Month: February 2022

Every year, the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame (Rock Hall, for short) inducts artists with distinguished careers that have stood the test of time. Being enshrined into the Rock Hall is an honor bestowed upon artists who have demonstrated a body of work across many decades that once in the Rock Hall, can help engage fans with music history. The nomination process considers artists whose first commercial recording was released a minimum of 25 years before the year of their nomination, so you won’t see Billie Eilish or Harry Styles nominated anytime soon.

With this year’s new crop of 17 nominees for the 2022 Rock And Roll Hall of Fame class, Eminem leads the way as the only nominee who is in their first year of eligibility. A Tribe Called Quest, Beck, Carly Simon, Dolly Parton, Duran Duran, and Lionel Richie are all nominated for the first time despite having been eligible in the past. The other nominees include Devo, Dionne Warwick, Eurythmics, Fela Kuti, Judas Priest, Kate Bush, MC5, New York Dolls, Pat Benatar, and Rage Against The Machine.

From here, fan voting to help determine who will enter the 2022 class is now open now via the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame website. The inductees are scheduled to be announced in May, with a ceremony later in the fall.

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

If there was ever any doubt that Donald Trump truly believed that Mike Pence had the authority to simply overturn the results of a national presidential election because the guy he worked for didn’t win, the former president has gone and outed himself.

Over the weekend, Trump issued a statement in which he outright stated that Pence “could have overturned the Election!” And the fact that he didn’t has put Donald and his former #2 on the outs—so much so that Trump is now insisting that the January 6th committee should be investigating the former vice president instead. While the sheer inanity of it all has everyone talking, Jimmy Kimmel seemed absolutely astounded by the sudden turn of events.

On Tuesday night, Kimmel mentioned the current rift between Pence and Trump (the two reportedly have not spoken in months) and the weekend statement, but noted that “Today, he went about eight steps further with what is certainly among the top five craziest statements made by a former president of the United States. He wrote, on paper—because he’s not allowed to post on Twitter:

‘So pathetic to watch the Unselect Committee of political hacks, liars, and traitors work so feverishly to alter the Electoral College Act so that a Vice President cannot ensure the honest results of the election, when just one year ago they said that the Vice President has absolutely no right to ensure the true outcome or results of an election. In other words, they lied and the Vice President did have this right… blah, blah, blah.

If Nancy Pelosi, who is in charge of Capitol security, had taken my recommendation and substantially increased security, there would have been no ‘January 6th’ as we know it!’

But that wasn’t even the end of the inanity.

Kimmel’s favorite part of Trump’s statement came when he suggested that “the Unselect Committee” (that will never get old) should instead be investigating “why Mike Pence did not send back the votes for recertification or approval in that it has now been shown that he clearly had the right to do so!” In other words: Trump thinks that someone should be investigating his own vice president.

“This is like Bonnie calling for an investigation into Clyde,” Kimmel said. “And the saddest part is Mike Pence is so pathetic, he’d probably agree.”

You can watch the full clip above.

The Walking Dead wraps up later this year, but The Walking Dead franchise will continue for as long as people enjoy watching zombies get rock stomped. So, forever. On Wednesday, AMC revealed the cast for the next TWD spin-off, Tales of the Walking Dead, an anthology series that focuses “on both new and established characters set in the world of the original series.” The extremely-talented ensemble includes:

-Anthony Edwards (ER, Zodiac)
-Poppy Liu (Hacks, Better Call Saul)
-Parker Posey (Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind)
-Terry Crews (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, this scene from White Chicks)
-Jillian Bell (Eastbound and Down, Brittany Runs a Marathon)

“Anthony, Jillian, Terry, Parker, and Poppy are the first wave of singular talents who will further expand the Walking Dead Universe into harrowing, hilarious, heartfelt, and horrifying new realms and we couldn’t be happier to welcome them to the family, along with these terrific directors. More announcements, more wonderful folks to come,” The Walking Dead chief content officer Scott M. Gimple said in a statement. I, for one, can’t wait to see Dr. Mark shoot an arrow into a zombie brain. TV event of the season.

Tales of the Walking Dead premieres during the summer, while the second half of The Walking Dead‘s final season begins on February 20.

(Via Variety)

If you look at the history of brewing in America, the craft beer boom is a fairly new phenomenon. While you can get a craft IPA, stout, or lager at any corner grocery store in America now, that wasn’t always the case. Back in the days before the modern craft beer boom, imported beer was a really big deal because that’s where the real variety in flavors and styles was found.

If you’re anything like me, you still have your favorite imported beers that you enjoy when you take a break from the hazy IPAs and barrel-aged stouts beloved by modern American craft brewers. That’s why today, I’m running a blind test with some of the iconic imported beers that paved the way for the contemporary beer boom. These beers — available at pretty much every grocery store or beer store in America — are the cans and bottles that today’s brewers drank before there were ten craft breweries in every town.

Our lineup today includes:

• Boddington’s Pub Ale (England)
• Asahi Super Dry (Japan)
• Guinness Draught (Ireland)
• Foster’s Lager (Australia)
• Heineken (The Netherlands)
• Corona Extra (Mexico)
• Hoegaarden Wit (Belgium)
• Red Stripe Lager (Jamaica)
• Stella Artois (Belgium)
• Newcastle Brown Ale (England)

Names like Guinness, Foster’s, Heineken, Hoegaarden, Newcastle, and Stella Artois are household names because they’ve been around and available for as long as we can remember (and then some). But which of these iconic, imported beers are actually the best?

Part 1: The Taste

Taste 1

Tasting Notes:

There’s a good deal of fresh-brewed coffee, caramel malts, and dark chocolate on the nose. The palate is lighter than expected. While fairly light, it’s creamy with notes of coffee, bitter chocolate, toffee, and a nice dry, memorable finish.

From my notes: “This is obviously Guinness.”

Taste 2

Tasting Notes:

There’s a real manufactured, almost synthetic smell to this beer. There are also some cereal grains and maybe some corn, but not much else. It smells like the way I imagined beer to smell when I was a kid. The taste is exactly like the smell with an almost oily texture that’s slightly bittersweet.

Overall, this is a beer that I don’t plan on drinking ever again.

Taste 3

Tasting Notes:

Caramel-ish brown in color, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this beer has a bit of a nutty aroma. There are also some toasted malts, but I didn’t really pick up anything else. The flavor is very sweet with some caramel, a nuttier flavor, and a surprise hop flavor that doesn’t really work.

From my notes: “This beer is very thin and unmemorable.”

Taste 4

Tasting Notes:

Poured into a glass, this beer has a slight skunky smell that (surprisingly!) isn’t off-putting. There’s also sweet corn, freshly-baked bread, and a slightly floral, fruity herbal fragrance. The taste has notes of fruit esters, caramel malts, slight citrus, and a crisp, dry, refreshing finish.

Taste 5

Tasting Notes:

This beer’s nose is filled with aromas of sweet yeast, caramel malts, fresh-baked bread, dried hay, and slight toffee sweetness. On the palate, I found clover honey, fruit esters, biscuit-like malts, sticky toffee, and very little bitterness at the finish.

Taste 6

Tasting Notes:

Complex aromas of citrus, wintry baking spices, and sweet malts met my nose. One taste revealed notes of cloves, candied orange peels, banana bread, and slight lemon zest. The finish was a nice mix of bitterness and sweetness that left me craving more.

Taste 7

Tasting Notes:

Corn is the first smell that entered my nostrils when nosing this beer. Just a big wallop of corn. This was followed by sweet cereal aromas, maybe some freshly-baked bread, and slight floral hops. From my notes: “This isn’t a super exciting nose, by any means.”

The palate was surprisingly skunky with more sweet corn flavor and some floral flavors. There’s no doubt this is a refreshing, unoffensive beer, but that’s about it.

Taste 8

Tasting Notes:

There’s a very sweet, malty smell emanating from this beer. But it was difficult to pick out any other aromas. The palate had a little more action with notes of toasted malts, wet grass, freshly-baked bread, slight toffee, and a little hop bitterness. It’s fairly dry at the finish.

Overall, a decent, fairly light beer.

Taste 9

Tasting Notes:

The nose is fairly bland but inoffensive with wet grass, sweet cereal grains, and slight corn. The palate follows suit with cereal sweetness, slightly floral flavor, some caramel, and maybe some sweet corn. It’s fairly light and refreshing, but not overly exciting to any degree. Definitely a crushable, summery beer.

Taste 10

Tasting Notes:

This beer’s nose is slightly sweet with cereal grains, a floral backbone, and a hint of caramel and vanilla. The palate is filled with more malts, slight citrus zest, fruit esters, subtly bitter, floral hops, and a nice dry, refreshing finish. All in all, it’s a pretty enjoyable, crisp beer.

Part 2: The Ranking

10) Foster’s Lager — Taste 2

ABV: 5%

Average Price: $13 for a 12-pack

The Beer:

How many of us remember the “Foster’s: Australian for beer” commercials that once aired on a constant basis? There’s not much that can be said for Foster’s Lager other than the fact that when you crack open a can it tastes exactly like you assume it will. This five percent ABV lager is known for its golden color and malty, refreshing, no-frills flavor.

Bottom Line:

It’s clear this beer was created to be crushed on a hot day. There’s really nothing to it other than the refreshing nature and the fact that it has alcohol in it.

9) Corona Extra — Taste 7

ABV: 4.6%

Average Price: $8.50 for a six-pack

The Beer:

One of the most famous beers in the world, Corona Extra is light, refreshing, and the kind of beer you want to enjoy with your feet in the sand or on your back patio on a sweltering summer day. Add a lime wedge and you’re elevating this beer to much greater heights than without.

Tasting Notes:

This beer was thirst-quenching and crisp but lacked almost any real flavor characteristics.

8) Newcastle Brown Ale — Taste 3

ABV: 4.7%

Average Price: $9 for a six-pack

The Beer:

In 1927, long before any beer boom, a brewer named Colonel Jim Porter launched Newcastle Brown Ale in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. Why he didn’t brew a porter we’ll never know. Either way, this 4.7 percent ABV malty brew has been popular in the UK and abroad ever since.

Bottom Line:

This is a strange beer. It’s a darker beer, but it seems to want to be hoppier than it should. I just didn’t really like it very much.

7) Red Stripe Lager — Taste 9

ABV: 4.7%

Average Price: $8 for a six-pack

The Beer:

For a while, Jamaican brand Red Stripe was inundating us with funny commercials and then they seemed to just disappear. Well, even though they don’t seem to make commercials that air stateside anymore, you can still find this 4.7 percent ABV stubby bottle at your neighborhood grocery store.

Bottom Line:

This is a refreshing, thirst-quenching, easy to drink, slightly boring beer that I’d definitely drink on a hot day in the sun.

6) Asahi Super Dry — Taste 8

ABV: 5.2%

Average Price: $9.50 for a six-pack

The Beer:

The only Japanese beer on this list, Asahi Super Dry is a 5.2 percent ABV rice lager. It’s made with rice and malted barley and is well-known for its very light, refreshing, easy-to-drink flavor profile. This brew was created to be crisp and crushable and it definitely does the job.

Bottom Line:

This beer was crisp dry and didn’t have malt flavor which makes me believe it’s supposed to be crushed on a hot day. There’s no real need to taste it, just drink it down.

5) Stella Artois — Taste 10

ABV: 5%

Average Price: $8.50 for a six-pack

The Beer:

Before I knew anything about beer, I heard the name Stella Artois and assumed it was a fancy, expensive beer. While it’s much cheaper than I imagined, this five percent ABV Belgian lager does live up to its fancy name with a well-loved balance of malts and hops that have made it one of the most awarded lagers in the world.

Bottom Line:

This is a well-balanced, crisp, and enjoyably dry beer that I could see myself coming back to again and again.

4) Heineken — Taste 4

ABV: 5%

Average Price: $8.50 for a six-pack

The Beer:

There are few beers more well-known than Heineken. Well before there was a craft beer revolution, you’d find coolers filled with this Dutch beer from coast to coast. This five percent ABV, crushable pale lager is still a massively popular choice throughout the world to this day.

Bottom Line:

While this beer isn’t overly exciting on the palate, it has enough malt, hop, and fruity flavor to make it the kind of beer you’d grab for on a warm day or as a respite from wintry beers.

3) Guinness Draught — Taste 1

ABV: 4.2%

Average Price: $9 for a six-pack

The Beer:

Brewed the same way since 1759, Guinness is the most popular stout in the world. This 4.2 percent “meal in a can” is known for its roasted malt and coffee-rich flavor that’s savored at bars, pubs, and homes all over the world, and not just on St. Patrick’s Day.

Bottom Line:

This is a perfect example of how a stout should taste. It’s not overly heavy but has enough balanced flavors to stand up to the coldest winter day.

2) Hoegaarden Wit — Taste 6

ABV: 4.9%

Average Price: $8.50 for a six-pack

The Beer:

There’s a reason this 4.9 percent ABV Belgian wheat beer is one of the most popular of its style in the world. Brewed with coriander and orange peels, you can thank this flavorful, sweet, yeasty beer for your favorite craft wit beer.

Bottom Line:

This complex, flavorful beer is slightly hazy and filled with fruity, sweet, citrus flavors that all work in unison like a John Williams symphony.

1) Boddington’s Pub Ale — Taste 5

ABV: 4.6%

Average Price: $7 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans

The Beer:

With a name like Boddington’s Pub Ale, you can bet you’re getting a classic, flavorful pub-style beer when you crack a can of this beer open. This 4.6 percent ABV pub ale is known for its creamy, malty, and honey-sweet flavor.

Bottom Line:

This is an interesting beer. It’s malty, sweet, fruity, and surprisingly creamy. It’s a hard beer to figure out, but all I know is that I want to drink it again.

Ed Sheeran is going on tour this year, and now he’s revealed that he’s bringing a pair of rising pop talents with him on the road: Griff and Maisie Peters (the latter of whom is signed to Sheeran’s Gingerbread Man label).

Griff wrote in her post sharing the news, “Ed’s asked if I could join him on some of his European tour dates. I said I’d check my schedule. Kinda have no words, thank you @teddysphotos.”

Peters got more reflective and emotional with her own announcement, writing, “i can’t believe this poster is real but it is i’m going on tour with @teddysphotos all summer :’) playing venues like these with someone like ed is something just so totally beyond the realm of anything you ever think possible when you’re 14 and pick up a guitar and learn lego house on ultimate guitar, and i don’t think i’ll really ever get over it. it was an honour to be asked and i promise i will be practising and rehearsing and writing to make it the best possible show i can give because this is such a once in one million lifetimes experience like. wembley stadium!!!! 5 times!!!!! 😮 see u out there for potentially the most feral summer of our lives <3.”

Find their posts, which contain the dates on which they will be joining Sheeran, below.

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

Fast food menu hacks are a huge pain in the ass. Don’t get us wrong, we love the idea of remixing food and bringing some new excitement to our favorite restaurant’s menu. But a good menu hack is easier said than done. When you try to take a menu into your own hands you’re left completely at the whims of the person taking your order. They’ll either know what you’re talking about, won’t know, or will but pretend they don’t because they don’t want to deal with the hassle.

Frankly, we don’t blame them for that. They’re selling you burgers for a buck, you can’t demand too much.

Now McDonald’s is making the concept of ordering menu hacks easier. Sort of. Beginning today and running for an unspecified “limited time,” McDonald’s is allowing customers to order four well-known menu hacks by name. The four menu hacks include the Crunchy Double, the Surf + Turf, the Hash Brown McMuffin, and the legendary Land, Air & Sea burger. On a slightly more disappointing note, customers will still have to build them all themselves, which is unfortunate and kind of defeats the purpose of being able to order the menu hacks by name.

It’s also a bit wasteful. Once you start disassembling fast food and putting it back together, it looks incredibly unappetizing. Also what the hell are we supposed to do with all of these extra buns!?

We tasted the entire McDonald’s Hacked Menu so that you don’t have to. At the end of the day, only one of these is worth ordering, and we’re going to let you know what it is, but first, let’s start with the worst of the line-up. The dreaded Land, Air, & Sea Burger.

Land, Air, & Sea Burger

This thing actually makes me sad. It is the sort of dish you only eat as a dare or if you lost a bet. To say it’s horrible is putting it lightly. This monstrosity consists of a Big Mac with a chicken sandwich and filet-o-fish shoved into it one stomach-turning creation. It’s like the trashy Turducken of the fast food space and it is, without a doubt, the worst thing I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. Not only is biting this thing impossible (it takes all sorts of maneuvering if you want to experience beef, chicken, and fish in a single bite) but it’s a total clash of flavors. It begins fishy and flakey before melding into a hard-to-chew dry mess that tastes like what I imagine the Cup Noodle Shrimp-flavor styrofoam cup tastes like.

You read that right, the cup not the soup. This is trash.

Altogether this sandwich has three different sauces: tartar sauce, Big Mac sauce, and mayo, and when they combine they taste straight-up foul. The mouthfeel is also something I wouldn’t wish on my greatest enemy. It’s nervy, chewy, greasy, and full of varying textures that all break down at different stages in your mouth. Again, genuinely reminiscent of garbage.

BOTTOM LINE:

Do yourself a favor and don’t ever eat this. McDonald’s makes the Land, Air & Sea Burger exclusive to the app and that’s where it should stay. If you pay for this thing, you’ll be mad at yourself. Also, chickens don’t fly.

Surf + Turf

The Surf + Turf makes a bit more sense than the horrible Land, Air, & Sea. It’s essentially the same thing but a bit simplified and better for it. In lieu of a Big Mac, this build requires a double cheeseburger, which is topped with cheese, pickles, ketchup, onion, and mustard, as well as a Filet-O-Fish sandwich. McDonald’s wants you keep the bottom bun of the cheeseburger and simply remove the top bun of the Filet-O-Fish to merge them together. I think that makes the sandwich a bit too heavy and overly bready, so I say ditch the middle bun idea and just throw that tartar sauce drenched fish filet under the meat patties of the double cheeseburger.

But also… don’t do that. Better idea: don’t even eat this! Seriously, it’s not good. It technically works, but I’m not sure who has ever asked to mix a fish filet sandwich with a burger in the first place. The tartar sauce is a bit of a distraction here, it introduces a slightly sour flavor to the burger which makes it taste like it’s going bad.

BOTTOM LINE:

If you blind taste tested this sandwich, you’d think someone was trying to feed you something expired. Another miss from McDonald’s and an embarrassment to menu hacks as a concept.

Crunchy Double

I’m surprised to say that I think the Crunchy Double is actually pretty good. This is one of the simplest builds, it requires a double cheeseburger and a 6 piece order of McNuggets and a side of BBQ sauce. As you’re putting it together It’ll seem like too many nuggets, but you can actually double-layer the nuggets giving you two layers of beef and two layers of crispy chicken. Together, the nuggets add crunch and a bit more salt to the burger and the barbecue sauce works to bind the flavors together, helping them to taste like a cohesive whole rather than two distinctively different flavors and textures.

BOTTOM LINE:

It would be a lot easier to build the Crunchy Double with one of McDonald’s McChicken filets instead of six individual nuggets, but then it wouldn’t taste nearly as good. The nuggets are airy and light whereas the filet is thick and dry.

Does that mean the Land, Air & Sea burger would taste better with nuggets? Probably. But we’re not willing to find out.

Hashbrown McMuffin

The Hash Brown McMuffin might be the least imaginative of the four menu hacks, but it’s by far the best. It combines the wonderful Sausage and Egg McMuffin with what is probably McDonald’s greatest contribution to the fast food space, the hash brown. Together, they create a crunchy, hearty, breakfast flavor bomb.

This tastes pretty much exactly as you’d imagine — the hash brown adds crunch and a salty, almost buttery flavor to the sandwich. It’s a bit greasier than I’d like, but you have to appreciate the convenience of having your entire breakfast meal in a single bite. The only thing that could make this thing better is adding bacon… so definitely do that!

If I had one complaint, aside from the lack of imagination, it would be that the hash brown isn’t a perfect fit for the English Muffin bun, leaving you with extra potato seeping out of both sides. This could be easily remedied by cutting the hash brown in half and stacking it, but then that leaves you with too big of a bite with too much focus on the potato flavor. It’s not perfect, but then… what menu hack is?

THE BOTTOM LINE:

If you had to order just one of these hacks, I’d go for the Hash Brown McMuffin.

FINAL WORD:

We won’t lie to you, none of these taste very essential. And, ultimately, the whole hassle of having to build them yourself kind of makes the whole thing more work than it’s worth. It’s fun as a novelty, but if you want to make one of these a regular routine order it asks a lot of you, so keep that in mind.

Generally speaking, we love the concept of McDonald’s making menu hacks more accessible. They’re just doing it all wrong. The wastefulness of most of these hacks (extra buns and extra trash) coupled with the hassle and the disappointing end product just isn’t worth your time or money. If McDonald’s were smart, they’d make their entire menu customizable, like Taco Bell has.

Taco Bell is a true menu hacker’s paradise. Having said that, the Hash Brown McMuffin is the best wake-and-bake stoner food of all time.

After a promising 10-3 start, the Washington Wizards have struggled during a lengthy 13-24 stretch that’s brought them to 23-27 and a game back of a play-in berth. Amid all that, star guard Bradley Beal has grown less firm in his commitment to the franchise, according to a report from The Athletic’s David Aldridge and Joshua Robbins.

Beal is in the first year of a two-year, $70 million extension, though that second year is a player option, so he could decline it and become a free agent this summer.

Although there are “no indications the Wizards are seriously considering trading Beal” and his preference is to remain in Washington, “for the first time in a long time … he’s not rejecting out of hand the notion of a trade elsewhere.”

The primary source of Beal’s potential discontent is uncertainty “about whether the Wizards can surround him with difference-making talent that will make them a regular playoff contender,” Aldridge and Robbins wrote. Perhaps that worry is why the team is reportedly targeting All-Star big man Domantas Sabonis ahead of next week’s trade deadline.

In a recent interview with NBC Sports Washington’s Chris Miller, Beal said another play-in tournament would be “a step back in a lot of ways.” Washington is currently the 11 seed, six games back of clearing the play-in altogether and securing a top-six seed.

“The team’s nosedive since its hot start has frustrated Beal, leaving him less sanguine about just taking the big bag next summer and staying in Washington,” Aldridge and Robbins reported. “His preference is to remain with the Wizards. Neither Beal nor his representatives, though, have officially asked for him to be moved with a week left before the deadline.”

Aldridge and Robbins also reported that Wizards governor Ted Leonsis is staunchly against a full rebuild, “which would begin by dealing Beal.” If Beal becomes a free agent, he’s eligible to sign a supermax deal with Washington worth $241 million across five seasons.

One of the biggest ways that amateur sports have changed over the last year or two has been the NCAA’s recent changes in name, image, and likeness rulings. While colleges still cannot explicitly pay athletes for the revenue they generate, athletes are now able to use the fame that they have achieved at such a young age to make some extra cash. This has trickled down to the high school ranks, where some athletes are able to build gigantic followings on social media and parlay that into getting paid handsomely once they get to college.

An example: Bronny James has been famous for quite some time despite 17 and a high school junior. With more than 6 million Instagram followers and a role with gaming giant FaZe Clan, LeBron James‘ eldest son is already a pretty big deal.

As such, James has, according to Sam Dunn of Boardroom, filed trademark applications in January as he prepares to enter the home stretch of his recruitment.

As noted by attorney Josh Gerben of Gerben Intellectual Property, James filed trademarks for “BJ JR,” “BRONNY,” and “BRONALD” with an eye toward entering the worlds of NFTs, video games, and apparel.

James — or, more likely, folks around him — is getting all of his ducks in a row as he’s getting closer and closer to a place where he can capitalize on his celebrity. As for his recruitment, 247Sports has James as its No. 34 recruit and the No. 6 combo guard in its 2023 composite rating, with Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, and North Carolina registering interest.

Would you believe that one of the trailblazing jazz musicians who have been leading the charge in getting hip-hop and indie listeners reconnected with jazz music in recent years, Kamasi Washington, has somehow never performed on a late-night TV show? At a time when seemingly every artist who’s gotten a fair Pitchfork review or been blogged about by East Coast music media gets tabbed to play for Fallon or Colbert or whatever, it’s a head-scratcher that Washington hasn’t gotten the call yet.

Not only does he have a decorated discography of some of the most accessible modern jazz albums since 2015, but he’s also been a go-to sax man appearing on albums by Kendrick Lamar, Thundercat, Flying Lotus, and St. Vincent. He also even scored Michelle Obama’s documentary, no small task.

The above rant comes with a big exhale tonight, though, when Washington will perform his brand new single, “The Garden Path” on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. In typical Kamasi Washington fashion, “The Garden Path” showcases his dexterousness as not only a star on the saxophone but as a composer and bandleader who empowers the talent around him. Breakneck drum beats, with big basslines and dizzying keys to boot, lay the groundwork for a collective explosion of sounds.

Washington only allows himself to shine once he’s given his players room to set the tone; he’s a selfless prodigy. He explained in a statement that the song’s furious rhythm is a function of our collective mind state: “The world feels turned upside down. There’s so much push and pull in every direction, from everyone you meet—no one knows what to think, who to believe, or how to approach life right now. No matter how smart you are, it’s hard not to feel blind.”

Listen to “The Garden Path” above and check out Kamasi Washington’s performance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon tonight on NBC at 11:35 pm local time.

It’s been a few months since Illuminati Hotties‘ Sarah Tudzin dropped the absurdist and playful album Let Me Do One More. Now that she’s gearing up to hit the road for a lengthy tour, Tudzin offered fans a preview of her live show with the new single “Sandwich Sharer.”

Throughout the track, Tudzin sings of searching for someone to match her chaotic energy. True to the subject matter, the song teeters between slow and sparse and quick-tempoed and bombastic. Tudzin’s playful lyrical delivery is contrasted by a low, grumbling electric guitar and consistently crashing cymbals. Eventually, the song ends the way it started, with scarce instrumentals which leave room for Tudzin to conclude with wistful verses.

As Tudzin said herself, “Sandwich Sharer” was written while she was looking for someone special in her life:

“‘Sandwich Sharer’ was very much written at the precipice of unknowns – I was seeking a teammate at a time where I felt swayed by nostalgia for youth as opposed to the reality of the momentum of life. And it feels so good to be close to someone who knows you so well it’s like you finish each others’… sandwiches.”

Listen to “Sandwich Sharer” above and check out Illuminati Hotties’ expanded 2022 North American and European tour dates below.

02/08 — Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s %
02/09 — Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room %
02/10 — Palo Alto, CA @ Stanford
02/11 — San Francisco @ The Chapel *&
02/12 — Los Angeles, CA @ Highland Park Ebell *&
02/13 — Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon *&
02/14 — Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole *&
02/16 — Austin, TX @ Antone’s *&
02/17 — Fort Worth, TX @ Tulips *&
02/18 — Fayetteville, AR @ George’s Majestic Lounge *&
02/19 — Nashville, TN @ The Blue Room at Third Man Records *&
02/20 — Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade @ Purgatory *&
02/21 — Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall *&
02/22 — Washington, DC @ Black Cat *&
02/24 — New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom *&
02/25 — Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair ^&
02/26 — Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church ^&
02/27 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit ^&
02/28 — Columbus, OH @ A&R Music Bar ^&
03/02 — Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern ^&
03/03 — Ferndale, MI @ The Loving Touch ^&
03/04 — Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hal l^&
03/05 — Milwaukee, WI @ The Back Room at Colectivo ^&
03/06 — Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry ^&
03/10 — Vancouver, BC @ The Biltmore Cabaret ^&
03/11 — Seattle, WA @ Neumos ^&
03/12 — Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios ^&
04/25 — Berlin, DE @ Badehaus Szimplae
04/26 — Copenhagen, DK @ Ideal Bar (Vega)
04/27 — Stockholm, SE @ Kristallen
04/28 — Oslo, NO @ Krøsset
04/30 — Hamburg, DE @ HÄKKEN
05/01 — Oberhausen, DE @ Glub Gdanska
05/02 — Luxembourg City, LU @ Rotondes
05/04 — London, UK @ Moth Club
05/05 — Manchester, UK @ YES (Basement)
05/06 — Leeds, UK @ Headrow House
05/07 — Glasgow, UK @ The Hug and Pint
05/09 — Birmingham, UK @ Hare & Hounds
05/10 — Southampton, UK @ The Joiners
05/11 — Oxford, UK @ The Jericho Tavern
05/12 — Brighton, UK @ The Great Escape
05/13 — Brighton, UK @ The Great Escape
05/14 — Cardiff, UK @ Clwb Ifor Bach
05/15 — Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade Bristol
05/16 — London, UK @ Moth Club
05/18 — Paris, FR @ Supersonic
05/19 — Brussels, BE @ Botanique (Witloofbar)
05/20 — Rotterdam, NL @ V11
05/21 — Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso

* w/ Katy Kirby
^ w/ Pom Pom Squad
& w/ Fenne Lily
% w/ Mini Trees

Let Me Do One More is out now via Snack Shack Tracks/Hopeless Records. Get it here.