware of what Isaiah went through) can carry the shield and be all shiny for the American public. I love that Bucky isn’t being subtle at all about how he feels.

Speaking of the new white guy, John Walker, lordy. The former U.S. Agent can’t even be bothered to walk with his own two legs after the group’s confrontation with the Flag Smashers.

And about those Flag Smashers… Again, this series is throwing out a real-world threat (as opposed to the “big three” that Sam and Bucky discuss earlier in the episode “androids, aliens and wizards”). Essentially, the Flag Smashers stand for everything that’s opposed to the Captain America mantle. The group’s a bunch of anti-patriotic, chaos-spreading bank robbers who are tearing through Switzerland before heading to Munich and Slovakia. They want to remove the world’s borders and destroy the concept of nations, and somehow (the answer to this mystery remains to be seen), they got their hands on some sort of super serum. They’re led by Karli Morgenthau, who hails back to the 1980s, comics-wise as the MCU’s Flag-Smasher villain, but there are some changes to update the story to make sense in 2021-ish. Yes, this militia-esque group strikes some parallels with what we’re seeing in the U.S. today, even though the group’s wreaking havoc in Europe on the show.

Hopefully, we’ll find out soon who helped to serum the Flag Smashers up. It probably wasn’t Baron Zemo? God only knows, but we see him imprisoned at the end of the episode with Sam and Bucky en route for a little conversation. Speaking of conversations, every single line between Sam and Bucky was great. Even while they’re bantering about The Hobbit, it’s delightful to listen to these two squabbling. We even got some “couples therapy” for them, which was a real treat for the ‘shippers out there who surely enjoyed them inadvertently rolling around in a field together.

A few side notes: (1) Sharon Carter got a mention this week, and she needs to show up soon; (2) I must say that I did not enjoy any of the Bucky-in-peril moments. Thank god he’s got that Wakanda-crafted vibranium arm now, right? We all know what happened the last time Bucky fell off a massive, high-speed vehicle: HYDRA-city.

Disney+’s ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ streams new episodes on Fridays.

Phoebe Bridgers is generous with her guest spots, in that she sometimes pops up on songs by artists who aren’t on the same tier of mainstream popularity as she is, like when she featured on a Charlie Hickey song earlier this year. Now she’s back with another collaboration and this time, it’s on Luminous Kid’s “Mountain Crystals,” on which Bridgers provides some vocals.

Towards the end of the song, Bridgers contributes a brief spoken-word verse, on which she says, “I see your love from across an ocean of obstacles surrounding my brain / There’s a blinking light of freedom will you flick the switch , I’m going insane / The light and darkness turns to days of storm in a passing train / Just hold me, will you? / Will you just hold me?”

Luminous Kid says of the track, “I think the more role models and queer experiences that exist in popular culture, the better. If a song or a work of art can make a sad and trapped young queer person feel better about themselves, then it is a step in the right direction.”

Luminous Kid, by the way, is photographer and visual artist Olof Grind, who took the photo for Bridgers’ Punisher album cover.

This guest spot sort of lines up with what Bridgers said in a recent interview regarding her record label Saddest Factory, in which she spoke about wanting to take a break from focusing on her own music for a while: “This album cycle has been so, so long that I think the next thing that I want to do… I started a record label over lockdown, which is so dumb, but I did. So we have some cool stuff that I’m working on and [I] can’t wait to kind of take a back seat and work on somebody else’s records for a while.”

Listen to Luminous Kid’s “Mountain Crystals” above.

Cheap Trick is an American rock ‘n’ roll institution.

Formed in Rockford, Illinois in 1973, they were grouped with the era’s reigning arena-rock kingpins by the time they went multi-platinum with the landmark live album, Cheap Trick At Budokan, in 1979. But the band always had an acerbic, sneakily subversive edge lurking beneath their larger-than-life, cartoonish persona. They might have shared a producer with Aerosmith in the ’70s, but Cheap Trick felt closer to punk. Dig deep into their catalogue and you’ll find songs about serial killers, suicide, middle-aged pedophiles, pot-smoking parents, and other darkly comic snapshots from the underbelly of Middle America.

The band’s main songwriter is guitarist Rick Nielsen, whose dweeby stage clothes and knowingly ridiculous performance gimmicks — the multi-neck guitars, the dozens upon dozens of tossed-off picks — are complemented by a deeply sarcastic sense of humor and an unmatched ability to chronicle suburban kinkiness. His songs are a big reason why Cheap Trick remains a common touchstone for a wide range of artists who would never otherwise commingle. They’ve toured with Queen and Guided By Voices, and have been covered by Taylor Swift and Big Black. I have personally seen Nielsen play his signature song, “Surrender,” on separate occasions with both grunge gods Pearl Jam and emo upstarts The Get Up Kids. As Nielsen himself puts it, “We’re a lot of people’s fifth favorite band.”

On April 9, Cheap Trick will release their 20th album, In Another World. Ahead of that, I asked Nielsen to share his thoughts on nine of the band’s most significant albums. As usual, he didn’t hold back, speaking candidly about his band’s many ups and downs.

Cheap Trick (1977)

It came out during the disco era, which was not our kind of music. But, luckily, [producer] Jack Douglas had heard about us, and he came to see us. His in-laws lived in Waukesha, Wisconsin, so he planned on being there. We had a show at Sunset Bowl — it was a bowling alley, and a place we had played at a number of times. He came there, and he liked us. I think he made a call that night or the next morning, and said, “You’ve got to sign these guys.” It’s like, here’s Jack Douglas, he did Aerosmith, all this good stuff!

We liked punk. We liked the Sex Pistols. But we never tried to be anybody. We never thought, “Let’s be like those guys,” like a lot of bands do. They try to be what the flavor of the month is. And it’s like, I don’t know what month we picked.

In ’76, we went to New York, and started working at the Record Plant. I think we did 20-something songs in six or seven or eight days. I’m not sure how many days it was. So, we had to cut it down from what we had done. When we started to do the sequencing, it was like, everything should be side one and side A, because we didn’t have any side B or two. That’s one of the little dopey details that we felt about ourselves.

We had to change a few titles on there to pass clearance. “The Ballad Of TV Violence,” that was “The Ballad Of Richard Speck.” The record label was worried we’d get sued by the relatives of Richard Speck. [Ed. note: Speck was a serial killer apprehended in 1966. He died in 1991.] All we were doing was telling a story. But it was like, well, TV violence — I thought that was going to be something that people would complain about soon enough. When I think about it, it was a wise choice.

So, it had some fun stuff on there. When we did that record, I sent it to Tom [Petersson, Cheap Trick’s bassist] and said, “Should I have a different name for songwriter on there?” Because it had “Mandocello,” and then you had “The Ballad Of TV Violence.” It was like, it can’t be the same guy doing it. It seems like it was written by different people. But it’s the same person, just a different emotion for a different song.

People would say, “Well, where do you get the inspiration from?” I said, “Well, maybe The National Enquirer. Half of it is farfetched, and the other half is probably half-true.” Plus, I always liked the idea of a double and triple entendre. You don’t want it to mean something where that’s all it means. Like, the song “Oh, Candy” — Marshall Mintz was this photographer that we had who committed suicide. “Oh, Candy, why did you do it? You didn’t stick a needle in your vein.” So, we made it into a pop song. But if we said, “Hey, Marshall Mintz, what did you do it?” it wouldn’t make any sense. So, I tried to make it into something else.

In Color (1977)

I think we got a pretty good review of the first record, but it didn’t sell anything. Nobody knew who we were, except a few of our fans that had come see us live. We were building a pretty big following in Chicago, Milwaukee, and the Iowa area. We used to drive to Minot, North Dakota, and play at the Dutch Mill, four or five sets a night, seven days in a row, and there was usually nobody there. And they were telling us to turn it down all the time, after every set. “Would you turn it down?” “Yeah, okay, we will.” We never did. And we were playing all original material.

Tom Werman, who was head of A&R at Epic, was also a staff producer. He had been doing Ted Nugent and I don’t know who else. He was chosen to produce us, because they wanted a more commercial song or whatever. We said we liked the Sex Pistols, and he hated the Sex Pistols. So, it’s like, uh-oh, we’re in trouble here.

We’d record, and then we’d go on tour while the record was still in fresh paint. I’d play my last note, and I’d get on the bus. So, we never heard the final mixes that were on the actual album. Werman put stuff on there, like the piano on “I Want You To Want Me,” and it wasn’t the way we played it live. All of a sudden, it’s out, and the record company execs, they’re all happy. Instead of making us sound like The Who, we sounded like The Guess Who. And that record didn’t sell very well. But we were picking up a little bit. We were getting on good shows, because lots of bands, like Kiss and Queen, wanted us.

Heaven Tonight (1978)

Heaven Tonight was the second album we did with Tom Werman. When I write something, I try to make it as good as possible. I thought about things in my life. My mother wasn’t in the WAC, the Women’s Army Corps, but I had an aunt that was. The opening line, it’s like a rock ‘n’ roll line, “Mother told me, yes, she told me I’d meet girls like you.” Don’t go over there. Those kids are bad. They have knives.

So, I took stuff from my life and embellished it. By then, I was 29 years old or something, and I was the oldest guy in the band. I still am! Growing up, every kid I knew, their parents were weird. Whether they were hippies or straight or religious nuts or whatever, every parent is weird. “Hey, you want to come over to my house?” “No, your parents are weird. Do you want to come to my place?” “No, no, your parents are weird!” You’ve got to know how to stretch the truth with your parents. You’ve got to listen to them, but you don’t always have to heed it. That’s “Surrender” — don’t give yourself away. Don’t turn into one of them.

Cheap Trick At Budokan (1979)

We were starting to get some popularity because of playing with Queen and Kiss, the tours in ’77. When we played with Queen, we opened up two of the shows in Milwaukee and Madison. I think Thin Lizzy was supposed to open for them, but I’m glad they didn’t because we got the chance to open for them.

The Japanese press were there for Queen, because they were huge there. But the Japanese press liked us, too. After the show, they asked me to write an article, what’s it like to tour with Queen. I’m so full of crap, I’ll write anything. What do I know? We used to make fun of every band, and Queen was one of them. But we didn’t on those two nights.

After I wrote the article, it came out in Japan and we started getting fan mail. And there were caricatures of ourselves in the Japanese magazines. We were kind of easy to draw funny. And then we had a number one hit with “Clock Strikes Ten.” And it’s like, only in Japan! Holy cow, what a great place. And then we started getting more and more fan mail. We hadn’t even been there. But I thought they were the smartest country on Earth.

So, in ’78, around the Heaven Tonight record, we went there, and it was like Beatlemania for us. They loved Cheap Trick! We flew coach from Chicago, and here were 5,000 kids when we landed. I thought, “Who in the heck’s on this plane?” We were in the back of the plane, a little late getting off. They were standing on top of the terminal screaming, and it’s like, “Wow, gee, careful there.” After we go through customs, the security people put us in these taxi cabs, and all these taxi cabs chased us from the airport all the way to where our hotel was. People were screaming, hanging out the windows. It was like, “Wow, this is cool.”

At that time, it was Tom and myself in one room, and Bun E. and Rob in the other room. We were sharing rooms then, but it was better than the U.S. because we’d probably be sharing a room for four people instead of two and two.

Every show we had was sold out. We didn’t know what the Budokan was. The Budokan made us famous, but we made the Budokan famous. I think Robin said, “Here’s a song from our new album,” and it was.

Dream Police (1979)

That was the last album we did with Tom Werman. I liked him. He was great. I’m friends with his family and his kids, and it was great to work with him. He was always encouraging. We liked it heavier, that was all. When we had the orchestra stuff on that record I went in to help conduct the strings, because Werman didn’t even show up for that part. The musicians would look at me like, “This little wise ass.” But I was right. I knew music through my parents. Not that I liked their kind of music, but I just knew a wrong note from a right note. But some of the orchestras, they could sense that they were taking criticism from a ding-a-ling. But again, I didn’t care. It was my song.

All Shook Up (1980)

We had asked George Martin to produce our record. He and Geoff Emerick came to Madison, Wisconsin, in the middle of winter. I can’t believe we had the balls to ask him. But he actually came there, in a big snowstorm, and saw us in Madison, in a rehearsal place. Full Compass Studio, I think it was. And he liked what we were doing. Musically, he knew more than anybody I had ever worked with, and besides my father, he was the smartest man that I worked with. I became friends with him, too.

We’re from Rockford, Illinois, and he’s worked with The Beatles. Jesus! But he listened to my ideas, and I think we hit it off really well. We were one of the first bands to play at AIR Studios in Montserrat, in the British West Indies. That’s the same place in The Police video where they’re jumping up and down in the studio. After we finished the basic tracks, we flew to London, and that was the first time we flew on the Concorde. It was like, we’re it.

When we were all in Montserrat, nobody could get through to us. I had my wife there and my two kids, Erron and Miles, they both learned how to swim there. And Daxx was in her tummy at that time. But nobody could get through on the telephone, except Tom’s wife from Beverly Hills. It was such a distraction. She’s having trouble with their new house they had there. It was like, concentrate on what we’re doing! So, actually towards the end, I ended up playing bass on “Baby Loves To Rock.” [Ed. note: Petersson left the band before All Shook Up was released, and later re-joined in 1987.]

We finished the day that Bon Scott died. I know because we were big fans. I wrote a little verse in “Love Comes A-Tumblin’ Down” about Bon. And I had George Martin give us his voice. “I’m hoping to live longer, aided by the supreme healing force of music.” I got him to do that, and he didn’t want to do it. “But come on, George! I’m your pal now!”

Later on, John Lennon was trying to fatten up the sound for Double Fantasy. So, [at the invitation of the album’s producer Jack Douglas] we went in and we played “I’m Losing You” and “I’m Moving On.” If you listen to our versions, as opposed to the versions on Double Fantasy, Double Fantasy sounds like a lounge band. We didn’t fit with that, but it was like, they wanted that sound. But John at one point said to Jack and Bun E., “God, I wish we would’ve had him on ‘Cold Turkey.’ Clapton choked up.” Really. I called him John. Bun E. called him Mr. Lennon.

Lap Of Luxury (1987)

There’s records that nobody liked where there’s always something good on them. A lot of work goes into them. I remember we finished an album once, and the record company, before it came out, was like, “Just wait till the next record.” What?

It was a bad time for me, because I had written 99 percent of the stuff. And here’s the record company and the management and the record producer all saying, “We need you to get some outside writers.” Oh, thank you. We had done cover songs. But it was stuff of our own choosing. But now they wanted outside writers. I kind of get it, but at the same time, it’s like, for a songwriter, to say we’ve got to get other people, uh-oh. Guitar player’s leaving soon, too. So, it was rough. Nobody defended us except us.

“The Flame” is a terrific song, and Robin sings it great, and my solo’s not too bad. It’s good. Probably more good than bad on it. But the reason I “hated” it, as the story goes, is that it was the 10th song where the record company and producer said, “You’ve got to record this.” We recorded about 10 different things. It’s like, “Why didn’t we do this one first?”

How did I feel about the music scene of the late ’80s? I use this line all the time: We never progressed. We never tried to be something that we weren’t. That’s too difficult. It’s like trying to remember the lie. Wake up in the middle of the night and all of a sudden you’ve got an English accent.

Rockford (2006)

It was fun to do. When we go in and record stuff, we do it all live. I don’t think we ever did more than three takes on any song. We know what we are, and we aren’t trying to do something that we can’t do. Usually when I write songs, I always do them in keys where I don’t have to look at the neck. I want to look at the audience. Who wants to see a guy noodling down there, not moving?

I’m a musician. I’m supposed to be poor. But the fact is that we have a career. We always work. We always will work. We just kept going at it. We make records for ourselves, so if we do something dumb, it’s our fault. We must have agreed to do something that’s not us. It’s like, “Hey, we’re Cheap Trick. We’re thrilled that anybody likes us.” We’re a lot of people’s fifth favorite band. If we’re at the top, it’s like, don’t you like Led Zeppelin?

In Another World (2021)

The more I hear it, the more I like it. When you’re doing it, I don’t compare it to this or that unless it’s a direct steal from somebody or a direct steal from ourselves. We started it on Big Machine, and then as we were doing it, BMG wanted it. What’s this, record companies clamoring over us? We’ve been around so long, we’re never going to be the next new thing. We don’t know how to dance. We’d lose on American Idol or any of those shows. We’d never make it. But, they get what we do. There was no interference.

I like the rock stuff. “Summer Looks Good On You,” that’s a fun one. I like “Boys & Girls & Rock ‘n’ Roll.” They’re all kind of different.

I think we’re respected because we never gave up. We made every mistake there is — we’ve had success, we’ve had failure, but we keep going. To me, that’s success, the fact that we’ve done 6,000 shows and played seven nights a week, for no money, in awful places. But we always believe in ourselves.

In Another World is out via BMG on April 9. Get it here.

Last night, after months of Hype, Lil Nas X finally released his “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” video. Ahead of the premiere, he excitedly tweeted, “bro i wrote this song myself, co-directed the video, and had to step way out of my comfort zone for this moment to take place tonight! i hope you guys love it! F*CKK I CANT WAIT!!!” He later added, “can’t wait for you to see the video tonight! ITS AN EXPERIENCE!”

For some music fans, though, it was an experience they felt like they had seen before. Following the video’s debut, FKA Twigs became a trending topic on Twitter as people started point out perceived similarities between Nas’ new video and Twigs’ 2019 visual for “Cellophane.”

Twigs famously learned how to pole dance for her video and does so in mystical-looking environments, which is not unlike what Nas does in his clip. Some shared screenshots of frames from both videos that are strikingly similar. One user pointed out that Nas’s “Old Town Road” video won a Grammy over Twigs, which they felt added another layer of insult to Nas’ alleged plagiarism.

Check out some other reactions to Nas’ new “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” video below.

Netflix’s latest supernatural thriller, The Irregulars, takes place within a familiar world.

It’s the story of a Victorian Era street gang, a group of orphans running amuck on the streets of London and solving crimes at the behest of wealthy benefactors, John Watson and Sherlock Holmes. Yes, that Sherlock Holmes.

Except, not that Sherlock Holmes because while past iterations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved British detective have centered him as a fanciful genius with questionable crime-solving methods (hello Robert Downey Jr.) and a “high functioning sociopath” existing in a more modern era (a hat-tip to Benedict Cumberbatch) this series doesn’t focus on the brilliant investigator at all. He’s there in the periphery, wading through his own internal struggles – ones the show dives into as the season progresses – while a motley band of street rats risks their lives to pick up his slack.

“It’s a very different Sherlock Holmes adaptation,” star Harrison Osterfield (Hulu’s Catch 22) tells UPROXX. “It’s got that sort of electronic aspect to it. It feels quite urban and edgy. It doesn’t feel stuffy. I think there are so many things that sort of push the boundaries of it being a normal period show.”

Like The Witcher and Bridgerton before it, The Irregulars injects everything from pop hits by Billie Eilish to a refreshing amount of diversity and a supernatural Monster-of-the-Week format to give it an extra dose of relevance and a more binge-able nature. That leads to some pacing and tonal issues early on which can sometimes affect the chemistry of the main cast, but as the season progresses that procedural approach slacks off and the show delves deeper into the mythology it starts spinning from the first episode.

“No matter what’s going on supernaturally, it feels very grounded, very authentic,” Osterfield says. It’s also very binge-able. Every episode has this high-octane action and ends with a cliffhanger so you’re constantly wanting to find out more. It’s just so much material.”

The cast itself is made up of relative newcomers and rising talent from across the pond. While Osterfield plays Leo, a new member of the gang who isn’t exactly forthcoming about his privileged past, Irish actress Thaddea Graham plays Bea, the group’s leader and the elder sister of Jesse (Darcy Shaw) a young teen with some troubling psychic gifts. Jojo Macari and McKell David round out the group while Henry Lloyd-Hughes and Royce Pierrson play morally corrupt versions of Holmes and Watson, respectively.

“Watching how these teenagers figure out and deduct things in a way that Sherlock maybe isn’t able to anymore, I think is really fascinating,” Graham says. “And it’s quite empowering to see normal kids take on these incredibly complex tasks and really figure out their own emotions with almost no ego attached. What I love about the Irregulars is that, without any one of them, if one of them was to walk away, the gang wouldn’t work. Each of them brings their own different quality and together they are unstoppable. They figure things out in their own way.”

There’s a specific YA fantasy bent to the show that should appeal to younger audiences and by focusing on the Baker Street Irregulars – characters mentioned only a handful of times in Doyle’s original works – the show sidesteps any continuity issues hardcore fans might have. Here, Holmes and Watson aren’t the offbeat, odd couple or the intellectual heroes they’ve been portrayed as in the past. Instead, they’re the absentee guardians, the out-of-touch adults unable and unwilling to do the hard work of figuring their own sh*t out.

It’s all very on-the-nose, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an interesting new take on a classic universe that’s been done to death. And it’s made better by a young cast who seem up for anything – from hunting sewer-dwelling monsters to attending high-society masquerades, navigating nightmare-scapes, and avoiding the dreaded workhouses.

“I think we started off with the Monster of the Week kind of vibe,” Graham says. “[But] by episode four or five, it’s really all tied together. It starts to hit closer and closer to home. Our monsters aren’t the boogeyman underneath the bed. They’re very real people who have been driven to these states because of grief. It comes from a very human place. I think that probably ties all of the monsters, even the weekly monsters to what happens later on.”

That “later on” is a spoilery-filled place we’ve been embargoed not to go, but we can say that the series only gets stronger the more it leans into its many connections between its charismatic squad of teens and the adults trying to lead them astray. And when it does find its footing – as a show that’s meant to explore the many benefits of seeing the world from a fresh, less-jaded perspective despite the lingering darkness and devilish monsters lurking in the shadows – that’s when O.G. Sherlock fans should rediscover their excitement and their love for Doyle’s universe as a whole.

“These five kids aren’t your regular heroes,” Osterfield says. “They’ve got their insecurities, they’ve got their own flaws, but that’s what makes them unique and special. Nowadays, with what the world is coming to, you always look inwardly and think, ‘I’m doing this wrong. I don’t have this, or I don’t have that.’ Hopefully, our show can make you realize that when you come together you add to each other’s qualities, then you notice how they can be a strength.”

‘The Irregulars’ begins streaming via Netflix on March 26th.

World Wrestling Entertainment’s deal to put its archives on Peacock is good news for wrestling fans, but not everything from the promotion’s history will be available for nostalgic fans. According to reports, NBC’s streaming platform is carefully reviewing WWE’s archival footage and removing racist material from its available WWE Network content.

As explained by The Hollywood Reporter, WWE signed a deal with Peacock to move decades of its archival footage onto the streaming service, which will be available to fans at a lower (though commercial-filled) price point than the actual WWE Network. But amid a renewed focus on racial justice and poor use of sterotypes and racially-charged language, not all of the promotion’s footage will be available on Peacock.

PW Insider first reported the news on Thursday, and THR details some moments that won’t be available such as a scene depicting blackface.

According to sources familiar with the situation, the NBCUniversal-owned streaming service is reviewing all 17,000 hours of WWE content to ensure it aligns with Peacock’s standards and practices. WWE is also being made aware of any edits.

One of the alterations has been to 1990’s WrestleMania VI, which featured a match between Roddy Piper and Bad News Brown that included Piper (a white wrestler) painting half his face black while facing off against Brown (a Black wrestler). “I hear Bad News Brown, how he’s talking about Harlem, and how he’s proud to be from Harlem,” Piper said during the pre-match interview. “Now I can stand here, and I can be Black! I can be white! Don’t make no difference to me. … It’s what’s inside.”

While some of the moments are decades removed from today, one of the most blatant racist incidents happened after the Y2K crisis and involves WWE’s founder, Vince McMahon. In a 2005 bit, McMahon intentionally uses a racial slur to spark outrage from a Black wrestler.

Another deleted moment was from 2005’s Survivor Series 19. In a notorious bit, WWE CEO Vince McMahon (acting in his on-camera corporate villain persona) said the N-word to a shocked John Cena and then strutted past a stunned Booker T, who says, “Tell me he didn’t just say that.” At the time, a WWE spokesperson defended McMahon to TMZ, calling it “an outlandish and satirical skit involving fictional characters, similar to that of many scripted television shows and movies.”

The network’s content was officially added to Peacock starting on March 18, but THR noted part of the review of content means it’s slowly being added to the NBC service’s archives. According to the report, Peacock hopes the full archive of WWE footage will be available by August in time for SummerSlam, just don’t expect to see any of the company’s more inflammatory moments there anytime soon.

[via THR]

Netflix continues to crush the content game with an impressive variety of offerings after we crossed the year mark of the pandemic. No one knows exactly how they’ve kept things coming, but why question a streaming miracle? This week, there’s ton of original offerings are on the way, including a series that’s tangential to Sherlock Holmes. There’s an Eric Andre movie that’s guaranteed to have you forgetting all about life, a documentary about the perils of fishing, an epic adventure involving a Dragon Knight, a cooking competition show, and more. Honestly, you’ll never be able to watch everything here this weekend, and that’s part of the beauty of this list.

Here’s everything else coming to (and leaving) the streaming platform this week.

Bad Trip (Netflix film streaming 3/26)

This film stars Eric Andre and Lil Rel Howery being totally outrageous alongside Tiffany Haddish and Michaela Conlin. Andre produced and helped write, so you know you’re in for a treat, and this hidden-camera comedy hails from one of the dudes who brought you Jackass and Bad Grandpa. Get ready for cross-country pranks on a road trip on unsuspecting audiences who are not prepared for the mayhem. Oh, and Haddish dangles Andre off a rooftop, which sounds like a real good time.

The Irregulars: (Netflix series streaming 3/26)

This series is set in 19th century London, where Dr. Watson and the elusive Sherlock Holmes enlist a group of misfits to solve supernatural crimes. Watson is said to be sinister in this series, and Holmes is simply mysterious, so this group is probably on their own to fight a dark power to save humanity, both in London and around the globe.

DOTA: Dragon’s Blood (Netflix series streaming 3/24)

A renowned Dragon Knight (Davion) ends up over his head in this sweeping fantasy series about how he strives to wipe the world of scourge. He ends up running into both a dragon and a princess (who’s doing duty on her own mission) while also finding himself unable to extricate himself from situations that he never would have thought possible.

Seaspiracy (Netflix film streaming 3/24)

This documentary (from the co-creator of Cowspiracy) hopes to illuminate how human behavior inflicts alarming and widespread harm upon the seas. From pollution caused by fishing gear and plastics to all of the damage caused by fishing itself (both illegal and otherwise), humans are taking a toll on the planet that could jeopardize its future (and mankind’s future as well).

Nailed It! Season 5 (Netflix series streaming 3/26)

The Emmy-nominated series is back with homemakers now pairing up to compete for $10,000 prizes by recreating edible masterpieces. Some of these delicious treats are inspired by Greek mythology, and some are simply family recipes from Grandma. All are guaranteed to give you the munchies.

Secret Magic Control Agency (Netflix film streaming 3/24)

Hansel and Gretel are secret agents in this film with magic, clever thinking, and team work to guide them on a quest to find a king.

Here’s a full list of what’s been added in the last week:

Avail. 3/17
Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal
Under Suspicion: Uncovering the Wesphael Case

Avail. 3/18
B: The Beginning Succession
Cabras da Peste
Deadly Illusions
The Fluffy Movie
Nate Bargatze: The Greatest Average American
Skylines

Avail. 3/19
Alien TV: Season 2
Country Comfort
Formula 1: Drive to Survive: Season 3
Sky Rojo

Avail. 3/20
Jiu Jitsu

Avail. 3/22
Navillera
Philomena

Avail. 3/23
Loyiso Gola: Unlearning

Avail. 3/24
Seaspiracy
Who Killed Sara?

Avail. 3/25
DOTA: Dragon’s Blood
Secret Magic Control Agency

Avail. 3/26
A Week Away
Bad Trip
Big Time Rush: Seasons 1-4
Croupier
The Irregulars
Magic for Humans by Mago Pop
Nailed It!: Double Trouble

Avail. 3/29
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Rainbow High: Season 1

Avail. 3/30
7 Yards: The Chris Norton Story
Octonauts & the Ring of Fire

Avail. 3/31
At Eternity’s Gate
Haunted: Latin America

And here’s what’s leaving next week, so it’s your last chance:

Leaving 3/25
Blood Father
The Hurricane Heist

Leaving 3/26
Ghost Rider

Leaving 3/27
Domino

Leaving 3/30
Extras: Seasons 1-2
Killing Them Softly
London Spy: Season 1
The House That Made Me: Seasons 1-3

Leaving 3/31
Arthur
Chappaquiddick
Enter the Dragon
God’s Not Dead
Hedgehogs
Inception
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
Kung Fu Hustle
Molly’s Game
Money Talks
School Daze
Secret in Their Eyes
Sex and the City: The Movie
Sex and the City 2
Sinister Circle
Skin Wars: Seasons 1-3
Taxi Driver
The Bye Bye Man
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
The Prince & Me
Weeds: Seasons 1-7