Month: July 2021

Taylor Swift fans were excited to learn last week that the singer features on a pair of new songs from the upcoming Big Red Machine album How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?. One of them, “Renegade,” is out now. Naturally, though, insatiable Swifties are already looking forward to the other song, “Birch,” and Aaron Dessner spoke briefly about what that one is like.

Chatting with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Dessner said, “There’s another song called ‘Birch’ that’s really, really stunning that she sings and is a big part of with Justin [Vernon]. […] Justin sort of leads the charge, but she’s a huge part of it and it’s a duet, then. And I think there’s no real lines being drawn as far as when… I don’t think we… I don’t know, I kind of hope we never stop writing songs together because it’s so fun and so illuminating all the time.”

He also spoke more about “Renegade,” calling it “as good as anything” he and Swift have made together:

“Every time we write a song together, we both sort of are a little bit dumbfounded by it, or sort of like how is this possible because it feels like the shoe fits so well somehow. And I think something about the way that I think, or the way that I relate to music emotionally, and then her incredible acumen or her way of tracing music and her storytelling and her sense of melody, there’s something that really clicks.

And this song, ‘Renegade,’ it’s as good as anything we’ve made together, I think. It’s also something that I, emotionally, was really struck by the first time I heard it, just the way she talks about how anxiety and fear get in the way of loving someone or create an inability for someone to love. And I think it’s incredibly relatable, but it’s expressed in the context of this fairly experimental sound world, although I think we leaned into the… The way it came together as a song, it just really, I think, sums up the whole the Big Red Machine record.”

Watch the full interview below.

How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last? is out 8/27 via Jagjaguwar/37d03d. Pre-order it here.

Ribs. 4th of July. Three chefs doing their best to out-do one another and then burning one another for their mistakes.

You know what this is — it’s Cooking Battle. Me, Vince Manicini, and Zach Johnston fighting for kitchen supremacy. Who should win? Me, always me. Who will win? Well… that’s for you to decide.

— Steve Bramucci, Editorial Director, UPROXX LIFE

PAST 5 RESULTS (see full results here):

Meatball Showdown with Chef Tyler Anderson: 1) Vince 2) Steve 3) Zach
Diner Food Showdown with George Motz: 1) Zach 2) Vince 3) Steve
Vegetarian and Vegan Showdown: 1) Zach 2) Vince 3) Steve
Sweet Treet Showdown: 1) Vince 2) Zach 3) Steve
Pancake Showdown: 1) Steve 2) Zach 3) Vince

CURRENT SCORE:

We’re giving three points to the winner and one to second place for each round. All votes are counted equally. As it stands, the score is:

ZACH: 50
VINCE: 48
STEVE: 39

Steve’s Vietnamese-STYLE Streetfood-STYLE Ribs Two Ways

This was my pick for a challenge and in my world, it’s ribs season. With that said, I don’t really have a ton of great ribs stories to fall back on. My dad made amazing ribs — “low and slow, finished on the grill” — but they had a BBQ sauce base and Zach would have torn them to pieces as middle American trash.

That said, I do have great grill-based food memories. The best grilled meat I’ve ever eaten has been street food, cooked over wood charcoal. If we’re ever walking together and there’s meat grilling over hot coals on the street, you can bet I’m stopping. It’s a policy. Perhaps my best food memory ever was getting zebu skewers off a wood-charcoal grill for a dime each on the pirate sanctuary of Ille St. Marie, off of Madagascar. They were sitting practically right on the glowing coals and tasted iron-rich, like if you put a penny between your molars and bite down. I ate ten in a sitting.

As for my other touchstone, over the past decade, Vietnamese food just seems to speak to me in a way few other foods do (Italian, Mexican, Southern US, Vietnamese — those are my go-to’s). Like it’s specifically calibrated for my palate — that mix of spice and sweet and funk. But I’ve seen enough food controversies to know better than claiming a region, that’s just asking for trouble.

For this contest, having no clear inspiration felt right. Because that vagueness and the use of “style” twice in the dish title reveal my real rib philosophy: It’s something you do off feel and knowledge of flavor. It’s improv cooking, where instinct rules.

My sauce and marinade were the same. Meaning I reduced my marinade and added a bit more sugar and citrus to turn it into the final sauce. Here’s what was inside:

• One small jar red curry.
• 1/3 cup fish sauce.
• 1/6 cup soy.
• 1/6 cup Maggi sauce.
• 1 yellow onion.
• 1/2 tube pureed lemongrass.
• 1/2 tube pureed ginger.
• 1/2 tube pureed garlic.
• 1 cup ketchup.
• 2 Tbsp. Shallot Sauce (fried shallots in oil).
• 3 Tbsp. honey.
• 3 Tbsp. brown sugar.
• 2 Thai chilis.
• 5 sprigs of cilantro.

I piled all that in the blender and turned it into a slurry. Then I added Chinese 5 Spice and hand-squeezed grapefruit juice to taste. (If you ever take one piece of cooking advice from me, try grapefruit or mandarin oranges as your citrus element over the palate-commandeering lemon or lime.)

I let the meat soak in that mixture overnight. I know duos are Top Chef killers and I’ve now opened myself up to Zach and Vince writing these beautifully withering sentences like: “I’m just shaking my head over here thinking: ‘Just do ONE meat RIGHT, Steve.’” But I felt like I could pull off two types of meat and that’s what I was craving.

I got a pound of pork spareribs and a pound of beef short rib. After a night spent marinating, I did the spareribs in the oven — low and slow at 225 for 3.5 hours — and figured that they’d only need as much time to finish on the grill as the spareribs did to cook.

As for the grilling bit, I decided to imitate street food by creating a little makeshift charcoal grill. Especially with wood charcoal being en vogue right now.

I put the beef short ribs on first. The spareribs were out of the oven and tender to the bite. It’s easy to do fall off the bone ribs in the oven and I like those, but they stick to the grill in a way I don’t love and can sometimes just fully fall apart on you.

I wanted a little bite on these.

Soon everything was on the grill together. That scorched rib on the bottom pic was a bit of a “first pancake” situation as I got my heat right while working so close to the charcoal. I ate it myself. From there on everything was smooth sailing — things moved fast (again, heat) so I sauced everything on the flip and reflip and after two turns on each side they were ready to go.

After about six minutes on the heat total for both the shortrib and sparerib, they were ready to go. More grapefruit.

And who could forget the “Bram salad?”

What can I say? I like herbs — that’s why I hang with Vince and Zach. My favorite being Thai basil, which I take great pains to grow because it’s always trying to go to seed. I used a ton here to add a nice little licorice edge. There was some spice in these ribs and the fresh element cooled it nicely. (I guarantee my dish was the spiciest among us, because Vince always de-seeds his peppers like an Omaha grandmother.)

I also snipped a few sprigs of cilantro which… I admit I could have done more elegantly.

Taste-wise, these were bliss. The fish sauce funk carries over heavily and the ketchup makes the sauce nice and tomato-y for someone who wants that US of A touchstone. Lemongrass and ginger make the bite brighter than ribs have any business being and red curry and chilis add heat. For my palate, they were the perfect ribs — not the gut bomb you see so often, overly slathered in sauce.

Bright. Spicy. And — dare I say — straightforward?

Zach on Steve’s Ribs:

I know Steve did this one purpose. He knows I’ve lived in Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia and knew there was no way for me to burn his “cooking” to the ground without me sounding like a pretentious dick while doing so. See, it’s already working!

Well, fuck that. This is a mess and Steve knows it. Do you know what would have been the ultimate power move for this style of ribs? Fuckin’ goat. Go all in or go home, Steve.

I don’t know, man. Everything else feels obvious. You didn’t control your fire enough, hence the burnt ribs. These only really work if you layer and slather sauce on while you cook, creating a coating of caramelized sugars, spice, and umami. The plating is wild in the worst ways. It feels like a viral Twitter food post that Vince would share in our Slack room of some nob pretending they know what ribs are.

Steve, you know you lost the second you took that final photo of “burnt ribs next to sludge-pond sauce featuring green herbs cut up by angry house cat.” This squarely falls into the ledger row of dishes you’ve made in this competition I’d try only out of obligation to the format. But, I’d imagine I’d spit out the mouthful as soon as the focus was off my face.

Vince on Steve’s Ribs:

When Steve posted these on Instagram someone commented “did you plate these next to the lawn mower?” I’m not even going to try to outdo that one, I’m just going to leave it here.

One section of this stood out to me though: “But I’ve seen enough food controversies to know better than claiming a region, that’s just asking for trouble. ”

Steve, I know it’s hard to get roasted by random strangers on the internet week in, week out, but you’re cooking scared now and it’s helping no one. I think you maybe need to sit on the shores of a former pirate sanctuary off the coast of Morocco and have a think. Reading this I’m just imagining you getting pre-emptively defensive towards the critics who only exist in your head. “I know you think this is too many herbs but it’s not! They add distinctive grassy notes! I’m not even crying, you’re crying!”

Did you mention a single component of this dish without a clarification or a pre-apology or some kind of defense first? I have a lot of questions about your technique here and the difference between a sauce and a marinade, but I’ll leave that to Zach. Mostly I just feel like you need a hug.

Zach’s Smoked Beef Short Ribs w/ Blueberry Bourbon Chipotle BBQ Sauce

It’s summer. I have access to an old smoker. And dry-aged short ribs were sitting there at my butcher, teasing me to take the plunge and smoke them. So I’m making Texas-inspired smoked beef short ribs.

The crux of this recipe is the low and slow-smoked BBQ action. These ended up taking seven hours cooking plus about 90 minutes to get the fire hot enough and the internal temp of the smoker right. Then there was the overnight sit with the dry rub. So yeah, these are an effort.

But the end result was that wonderful silence that happens at a table of friends when the food is too good to say a word. It’s one of those dishes that you just bask in.

Oh, and I made my own sauce from blueberry purree, chipotle in adobo sauce, Wild Turkey, and maple syrup.

Ingredients:

For the Sauce:

• 2.2-lbs. strained blueberry puree (about 4 cups)
• 1 7-oz. can Chipotles in Adobo Sauce
• 1 cup Grade A maple syrup
• 1 cup bourbon
• Large pinch of salt
• Large pinch of allspice

I used Ponthier Blueberry Puree. It’s made every August when blueberries are at the peak of their in-season freshness. The puree is already strained and “cocktail” ready, making it perfect for making a sauce with.

Beyond that, the rest is pretty straightforward grocery store items. For the bourbon, I used Wild Turkey 101. It’s was open and on the shelf. Plus, I’ve really gotten into cooking with it lately.

For the Ribs:

• 5-lbs. dry-aged beef short ribs
• 1 tsp. pink salt
• 1 tsp. MSG
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 3 tsp. cracked black pepper
• 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp. sweet paprika
• 1 tsp. white pepper
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• Apple cider vinegar
• More black pepper

Whenever I watch videos about Texas-style smoked short ribs, salt and pepper seem to be the main ingredient, and that’s cool. But there are plenty of BBQ joints that are using a little more than that. So, I took my cue from Meat Church in Austin and leaned towards their rub which is a little more dynamic than just salt and pepper. Still, I used a f*ckton of pepper and three types of sodium.

Other than that, get some good, local beef that you trust. I trimmed the fat cap and silverskin myself (I save the fat for grinding my own burgers). You can also ask your butcher to do that for you.

Method:

For the Sauce:

• Grab a medium-sized pot and fill it with the blueberry puree, can of chipotles, maple syrup, whiskey, salt, and allspice.
• Place the pot on medium heat and gently stir until everything is dissolved and mixed together.
• Place a lid on the pot (slightly ajar) and bring to a low simmer, lowering the heat when necessary.
• After about 30 minutes, I use a slotted spoon to remove the chipotle chilis and onions. They’ve steeped enough heat into the sauce and will overpower it if you leave them in. (Leave them in and puree the sauce at the end if you want a very hot and slightly bitter BBQ sauce).
• Let simmer until reduced by half.
• You’ll know the sauce is ready when it easily coats your spoon and has visibly thickened.
• Let cool completely and save in a squeeze bottle or jar.

For the Ribs:

• The day before your smoke session, trim the short ribs of the hard fat cap and layer of silverskin if necessary. (I don’t remove the membrane over the rib bones as they help stabilize the meat while it cooks and you can easily remove it after).
• In a small bowl, mix all the salts, peppers, and spices.
• Use paper towels to blot away any access moisture from the beef ribs.
• Liberally apply the rub on all sides of the rib.
• Place the ribs in a food-safe container, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
• The next day, I set out the ribs to bring them up to room temp.
• In the meantime, I get my smoker going with a combination of Weber briquettes and ash wood. I set up a fire pit next to the smoker as a feeder fire as well. I also pre-soak some Whiskey Wood Chips I have in water to ready them to go into the smokebox every hour or so.
• Once the internal temp of the smoker reached a consistent 250F, I lay out my ribs on a cutting board and hit them with a thick layer of fresh cracked black pep.
• I then lay the short ribs down on the smoker, rib side down, with a small bowl of water in the back of the smoker.
• I close the lid for two hours while checking on the smoker’s temp about every 15 minutes to adjust the fire if needed (it’s an old and finicky smoker).
• During that time, I get a food-safe spritzer and fill it with about one cup of apple cider vinegar.
• After two hours, I hit the ribs with a good spritzing of apple cider vinegar and close the lid again. I do this again after another two hours. I then do it again at hours five and six.
• At hour six, I check the temp and they’re about 175F. So, I wrap the ribs in butcher paper and return them to the smoker for about another 90 minutes while I work to fire to get the smoker’s internal heat closer to 275F.
• I used a meat thermometer to check the doneness. I want them to hit 200F. I take them off the heat when they hit about 195F and let them sit on a cutting board for about 15 minutes until they hit 200F. The meat should have an almost jelly-like jiggle.
• I use a big bread knife to cut some of the meat off the bone (though the bones slide out pretty easily) and slice it like brisket across the grain. I also slice some of them to make big ol’ on the bone chunks.
• I hit the ribs and meat with a healthy drizzle of the BBQ sauce and serve.

Bottom Line:

There was dead silence at the table while we ate these. Seconds and thirds were had. It took a lot of work (nine hours or so) but, wow, was this worth it.

The fatty, smoked, and peppery meat has a serious bark and killer, fatty, and succulent burnt ends. It was seriously juicy and damn near melted in your mouth while still have the slightest of bites.

The sauce was full of earthy blueberry goodness with a hint of rich tobacco thanks to the Adobo and whiskey. The sweetness and chili heat was dialed in but there. That sweet, spicy, earthy matrix was the perfect accompaniment to the fatty and super umami beef ribs.

And come on! Look at that smoke ring!

I’m sure a Texas BBQ champion could find a million errors in the millimeters of my smoke ring, or the wood I used, or my spritz, or whatever. The bottom line is these were f*cking delicious and beloved by everyone in the backyard on Sunday afternoon. Plus, they made for amazing leftovers. Short rib hash and eggs, anyone?

Oh and in case you’re wondering what all those foil-wrapped packets were in my smoker, I also made a big batch of smoked spare ribs with a classic BBQ sauce glaze… We needed something to snack on while the beef ribs got up to temp! But, that’s a story for another day.

Vince on Zach’s Ribs:

Is it just me or does that top pic look a little… uh… vaginal?

That’s not a criticism, and, honestly, I’m having trouble finding things to criticize. You’ll see from my recipe that we clearly share a certain rib philosophy and you even used my beloved Wild Turkey. I guess my main criticism is that beef ribs seems like an insane amount of work. You work your ass off for basically an entire day, just to make your beef ribs taste as good as pork ribs do in half the time. There’s also sooo much meat on them!

I always think of ribs as kind of a weekend barbecue afternoon kind of meal, and I know if I ate these I’d need a nap right after. And I’d be thinking about waking up in the middle of the night with the meat sweats and the 10-pound dump I’m inevitably going to have to take at 5 am. So, that’s a little window into my rib-eating process.

These look wonderful, I just think eating more than one or two would have me pondering my own mortality.

Steve on Zach’s Ribs:

Holy shit. I hate you. I feel like I just walked into a knife fight in West Texas carrying an overboiled piece of spaghetti. YOU SMOKED RIBS FOR NINE HOURS? Listen man, we need to make this contest more competitive and I think I’ve figured out how: I’m putting my kids up for adoption. How much spare time do you have?

I don’t really know how to critique these besides mentioning that they’re more “meat slabs” than ribs. I see big wobbly-grained meat sections which… just isn’t really what I think of when I think ribs. They’re basically tall meat hunks over the top of some bone. That’s not much of a gripe but you have to let me reach a little.

Okay, you want the real mistake you made? Throwing in that picture of pork ribs at the bottom. Because I’d rather have those than the triple thiccccccc beefy versions any day of the week. Can a chef actually lose to his own (unsubmitted) dish? Because, if so, I think you did exactly that.

Vince’s Applewood Smoked Vinegar-Brined Chipotle Garlic Ribs Finished In A Pizza Oven

When it comes to barbecue, I’m more of a rib guy than anything else. Brisket is great, but only if it’s really good brisket. With pork ribs, even the mediocre ones are pretty good. Because they’re always pretty decent, I’ve experimented a lot with ribs. I’ve smoked them, boiled them, sous-vided them, water bathed them, foil-wrapped them; done them wet, dry, vinegary, Kansas City-style, Chinese five-spiced, and with mustard.

Of all the ways I’ve tried them, still the best ribs I think I’ve ever had are the ones my friend Clint Melville, who runs a tri-tip truck in Portland called Rip City Grill, made. We’ve known each other since kindergarten and get together at least once a year to play golf, and a few years back I went to visit him and he made these ribs that were so simple, just canned chipotles and brown sugar, cooked low in a water bath in the oven and then finished on the grill. They were so good that no matter how many different types of ribs I’ve tried since then, and I’ve been to barbecue competitions and the Aspen Food & Wine Festival since then, those are the ribs I remember.

These are basically those ribs, with a couple of tweaks.

Unless you have a big smoker, your basic home rib cook consists of two parts, a slow cook to weaken the connective tissue and get the ribs nice and tender, and a hot cook on a grill to give them some char. My ribs basically consisted of three steps:

– A dry brine overnight to make sure the ribs were seasoned through
– A stovetop smoke/vinegar steam to tenderize the meat and add the smoke flavor
– A short, hot cook in a pizza oven for maximum char with minimum dryness

The Dry Brine – 24 Hours

I tend to think just having a spice rub that you put on 24 hours ahead of time is far more important than the specifics of that spice rub. I made this rub a while back so I don’t remember the exact proportions, but it was something like:

• Salt
• Black Pepper
• White Pepper (not a lot)
• Onion Powder (lots)
• Garlic Powder (lots)
• Smoked Paprika (a medium amount)
• Cayenne Pepper (just a little)
• Brown Sugar

Basically I want the kick from the three kinds of pepper, onion and garlic because obviously, the smoky-sweet paprika, and sweetness from brown sugar. I tend to think my spice rub is perfect because I get it just the way I want it, but if you have Pappy’s, Slap Ya Mama, Lawry’s, whatever lying around, I tend to think all are fine.

I also add a drizzle of olive oil. It isn’t that common in rib recipes, but I did it that way once and the meat was noticeably more moist and tender.

Applewood Smoke With Vinegar Bath – 3 Hours

Now, if you want to just steam your dry-brined ribs in the oven using a little water, a grill pan covered in aluminum foil, that works just fine. Bake at 250-300 for two hours and they’re good to go. But I have this little stovetop smoker that’s perfect for ribs, which gets the steaming done while also adding the smoke flavor.

Basically, applewood chips go on the bottom, then a little grill pan filled with apple cider vinegar goes on top of that, then the grate with the ribs, then the lid. You turn the oven on until it starts to smoke, and then let the ribs go for three hours. It gets up to about 200 degrees (but tenderizes a lot more this way than if you just baked them at 200 degrees for that long in a regular oven). It infuses them with both the applewood smoke and the tang from the cider vinegar steam. You can kind of just check them and take them out when they hit the desired doneness level.

The Glaze

Like I said, this recipe was based on a simple chipotle + brown sugar formula that was so good I remembered it 5-6 years later. I didn’t tweak that much, I simply added garlic confit. Here’s my method:

• About 2-3 heads of garlic
• Enough olive oil to cover in small pot
• Set heat at medium low and cook for 30-40 minutes (low enough so that they don’t really brown)
• Cook until the texture of cream cheese, remove cloves with slotted spoon, reserve oil

Then for the glaze, I used:

– About 4-5 canned whole chipotle chilis in adobo
– The 2-3 heads worth of garlic confit
– About a cup, cup and a half brown sugar

Blend ingredients in blender, use reserved garlic olive oil and apple cider vinegar to get to the desired texture — roughly like store-bought bbq sauce. Then I brushed the glaze liberally onto the smoked ribs (note: that’s not an unglazed rib on the left side, it’s the second rack that I hadn’t glazed yet peeking through underneath).

The Char

The idea here was to create just a bit of crunch by caramelizing the glaze (which also makes it slightly less messy to eat), without leaving it on the heat long enough to dry out the interior of the meat (which is basically the perfect degree of rendered after the smoke/vinegar steam). Basically, I wanted it as hot and fast as possible (much like Steve’s mom).

My solution was to use my miniature wood-fired pizza oven, which claims to get up to 950 degrees (I haven’t sprung for the instant read thermometer to test it yet, but I’m going to assume this was at least 800 degrees). My wood pellets are a mix of applewood and oak.

(Those are some lamb sausages I was also cooking in the foreground there)

As you can see, I didn’t want to blacken the piss out of it. I didn’t leave it longer than five minutes, just enough time that some of the glaze crystallized, which created an amazing layer of microcrunchies on the outer layer of the moist, tender ribs. I took them out of the pizza oven and let them rest for 15 minutes.

The finished ribs weren’t too soft, like mush, but they were incredibly tender and easily pulled away from the bone. When you bite into them, they’re seasoned through from the dry brine, plus you get the tang from the vinegar steam, the sweet smokiness of the applewood, the spicy-sweet of the glaze, and the little bit of crunchiness from the super hot pizza oven. The chipotle-garlic sauce doesn’t come on that strong, but after two or three ribs your scalp is definitely sweating.

I have trouble being completely satisfied with anything that I cook, to the point that my whole family makes fun of me for never serving anything without some kind of apology, but in all honesty this time around as I was about as close as I’ve ever been to being thrilled with how my food came out. You may have ribs that you like better than these, but for me I think these are my favorite.

Steve on Vince’s Ribs:

I don’t think much of the pizza oven finishing and, having had one of those pizza ovens, I’ll bet anything it’s not 800-degrees. Your “micro-crunchiness” sort of sold me. If you really got that cool crystallized layer, I admire it. But it’s not a real char flavor. You made candied ribs — that’s what these are. I get the allure, but I want something kissed by fire.

As for more substantial critique, I’ll let Zach address the salting-pork-the-night-before issue and use my time to wonder: What’s the “other flavor” here? Is it bright enough to have layers? Did that apple cider steam give these ribs enough tart-sour to balance the umami of the meat plus chipotle? (Nope.)

I swear to god you put some Sweet Baby Rays sauce in a blender with a canned chipotle in adobo and lather it on a rack of ribs (no brine, no pre-seasoning) and then do these in the oven for three hours and finish on the grill and you have a dish that tests virtually the same. Meaning the inventiveness and creativity are equivalent to your “Steve needs a hug” burn — which you’ve literally already used three times now. Where’s the creativity, my dude?

Zach on Vince’s Ribs:

The cardinal sin of these ribs is that you pre-seasoned them overnight. BBQ champs the world over say again and again that you never season your pork ribs more than half and hour or so before you smoke. It’ll dry out the pork. Don’t believe me? Watch this video from Meat Church down in Austin.

When I was scrolling through these images, I was jolted by your plastic-wrap saucing as well. Why does your sauce look so plasticky? Does it taste like melted Saran wrap?

Then, those final photos scroll past and this gif came to mind:

Those last photos do really sell the ribs. Still…

You definitely under sauced your ribs. You also seem to have skipped a crucial second step of smoking again wrapped into foil with spice, butter, and more sugar before you do the saucing and caramelizing up at the end.

In the end, these feel like perfectly suitable backyard ribs for a dad in his 40s who loves food but doesn’t quite have the drive to really go all-in. I can imagine Steve asking me after he missed your BBQ (he has kids, Vince!) how I liked these and my response would be, “Yeah, they were fine.”

Alien invasions are so hot right now. Do you want to know where you’ll find the best bang for your buck among the streaming services? The competition grows eerie this week with a fictional account of humans and aliens going toe-to-toe in an Amazon Prime movie and a (supposedly) reality-based Discovery+ series about one of the greatest extraterrestrial-related mysteries of our time. For that reason (and because you want to ditch a Fourth of July BBQ to fight aliens, like Will Smith’s Independence Day character) we’re gonna go ahead and put Amazon in first place this week for not only staying on-point, subject wise, but also giving us a summer blockbuster experience at home. Discovery+ nabs the runner-up spot because not only are we getting more alien talk, but Martha Freaking Stewart stars in a new series where she gets her hands super grubby (because she knows what the people want).

However, don’t count out the other streaming services mentioned below. Disney+ is still going strong with Loki installments that will charm your Variant pants off. Netflix has several new options to binge, including a series where Channing Tatum portrays a potty-mouthed and ripped George Washington, and do not sleep on HBO Max, Hulu, Peacock, and Apple TV’s newest offerings. Without further delay, here’s everything that you should consider putting in your queues this weekend (and beyond).

Amazon Prime

The Tomorrow War (Amazon Prime film) — A summer blockbuster movie lands in your living room at no extra cost to Amazon Prime subscribers, so how lucky are you feeling right about now? The film stars Chris Pratt (alongside J.K. Simmons, Yvonne Strahovski, Betty Gilpin, Sam Richardson, and more) in a world where time travelers from 2051 arrive to warn mankind that a global war against an alien species is coming. The only way possible for this to turn out well for humans is if soldiers and civilians join the future fight by time traveling, and this film comes from the mind of director Chris McKay (The Lego Batman Movie), so we’re in good hands all around. Go get your microwave popcorn and enjoy the explosive action goodness.

Bosch: Season 7 (Amazon Prime series) — Everyone’s favorite loose-cannon detective (portrayed by Titus Welliver) who doesn’t shy away from extralegal tactics is back for one final lap, and hopefully, he’ll be weirdly eating pancakes again at some point before this show ends. Please let us see more crooked law enforcement members get their comeuppance, and maybe some mercenaries and drug rings here and there, and Bosch going further than he safely should to achieve justice in every instance. Oh, and after this season ends, there will (at some point) be a spinoff that will pretty much be more Bosch on the way, as Bosch moves into a new phase of his career. Strange, right?

Discovery+

Martha Gets Down and Dirty: Season 1 (Discovery+ series) — The frequent onscreen and business partner of Snoop Dogg goes solo while traveling home to her 150-acre farm where, as the title suggests, she gets her hands seriously dirty. Martha Stewart might be 79 years young and a total perfectionist, but she’s entirely engaged in prepping her farm for summertime, and that means some serious digging in the dirt alongside her gardener, Ryan McCallister. That’s only part of the dirty work on this show, and Stewart duly promised, “I’m going to take you behind-the-scenes as I get my hands dirty around my property, as well as help my celebrity friends and surprise some unsuspecting callers.” So… Snoop? C’mon, Martha.

Roswell: The Final Verdict (Discovery+ limited series) — The recently declassified UFO reports from the Pentagon didn’t exactly satisfy curious minds, so there’s no time like the present for revisiting the 1937 Roswell, New Mexico incident, in which a rancher claims to have witnessed strange debris gathering, which led to decades of denials by the U.S. government and endless conspiracy theories. This series will revisit eyewitness accounts in an attempt to uncover the whole truth.

Relentless (Discovery+ series) — This Blumhouse Television/Stick Figure Entertainment series releases three episodes of this journey by an obsessive filmmaker (Christina Fontana) to uncover what really happened to a missing young woman (Christina Whittaker), a 21-year-old who left a 6-month-old child behind in Missouri. Less than a year later, Fontana touched base with the family and soon found herself staring down a trail of conspiracies and betrayal while becoming part of the story. Fontana soon realized how accounts lacked consistency across the board during interviews, and it’s fair to say that the filmmaker risked her own career and safety while telling this story.

Disney+

Loki: Episode 4 (Disney+ series, releasing in the wee hours of Wednesday morning) — Tom Hiddleston has an absolute blast playing the mercurial trickster of the MCU, and we shall reap the benefits while he helps (or hinders) the Time Variance Authority during the process of cleaning up the timeline. This week, the show will follow up on Sophia Di Martino’s “Variant” character teaming up with Loki, after the series inserted a significant detail into canon while appearing to also confirm a theory about the TVA.

The Mysterious Benedict Society: Season 1 Premiere (Disney+ series) — Gather round for this adaptation of Trenton Lee Stewart’s bestselling book series about a group of orphans who are recruited by Mr. Benedict, who is very peculiar, to save the world from “The Emergency.” Together, the orphans must infiltrate an underworld society to uncover the truth about why the globe’s gone so wrong, and except the unexpected when it comes to revelations about the source of this crisis. Tony Hale stars, along with Kristen Schaal and Ryan Hurst (RIP, Opie from Sons of Anarchy).

Netflix

America: The Motion Picture (Netflix film) — Channing Tatum voices a very profane (and buff) George Washington in this series that’s directed by Archer‘s Matt Thompson and produced by The Mitchells vs. the Machines‘ Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Washington declares that he wants to “start a f*cking revolution,” and he’s accompanied by a beer-guzzling Sam Adams, an angry Geronimo, Paul Revere, and Thomas Edison as they decide to take on Benedict Arnold and King James. In the synopsis, Netflix promises, “[T]hese are not your father’s Founding… uh, Fathers.”

Fear Street Part 1: 1994 (Netflix film) — Author RL Stine’s works find new terrifying life in this first trilogy installment about a group of teenagers who inadvertently stumble upon a source of ancient evil. Before long, they’re wrapped up in a 300-year-old nightmare that’s messed with their Shadyside community, and expect more where this came from when Fear Street Part 2: 1978 and Fear Street Part 3: 1666 eventually arrive.

We The People (Netflix series) — This show aims to educate young Americans about basic U.S. civics lessons, but the method is anything but basic and involves combining groundbreaking animation and original music. Expect tunes from H.E.R., Janelle Monáe, Brandi Carlile, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Adam Lambert, Cordae, Bebe Rexha, KYLE, and Andra Day. Poet Amanda Gorman will also be on hand to inspire the masses like she did at the recent inauguration.

Somos. (Netflix series) — This series recreates stories that are inspired by the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ginger Thompson. She dug into a small down called Allende during a period that’s rocked by a massacre, which was sparked by a drug war and a DEA operation that did not go as planned.

Prime Time (Netflix film) — The time is 1999, and the occasion is New Year’s Eve. A 20-year-old man takes hostages after entering a TV studio. The man doesn’t know his plan, nor does anyone else, although he has a message that’s interrupted by police, and as he waits it out, he apparently bonds with his hostages. Hmm.

Audible (Netflix film) — This coming-of-age documentary follows a group of Deaf high school students as they confront the impending reality of graduation and heading into the real world. A popular athlete, Amaree, tears up the football field following a tragic loss, and overall, this group of teens seek to conquer adversity while looking toward the future and intending to prove their worth to the world.

Young Royals (Netflix series) — A teenage prince heads to a ritzy boarding school, where he intends upon exploring his identity and figuring out what he’d really like to do in the future. His dreams turn to freedom and unconditional live and away from royal duty, but those dreams are thwarted when he finds himself next in line to become king. Will he choose love… or his apparently predestined life?

HBO Max

No Sudden Move (Warner Bros. film on HBO Max) — Right at home in the comfort of your own living room, you can enjoy the newest Steven Soderbergh-directed picture that’s set in 1954 Detroit. The cast includes half of Hollywood, it seems, including Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, David Harbour, Jon Hamm, Amy Seimetz, Kieran Culkin, Ray Liotta, and Brendan Fraser. The name of the game is a botched plan by a gathering of small-potatoes criminals, who must hunt down who hired them and find out what’s actually going on in the rapidly morphing city.

Tom and Jerry in New York: Season 1 (Warner Bros. Animation series on HBO Max) — This spinoff to the recent Tom and Jerry movie (starring Chloe Moretz) strips things down to the classic duo’s adventures while cat and mouse continue to cause mayhem in the Big Apple and, more specifically, the Royal Gate Hotel. Naturally, chaos follows everywhere that the iconic pair travels, surrender to the madness.

I’ll Be Gone In The Dark: Special Episode (HBO series on HBO Max) — The one-year anniversary of Joseph James DeAngelo’s guilty plea as the Golden State Killer fast approaches. So, HBO’s revisiting the dogged investigating efforts of true-crime blogger Michelle McNamara after the revolutionary docuseries of 2020. Original series director Liz Garbus will be back to produce alongside Patton Oswalt (McNamara’s husband at the time of her death) and true-crime writers Paul Haynes and Billy Jensen (who helped piece together McNamara’s research into the book) for a special episode, which contains revelations about another case that informed McNamara’s true-crime obsession.

Betty: (HBO series on HBO Max) — The skateboarders are back. It’s what we really need to heal our pandemic-addled minds, and somehow, director Crystal Moselle managed to gather the Skate Kitchen crew back up for a second season and film on the streets of New York City. The main players are all back — Rachelle Vinberg as Camille, Ajani Russell as Indigo, Dede Lovelace as Janay, Moonbear as Honeybear, and Nina Moran as Kirt — and they’re still making the act of soaring through the streets look like the coolest thing on Earth.

Hulu

Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Hulu film) — Questlove’s stepping into the director’s seat for the first time for this cinematic historical record that celebrates Black history over the course of six weeks. The culmination, of course, turns out to be the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, and this film brings you never-before-seen footage of performances from Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, B.B. King, Gladys Knight and the Pips, and many more.

False Positive (Hulu film) — Hide your uteruses! Pierce Brosnan is the worst fertility doctor. As if being a woman wasn’t hard enough, Hulu (through this A24 film) will give us even more fuel to dread going to a gynecologist, or baby doctor, or fertility whiz, or whatever term you want to use. Ilana Glazer stars as one half of a couple, alongside Justin Theroux, who seeks to become pregnant, and things aren’t exactly going well with the natural route, so they find themselves seeking professional help. And from there, things get all Rosemary’s Baby in a very 2021 way, and in an entertaining way, too. From there, the this trailer shows how the gaslighting really kicks in, and could it be… Satan?

Peacock

The Boss Baby: Family Business (Peacock film) — Alec Baldwin’s back as the Boss Baby, who is now (apparently?) all grown up. He’s even a hedge fund CEO, but another boss baby, who’s even more of a whippersnapper, might bring the first boss baby back together with his older brother (James Marsden), and then they’ll all attempt a family business. The best news, perhaps, is that Amy Sedaris is voicing a new infant on the block, and there are dark secrets and mysterious ways afoot at BabyCorp. In the end, expect some lessons on the meaning of family because, yup, we’re in family territory.

Apple TV+

Central Park: Season 2 (Apple TV+ series) — Get ready for more animated musical madness that takes on themes of gentrification and capitalism with such an ease that feels, well, natural. Voice performances from Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, Stanley Tucci, and Daveed Diggs will all entertain with whimsy, and oh, do not forget the presence of Tituss Burgess, ever. The series is co-created by Loren Bouchard of Bob’s Burgers fame, and it’s a heartwarming and unique comedy series following a cast of evolving characters.

Mythic Quest: Season 2 season finale (Apple TV+ series) — Rob McElhenney’s workplace comedy made it back to the office after you-know-what forced the work-at-home situation. They built upon Raven’s Banquet success with a new expansion, but nothing’s going smoothly. Snoop Dogg stopped by this season to spread his feel-good… vibes. And now, it’s time to end this sophomore chapter with an eye toward the future.

Snot has spent most of the year sharing videos from his late-2020 album, Beautiful Havoc. The visuals highlighted the young act’s work on the project as he continued to elevate his game in the months that followed. Now, the Florida native returns with his brand new single, “Red.” The track is a chilled effort that captures Snot’s carefree spirit as he moves through life on the new release. From his cars to the ladies, the rapper seems to take everything that comes his way in stride while not letting it affect him too much.

In addition to the new “Red” single, you could revisit Beautiful Havoc or give it a first listen if you haven’t pressed play yet. A growing portfolio of visuals for the project also makes it more appealing to dive into. There’s the contemplative video for “Life” and a frantic effort for “Sangria” with fellow Florida native Denzel Curry. You can also indulge in a high-speed effort with the “Like Me” visual before pressing play on the haunting video for Snot and Flo Milli’s “Mean” collaboration. All in all, there’s plenty to enjoy when it comes to the rising Florida act.

You can press play on the video above to hear “Red.”

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

In case you haven’t noticed yet, Logic has returned to the hip-hop world from somewhat of a retirement. Last summer, he called it quits from rap world with the release of his sixth album, No Pressure. While he did step away from the game for some time, it wasn’t long enough to be deemed a short retirement as new music slowly arrived from his camp. He confirmed his official return last week and with it came the release of The YS Collection Vol. 1, a project composed of songs from his Young Sinatra days. Now, the Maryland rapper is back with brand new music.

Logic arrives with “Vaccine,” his first new song since returning from retirement. The track uses hard-hitting production to surround the rapper’s nonchalance as he takes his first few steps back into the game. “Came back with a team / Like rap ain’t a thing I’m a do anything,” he says on the song. “I’ma rap, I’ma sing / Yeah I’m back as the king.” Elsewhere he seemingly teases the upcoming release of Bobby Tarantino 3, the third installment in the mixtape series he launched back in 2016. “Ready to f*ck up the game,” he raps. “BT3 now we at it again, mane.”

In addition to the possible arrival of Bobby Tarantino 3, Logic has also teased a joint project with Madlib over the past couple of months. The pair has released singles that include “Raddest Dad” and “Mafia Music.”

You can press play on Logic’s “Vaccine” in the video above.

Imagine Dragons have announced their fifth album, Mercury — Act 1 will be coming this September. They’re previewing the new collection of songs tonight with a single called “Wrecked,” which starts off a bit more acoustic than some of what we’ve heard from them in the past. Don’t worry though, it builds to a towering, dark chorus just in time, a reflection of how relationship endings and grief can be swift and overwhelming. The song was written by frontman Dan Reynolds after losing his his sister-in-law, Alisha Durtschi Reynolds.

“She was the brightest light,” Reynolds said. “A beacon of joy and strength for everyone she met. Her sudden passing has shaken me in ways that I still am unable to express. I was with her and my brother when she passed, and it was the first time in my life that I had witnessed death in this way. It sealed into my mind the fragility of life and finality of this all. I’ve watched my brother face something that no one should have to. But I’ve also seen his faith bring him hope in a future with her. I can only hope for the same,” Reynolds says. “This song was my way of dealing with it all, as music has always been my refuge. No longer being a man of fervent faith, I can only hope that she hears it somewhere in a place where she is healed and no longer in pain. This song is my wish for an eternity with those that I love.”

This new single follows up a couple other new songs from the band, “Follow You” and “Cutthroat.” Check out the moving new song above and look out for Mercury — Act 1 out on KIDinaKORNER/Interscope on September 3.

Earlier this year, Russ promised fans that he would drop a new song on a weekly basis for the foreseeable future. It’s an act that the singer did earlier in his career to bring attention and familiarity to his name, and with all the success he’s accumulated up until today, it’s clear that it worked for him. With that being said, it’s no surprise that the Atlanta native went back to it after the strong 2020 he had. His latest release is “On The Way,” a timid, brief track that finds him emphasizing his tunnel vision approach towards life to his family, friends, and women he frequents himself with.

While 2021 might the year of singles for Russ, 2020 was focused on projects. He kicked things off with his third album, Shake The Snow Globe, a 14-track effort that saw contributions from Benny The Butcher, Rick Ross, Bia, and more. He later served up a deluxe reissue for the project with eight new songs and help from Ty Dolla Sign and Westside Boogie. To close off the year, he returned with Chomp, a 6-track EP that saw him stand beside some of the best lyrical talents the music industry has to offer. This includes Ab-Soul, Benny The Butcher, Kxng Crooked, and more.

On a more recent note, Russ has dropped numerous singles that include “Satisfy,” “Lucky,” “Private,” “Status,” and “Small Talk.”

You can listen to the new song in the video above.

Ty Dolla Sign is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Last year proved to be a big year for Blxst and Bino Rideaux. The West Coast acts’ stocks saw a nice boost after they dropped their respective projects, No Love Lost and Outside. Both efforts arrived after they came together for their Sixtape EP in 2019. Now, Blxst and Bino are preparing to release a sequel, but before doing so, they return with a video for the upcoming project’s lead single, “Movie.” The visual finds the rappers employing themselves at a dysfunctional car wash headed by an equally dysfunctional manager. After pushing through the chaos, Blxst and Bino take over the property to throw a feel-good party in the warm West Coast sun.

The new video comes with news that the duo’s upcoming project, Sixtape 2 will arrive on July 16. The effort will hopefully continue the streak both rappers have been on while adding to strong collaborations they’ve already presented in their respective catalogs. Their recent songs together include “Wrong Or Right (Remix)” from Blxst’s No Love Lost and “Brand New” from Bino’s Outside.

Outside of their collaborations, the newly-crowned XXL Freshman Blxst announced his No Love Lost tour and recently teamed up with YG and Mozzy for their “Perfect Timing” video while Bino dropped his first solo single of the year last month with “Got To Know It.”

You can check out the video to Blxst and Bino’s “Movie” above.

Sixtape 2 is out 7/16 via Red Bull Records.

Close associates of Donald Trump tried to make a splash with a new social media platform that Trump may or may not join, but the big news of the day was that the Trump Organization was officially charged for a 15-year tax avoidance scheme that saw a top executive, Alan Weisselberg, saddled with a number of crimes.

The charges have been a long time coming, as those around Trump and the company that shares his name have been part of a years-long investigation into criminal wrongdoing. Thursday’s perp walk flew in the face of what Trump and his children have been saying for weeks now very publicly, that they are “clean” and totally free of any wrongdoing. And in the wake of those charges, both Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump appeared on cable news to talk about how their family is being persecuted in various ways.

Executives appearing on inflammatory cable news segments on the day their company saw indictments handed down is perhaps not the wisest of decisions, legally speaking. But there were several rambling segments that aired on Thursday night. Don Jr., for example, compared the charges to Vladimir Putin poisoning and throwing a political rival in jail.

Eric Trump, meanwhile, last seen using random internet comments to make his case for innocence, appeared on Newsmax to say that his family lives “amazingly clean lives” and tried to make this, once again, about Hunter Biden.

Eric also appeared on Fox News to react to the news that the Trump organization was officially charged with crimes, using much of the same language he used on Newsmax.

Many were surprised that the pair were commenting on an active investigation, which is pretty out of the ordinary for basically any other company under indictment.

The news was handled differently on the different cable networks, to say the least.

Depending on who you believe, Thursday’s news is just part of an all-encompassing “witch hunt” against Trump and his family that’s completely unfounded, or just the start of what could be a long list of charges against the now-former president’s business dealings and the family entangled in them all. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what’s closer to reality.

Even before the announcement of a new project from Big Red Machine — Aaron Dessner and Bon Iver’s collaborative labor of love — Swifties have been investigating the project for Taylor features. Turns out fans were right on the money, as Taylor is a collaborator on not one but two songs on the album, “Renegade” and “Birch.” Tonight one of those songs, “Renegade,” is available for fans to hear, above, and Dessner shared the story behind the track as well.

“While we were making folklore and evermore last year, Taylor and I sometimes talked about experimenting and writing songs together some day for Big Red Machine,” Dessner explained. “Making music with your friends just to make it — that’s how Big Red Machine started and has grown — and that’s how Renegade came about too. This song was something we wrote after we finished evermore and it dawned on us that this was a BRM song. Taylor’s words hit me so hard when I heard her first voice memo and still do, every time. Justin lifted the song further into the heavens, and my brother [Bryce Dessner]’s strings and drummer Jason Treuting add so much. The feeling and sound of this song feel very much at the heart of ‘How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?’ I’m so grateful to Taylor for continuing to share her incredible talent with me and that we are still finding excuses to make music together.”

This is the third song shared from the new album, How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?, following up “Latter Days” and “The Ghost Of Cincinnati.” The album will be out 8/27 via Jagjagwar/37d03d. Pre-order it here.