Month: June 2022

Craft bourbon can often be a murky area in the whiskey industry. Opening a distillery from scratch and then waiting for two, four, maybe even five years to put a bottle on the shelf is not cheap. So a lot of small-time operators will source barrels and blend in-house or have a big distillery contract distill their juice and maybe age it too. We’re not here to talk about those — still worthy — producers today. The list below is all about the small-time operators that are actually doing everything in-house.

For this list, I’m defining a “craft bourbon” as something made outside the main players in the industry that’s also produced at a single craft distillery. That’s not to say that some of the craft distilleries below don’t have partnerships with distributors (Constellation Brands being one). Distribution is a different matter altogether and obviously, these small-time operators need to get their bottles on shelves.

Lastly, I’m providing my tasting notes on each of these to give you an idea of what’s in the bottle. Hopefully, you’ll find something that speaks to you and find yourself a new bottle for your home bar cart.

Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months

• The 50 Best Bourbon Whiskeys Of 2021, Ranked
• Every Winning Bourbon From Our 2021 Taste Tests, Blind Tasted And Re-Ranked
• The 100 Best Whiskeys Our Head Drinks Writer Tasted In 2021
• We Blind Tasted A Whole Bunch Of $30-60 Bourbons To See If Any Could Beat Weller
• The Best Ten-Year-Old Bourbon Whiskeys, Tasted Blind And Ranked

10. Town Branch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $35

The Whiskey:

Town Branch is Lexington’s destination distillery/brewery right in the city. Their flagship bourbon is a high-malt mash bill, adding more smooth sweetness to the mix. The whiskey ages for four to five years before it’s blended and proofed with water from the “town branch” of Elkhorn Creek, which runs through Lexington.

Tasting Notes:

This is as soft as it is classic on the nose with hints of rich caramel mingling with dark cherry, soft nutmeg, and a hint of leathery oak. The palate follows that path while layering in a twinge of orange blossom next to cherry leather with cinnamon and clove hints and a twinge of pipe tobacco in a wooden box. The finish is subtle and short and marries the cedar with the orange blossom with the cherry lingering the longest on the backend.

Bottom Line:

This is a pretty nice and classic pour. It’s a little muted for my palate but still works wonderfully in a classic bourbon-focused cocktail.

9. Watershed Bourbon Finished in Nocino Barrels

ABV: 56%

Average Price: $99

The Whiskey:

This Columbus, Ohio distillery likes doing things their own way. The juice in this bottle is made from a mash of 60 percent corn, a 35 percent mix of wheat and rye, and five percent spelt chips. That whiskey mellows for four to five years before it’s re-filled into Nocino barrels. Nocino is an Italian black walnut liqueur, which adds a serious nuttiness to the final product.

Tasting Notes:

Walnut pound cake comes through on the nose with orange oils layered next to a hint of espresso macchiato, a dash of nutmeg, and a drizzle of salted caramel. The palate part dark chocolate-covered walnuts and part dried cranberry with a hint of clove, allspice, and cinnamon warming the senses. Maple syrup drives the mid-palate toward a finish that’s full of walnut shells and cedar boxes full of orange tobacco.

Bottom Line:

This is delicious and bold. It’s a little warm in the middle, but a single rock will calm that down nicely.

8. Leopold Bros. Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $60

The Whiskey:

This crafty expression has been garnering a lot of attention since it dropped. The mash is made from 64 percent corn, 21 percent malted barley, and 15 percent Abruzzi Heritage Rye that Todd Leopold — the Master Distiller — grew for his malting house at the distillery in Denver. That mash ran through a classic pot still before it was barreled and left to rest for five years.

Tasting Notes:

The floral and spicy nature of that Abruzzi rye really comes out on the nose with a touch of candied apples, Quick powder, and the faintest hint of sourdough rye with a light smear of salted butter. The taste leans into stewed pears with nutmeg and clove spices leading the way as Almond Roca and green peppercorns jostle for space on your palate. The end mellows out as that spice fades towards an eggnog vibe with a creamy vanilla underbelly and a final touch of that floral rye and hint of pear.

Bottom Line:

This is a great example of spice and grains that build from the nose to the palate and take you on the journey. That mild floral edge also helps this stand out as a good cocktail bourbon.

7. LAWS Four Grain Bourbon

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $78

The Whiskey:

A.D. Laws out in Colorado is a special shingle. The distillery is renowned for its award-winning four-grain bourbons. This bottle is the most accessible of the bunch. The juice is made from 60 percent corn, 20 percent heirloom wheat, ten percent heirloom rye, and ten percent heirloom malted barley. That hot juice is then aged for over six years before it’s batched and cut down to 100 proof per bonded whiskey laws.

Tasting Notes:

This feels more crafty on the nose, with a balance between bitter black tea that’s been cut with a summer-y and floral honey as touches of cinnamon and orange pop in the background. The orange and spice thickens and leans into an orange pound cake with a buttery and spicy streusel crumble as that black tea bitterness circles back to cut through all that butter, spice, and orange. The end leans into the spice with more of a cinnamon candy vibe that drives towards a final dusting of dark cocoa.

Bottom Line:

This has a nice complexity to it that helps it shine as a sipper or a cocktail base. It still does feel more crafty than classic, which is fine but drops it a little on this list.

6. Chattanooga Bottled-In-Bond Vintage Series, Spring 2017

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $55

The Whiskey:

This particular whiskey was made back in spring 2017 and released in late 2021. The whiskey is a blend of four mash bills that all feature specialty malts ranging from honey malts to peated barley to naked oats to chocolate roasted barley to caramel malts and many more. The throughline is yellow corn, bonded warehouse aging, and proofing down to 50 percent ABV.

Tasting Notes:

You get all those grains on the nose with rich toffee, dark chocolate-covered sweet and tart berries, malted vanilla milkshake, and a hint of yellow masa. The palate sweetens like honey dripping on a buttery southern biscuit while hints of soft leather mingle with cherry tobacco and this very distant whisper of hickory smoker smoke. The sweetness of that woody smoke dissipates quickly as hints of dry cedar mix with cherry tobacco leaves and a mix of vanilla pods and allspice berries bring a mild warmth.

Bottom Line:

There’s a lot going on here and it all makes sense. That’s a tough trick to pull off. Overall, this is great on the rocks sipper. Still, it’s a little wild and unique compared to the next five which are just that little bit more dialed.

5. Nelson Bros. Whiskey Reserve Bourbon

ABV: 46.65%

Average Price: $69

The Whiskey:

This new release from Nelson’s Green Brier is a big evolution for the brand. This high-rye bourbon is aged for four years before it’s masterfully blended into his expression. It’s then bottled without any fussing or meddling.

Tasting Notes:

A vanilla wafer with soft nougat greets you on the nose with a hint of burnt orange zest, Christmas cake, candied cherry, and a little bit of apple pie filling. The taste has a moment of grilled pineapple that leads to brandy-soaked dark chocolate-covered cherries with a supporting act of zucchini bread, pecan pie, and a whisper of lemon meringue pie — it’s kind of like being in an old-school diner. A mild dusting of white pepper ushers in the finish with a smooth green tea cut with menthol tobacco.

Bottom Line:

This was made to be your next go-to bourbon, full stop. It’s a killer cocktail base that you can pour over some rocks and sip. It wouldn’t challenge you but you’ll have something truly classic in your hand.

4. Woodinville PX Cask Finish Bourbon

ABV: 47.5%

Average Price: $70

The Whiskey:

This whiskey takes Woodinville’s signature (and much-lauded) five-year-old straight bourbon and gives it a new finishing touch. The juice is finished in Pedro Ximenez sherry casks. While there are similarities between this and the much-loved Woodinville Port Cask Finish, this feels like a step up in many small, tough-to-define ways.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is a bouquet of dark spices next to dried orange rinds, soft Christmas cake, and a slight floral underpinning that’s more “damp” than “dried out.” The taste embraces the holiday spice matrix with a creamy veneer of dark chocolate oranges, eggnog spice, and a velvety mouthfeel with a hint of orchard fruit and toffee drizzle. The finish is long but doesn’t overstay its welcome. There’s a sense of the woody spices that’s more akin to cinnamon sticks once stirred in hot apple cider, leaving you with a dry note of spicy tobacco.

Bottom Line:

Speaking of classic, this whiskey is a damn masterpiece and yet it’s fourth on this list! All of that aside, pour this neat or over a rock and dive in.

3. Peerless Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

ABV: 54.65%

Average Price: $86

The Whiskey:

Kentucky Peerless Distilling takes its time for a true grain-to-glass experience. Their Single Barrel Bourbon is crafted with a fairly low-rye mash bill and fermented with a sweet mash as opposed to a sour mash (that means they use 100 percent new grains, water, and yeast with each new batch instead of holding some of the mash over to start the next one like a sourdough starter, hence the name). The barrels are then hand-selected for their taste and bottled completely un-messed with.

Tasting Notes:

This is bold yet delicate, with a nose full of berry brambles hanging heavy with dark fruits with a touch of tart next to old leather, a spicy plum pudding, and a touch of old cedar. The palate takes that cedar and leans into the wet bark, as a moment of espresso bean bitterness leads into a mid-palate that’s the softest and moistest vanilla cake with poppy seeds. Those berries tumble onto the cake, now dusted with powdered sugar and ground cinnamon, as the finish slowly melts into pure silk.

Bottom Line:

This pulls off a magic trick of feeling both fresh and nostalgic at the same time. It helps that this is delicious but that feeling of sweet smoothness and comfort cannot be denied. And not for nothing, but this makes a killer old fashioned.

2. Garrison Brothers Balmorhea

ABV: 57.5%

Average Price: $200

The Whiskey:

This much-lauded Texas bourbon is the highwater mark of what great whiskey from Texas can be. The juice is aged in Ozark oak for four years and then finished in oak from Minnesota for another year, all under that blazing West Texas sunshine. The bourbon is then small-batched, proofed with Texas spring water, and bottled at a healthy 115 proof.

Tasting Notes:

You’re greeted with a real sense of a corn-syrup-laced pecan pie next to hazelnut bespeckled cinnamon rolls and creamy milk chocolate with a hint of vanilla tobacco lurking in the background. That chocolate drives the taste towards a mint-chocolate ice cream vibe (heavy on the chocolate part) with small dashes of holiday spices, hard toffee candies, worn leather, and a flourish of cedar boxes full of more dried tobacco leaves. The end circles back around to all that sweet and chocolatey creaminess with a final slice of perfect pecan pie on a slow fade.

Bottom Line:

This is the highwater mark for the Texas craft distillery. It’s just so goddamn good that it’s hard not to fall in love with it at first sip.

1. Starlight Double Oaked Carl T. Bourbon Whiskey

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $60 (Distillery only)

The Whiskey:

This whiskey from Southern Indiana’s Huber Winery is a masterful blend. The whiskey is one part 60 percent corn, 20 percent rye, and 20 percent malted barley and one part 51 percent corn, 20 percent rye, 20 percent malted barley, and nine percent wheat. That whiskey is then aged for four years before it’s re-filled in unused Seguin Moreau vanilla toast barrels for a final rest.

Tasting Notes:

Vanilla-laced apple fritters with a white sugar glaze mix with baking spices and a slight hint of dry firewood on the nose. That palate leans in the vanilla with a sheet cake vibe with apple-cinnamon frosting next to sticky toffee pudding, apple tobacco, and a hint of vanilla cream sauce. The finish subtle moves away from the sweetness toward a dry stack of firewood with a hint of dry black dirt next to dry apple tobacco laced with cinnamon.

Bottom Line:

This is subtle, delicious, and as crafty as it gets. These Starlight releases are also starting to break through with those in the know. So look out for these. — they’re going to blow up soon.

Bingewatching may have saved some collective sanity during the pandemic, when streaming services reigned supreme without question. These days, though, several services including Netflix have realized that they kind-of signed up for churn by tossing entire seasons of shows out for the taking. The practice, while allowing for instant gratification, makes it easy for people to push pause on any given subscription and wait for the next season of Stranger Things or The Witcher or whatever. Obv, this could be contributing to some of Netflix’s current subscriber woes. Meanwhile, other services (and shows) decided to pull back on giving it all away at once. Those early efforts to coax audiences into cooperating, however, haven’t always gone smoothly.

Yep, I’m talking about Amazon’s The Boys, which triumphantly skewers superheroes and entertains an enthused following. However, a certain contingent of that following began to review bomb the show’s second season out of sheer fury that they couldn’t receive eight episodes at once. It was an incredibly silly response, and Amazon stuck to their plan for the rest of the season, when Homelander stood atop a skyscraper for a narcissism-fueled, raunchy solo performance, one that I don’t think would have landed (figuratively, not literally on the ground) in the same way at the end of a bingewatch.

And anticipation is key! Not only that, but The Boys provides a very, how do you say, sensory-overloading experience. It’s gnarly in the best way but a lot to absorb. Look at my very sophisticated stream of reactions during a Season 3 midseason episode:

– The Deep… oh my god
– And Homelander, no, what a f*cking sadist
– Eeeek, don’t do that to The Deep
– I can’t keep watching this
– Holy sh*t
– You should stop watching this
– Breathe, lady, breathe
– Why did I eat dinner before this episode?
– Ew, Homelander
– EW EW EW, no no no noooo
– [Stares into space for a few minutes]
– God, I love this show

During times like these, we are all Hughie sitting inside of The Whale.

Why would one want to experience that kind of a rollercoaster, repeatedly, in one or two sittings? I mean, the endorphins are fantastic in the end, but it’s something that would best be appreciated (and/or endured) while savoring these Supes on a weekly basis. Don’t get me wrong here. I’m in awe of the creative and smart ways that the show manages to both thrill and gross out its audience without wearing out its welcome, and I appreciate the opportunity to watch the entire season, but the way that the cliffhangers and developments happen, this would actually be a more rewarding experience to space things out. Also, my brain feels a little bit tweaked to squish it all in there at once, even if I’m impressed as hell that this show keeps doing its thing like no other.

To evaluate on a more proper level here: Humor is hard. Satire is even harder. The Boys not only manages to be outrageous and funny and satiric, but it does so on a deceptively deep level. We get to crawl around in Homelander’s head, and he’s clearly in a not-alright state (after watching his own son burn Stormfront to a crisp before Queen Maeve wished him a very lonely life). And we see what it’s really like for Vought International to be challenged for its very existence, more than during any other arc. Homelander, who’s their top asset, must be dealt with. He’s a danger to absolutely everyone, and he’s reached a point where no level of PR wizardry can contain his crazy.

The action simmers for a few episodes before we even meet Captain America parody Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles), a living time capsule who shows up and tears everyone’s little world apart. He’s a real hoot to behold and equal parts banal and fascinating. And we get to watch all of the other Supes, and The Boys, revolve around the pair and take sides and take turns screwing around with Compound V while the show manages to consistently outdo that 2nd season Whale scene. Yes, the Whale scene, the same one that the show marvelously used to submit for a damn Emmy. No one can forget it, and it’s the litmus test that everything in this franchise will be measured against, forever.

This is not a matter of gore. It’s easy to toss in more blood (and other bodily fluids) and brag about it. It’s also easy to make characters get naked and do provocative, shocking things. Yet it’s important (yes, I’m serious) to remember that this show’s disguising a lot of profundity in these outrageous moments. The Deep doesn’t simply show off his tan lines, and Homelander’s not only jerking off, and Soldier Boy’s not saying unfathomable things for the sake of shocking an audience. The layers of this rotten onion unfurl themselves, and even after all the shock wears off, one can appreciate this show for being, on a higher level, cultural critique even outside of the superhero realm.

What I’m saying is this: Showrunner Eric Kripke and the writers do an enviable job outdoing The Whale multiple times while delivering substance. And I completely understand why Chace Crawford worried that he’d never work again after what The Deep does (and what’s done to him) this season. And goodness, the Ladies crush it, even more than last season, with the action scenes and how they maneuver throughout these spaces meant for white dudes. Dominique McElligott hasn’t truly ever gotten her due for portraying Queen Maeve, outside of her portrayal of the character’s sexuality, but she gets a juicier arc this season that really brings the character home.

And speaking of the Ladies of The Boys, let’s take it back to how, last season, the weekly format also allowed for the show’s actors to (as Karen Fukuhara told us) to “selfishly” engage following episodes. The show became more of a weekly conversation piece, and as Erin Moriarty pointed out, the frustration factor actually illustrated why this is such an addictive show. Pacing ain’t a bad thing, and with The Boys, we’re receiving a blueprint of how patience is a twisted virtue worth celebrating.

Amazon’s ‘The Boys’ are back (that’s obligatory phrasing) on June 3.

Tony Parker knows a thing or two about what it’s like to play in the NBA Finals. One of the greatest European players in the history of the league, Parker and the San Antonio Spurs made it to basketball’s biggest stage five times. On four of those occasions, he was able to play a major role in the Larry O’Brien trophy making its way to San Antonio.

This year, the Boston Celtics and the Golden State Warriors will go head-to-head in the Finals, and Parker has a unique tie to the men in charge of teams. Both Steve Kerr and Ime Udoka spent time with the Spurs as one of his teammates, while Udoka joined Gregg Popovich’s staff as an assistant following the conclusion of his playing career. He’s been happy to sit back and watch as they’ve managed to navigate their respective conferences and face off in the Finals, which begin on Thursday night in San Francisco. And if Parker’s prediction of what’s going to happen comes to fruition, the series will end there, too, as the teams will need seven games to determine who is going to earn the distinction of being champions.

Prior to things tipping off a little later this evening, Dime sat down with Parker to discuss his partnership with Mountain Dew, the Finals, and much more.

What do you have going on with Mountain Dew?

We decided to become partners for the for the Finals, with Mountain Dew Legend. They’ve been working with the league a lot, making sure our fans have a great experience. They love our game, they love our fans, and that’s something that I can relate to. And when they asked about the Finals and what I thought, you know, I think it’s gonna go to Game 7, I think we have two great teams. And so they have something special: If it goes to Game 7, you will have a free Mountain Dew Legend at every Buffalo Wild Wings. And so I was like, that’s a cool concept, so I’m going to push for that, for it to go to a Game 7, and that’s why we decided to partner together.

I counted it up and I believe you played in six Game 7s. Can you describe the feeling of a Game 7 — is the vibe different, is your approach different, are things in the locker room and on the floor different?

Game 7 is the best is the best game. It’s the best, it feels like a Super Bowl. It’s the best feeling because everything is just one game, win or go home, and there’s no excuses. By that time, you know the team perfectly, you’ve play them six times. And so Game 7, there’s no excuses, you gave everything you got. I love the atmosphere of a Game 7.

I want to ask about the teams in the Finals. What are your general thoughts, what do you like, what do you like about the matchup, whatever goes through your mind.

I love everything. They have two great defenses, great firepower on the offensive end, a lot of guys can create and score. I think it’s going to be a very, very interesting Finals, because the story of Golden State, obviously, is unbelievable — six Finals in eight years, and the way that whatever happened in 2019, to come back after two seasons with no playoffs, I just think the story is great. And then obviously, with Ime, I played with Ime, he was my assistant coach when we won in 2014, I’m just so happy for him. His first year, it’s unbelievable what he accomplished with the Celtics, and it’s always nice to see the Celtics in the Finals. If you know NBA history, it’s pretty cool. So, it’s gonna be a great Finals. I love everything about it, I love all the stories, and I think it’s gonna be a tough Finals.

Are there any matchups between a player on Golden State and a player on Boston that you’re particularly looking forward to?

No, I think that the teams … obvious the story with Klay is unbelievable, Steph too, Jayson Tatum becoming a superstar. But I think it’s more like the teams, who’s going to make the difference. And it’s going to come down to who’s going to make the big shots and make the big plays in the fourth quarter, I think it’s gonna be a tough series.

I want to ask about winning an NBA Finals MVP, just because everyone’s talking about it with Steph right now and you have one from 2007. What does it feel like to win that, specifically to get recognized for being at your best with a title on the line?

It’s an unbelievable, unbelievable feeling. It’s one of the best awards you can get in our league, especially at the time, I was the first European to to achieve that. It was kind of weird, because out franchise player was Tim Duncan, and he won the first two times we were in the Finals. And so for me, it was like, that trophy goes to Timmy, it’s just normal, me and Manu were like the soldiers. [laughs]

But in those Finals, I had a great matchup and my teammates, they were feeding me the ball and I just kept going, just kept going, shot the ball very well in that series, I think 58 percent, something like that. So, they just kept passing me the ball, and I was just on fire that series.

You’re unique guy to talk to because you played with both Steve Kerr and like you mentioned, Ime Udoka. When you were teaming up with them, was it obvious to you back then that they were two guys who would go on to be successful coaches?

Steve for sure. Ime, I was kind of surprised, but Steve for sure. He has a great basketball mind and when I played with him with the Spurs, he was already giving great advice and always teaching the game, all his experience that he got from his Bulls days. So for me, it was great to have a teammate like that. And then Ime, he was obviously, too, a great teammate, but it was kind of surprising. But then, he stayed seven years with us, learned from the best, and just had an unbelievable first season.

You mentioned the best in Pop, and while acknowledging that you’re not in the locker room or practice or those sorts of things, are there ways you see Pop’s influence on them in their approach, how their teams play, how they communicate, those sorts of things?

Yeah, you see some similarities, that’s for sure. The way they approach the game and the consistency that the demand. But then, they have their own thing, too, because when you’re a coach, you have to adapt to the players you have — Steph Curry is one of a kind. So you’re not going to coach Steph the same way you’re going to coach Timmy, and Boston, same thing, the way they’re built. So, you see similarities, but at the same time, they have their own identity.

I would argue the Warriors are the closest thing we’ve seen to you guys in terms of there’s a core of players, there’s a coach, and it’s led to a sustained championship level of success. It’s so rare to see that — is there any sort of secret to making that work for as long as they have, and as long as you guys did?

It’s very hard, it’s very hard, because first of all, you need to ownership to believe in the core, and to go through the ups and downs, because we won three championships in five years and then nothing for seven years. In 2011, we had the best record in the league and we lose in the first round. They still didn’t break up the team. In 2012, we go to conference finals, we lose, 2013, we go to the Finals, we lose. Ownership just believed in us.

So to have that unbelievable run that we had for 20 years starts with ownership, starts with dedication with the coach and dedication with the core, with a big three. It takes a lot for that to happen. And you can see similarities with Golden State — Steve Kerr has been there forever. When Klay was hurt, they didn’t make the playoffs for two years. They still stuck with with their core, and now they’re rewarded this year.

And so, that’s why I think I’m going with Golden State in seven, because first of all, I think the story is unbelievable, and I think experience is gonna play a big factor in these Finals.

Ted Cruz continues with his dubious tradition of refusing to read the room. His most famous instance of this (at least in the context of letting down his state) was to flee to sunny Cancun during a devastating ice storm. He’s working hard to live up to that reputation (of shafting his constituents) by not pledging to do much about the Uvalde mass school shooting other than to crusade against doors, which he feels are much more to blame than (no) gun laws for how a gunman took the lives of 19 children at Robb Elementary School.

On Wednesday, Ted (who, for the record, hasn’t accepted nearly as many NRA donations as Mitt Romney, although those gun-lobby donations do exist) decided to ignore the Ulvade funerals that had started to flow (along with news of another mass shooting, this time in Tulsa at a hospital campus). As mourners gathered for slain teacher Irma Garcia (and her husband, Joe, who apparently died of a broken heart two days later), the much maligned senator from Texas decided to tweet about having “ridiculous fun” at a Poker After Dark charity event. He even posted clips:

And although his replies were stacked with people asking what on earth he was thinking, he kept tweeting more clips of the “awesome” poker game.

Ted then (weakly) pointed out that this poker game was months ago, alright? Still, he maybe could have waited to share those clips at a better time for fun.

Journalist Aaron Rupar’s reaction tweet says it all, and so do the rest of these social media users.

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

A number of digital flyers cover Angel Olsen‘s Instagram page. They advertise her sixth studio album Big Time with witty quips. One-liners like, “Some of the saddest songs you’ve ever heard… and a few happy ones,” and “Out with the bangs, in with the twangs” get ahead of jokes about Big Time before they’re conceived. They point to some attributes the folk singer is known for, nodding to her recognizable bangs (which tend to look a little different with each album rollout) and her music’s propensity to be pigeonholed in the “sad girl” genre. But one flyer sums up Big Time effectively: “It’s not country, but it’s not not country.”

Historically, sorrow has found a home in country music. Some of the most revered country and bluegrass artists of the 20th century have been posthumously named “poets of pain.” In a time before online therapy existed, country music acted as a medium for artists to make sense of their despair, melancholy, and — using a classic country buzzword — lonesome. At the time of writing Big Time, Olsen was experiencing an overabundance of all three.

Big Time isn’t a country album in the sense that you won’t see Olsen accepting any trophies at the Country Music Awards, and her album won’t be stacked up against controversial names like Morgan Wallen on Billboard‘s Top Country Albums chart. But Big Time is Olsen’s bid to join the alt-country genre, a move that feels like a logical next step following 2020’s stripped down project Whole New Mess. Adopting a dusty slide guitar and slight twang, Olsen pens plaintive ballads formed in the aftermath of emotional whiplash. Olsen didn’t initially set out to write an alt-country record with Big Time. She didn’t even practice with her band before hitting the studio, but the songs pretty much wrote themselves.

Big Time was recorded during a tumultuous period to say the least. Now in her 30s, Olsen was unpacking her past traumas after growing up in a religious community and discovering her identity as a queer woman. Olsen came out to her friends with her new partner Beau Thibodeaux, summing up the feeling: “Finally, at the ripe age of 34, I was free to be me.” But only three days later, she got a call that her father had died. His funeral unexpectedly became the occasion Olsen introduced her partner to her extended family. If that wasn’t difficult enough, Olsen’s mother fell ill and passed away only a few weeks later. Suddenly, a time that was supposed to be filled with new romance and celebration became overrun with immense mourning and grief.

Olsen attempted to make sense of these emotional extremes — grief amid love and tragedy amid self-actualization — throughout Big Time. Unlike the country poets of pain before her who sought solace through spirituality, Olsen found herself escaping into dreamworlds on lulling tracks like “Dream Thing.” The hazy, atmospheric song offers a metaphor for all the things she wasn’t able to say to her parents before their passing. Olsen noted how differently time seemed to move during that period, as if slipping past her. “I kept having these dreams about time travel, and life just felt like time travel — losing my parents, going through the pandemic,” she told The New Yorker about her grieving experience.

The penultimate track on the record, “Through The Fires,” exemplifies Olsen’s ability to write transfixing reflections on time. It’s a down-tempo piano ballad gently colored by a light string section and subdued percussion. Displaying some of her most touching songwriting to date, Olsen pens lines about an emotional trial by fire. “To remember the ghost / Who exists in the past / But be freed from the longing / For one moment to last.” Understanding that her grief and self-discovery have left her a different person entirely, she learns to let go of the dreams she once had in order to transcend her past and ultimately become better for it. “Time expanded in a different way for me,” she told The New Yorker. “I wasn’t the same. […] I really am irreversibly changed. I am a very different person than I was in 2020. I’m always me. But I did lose. And I went forward, alone, with my experience.”

“Through The Fires” also has a line about learning to “love without boundary,” something she still holds space for amid the anguish on Big Time. The album’s title track itself is an affectionate ode to her partner, who is also credited on the song. Lines about “good morning kisses” and rhymes of “mine” with “sunshine” border on corny, but the song is undeniably endearing and basks in the glow of a new romance. “I’m loving you big time, I’m loving you more,” Olsen sings, recycling phrases her parents would say to her and incorporating them into her current relationship.

Pairing Olsen’s mourning with her infatuation with her partner, it’s no wonder Big Time leans into the alt-country genre. Her slight country drawl and twangy steel guitar makes sense within the context of Olsen’s musical trajectory, especially since she now resides on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains. The album walks listeners through her personal torment, something Olsen has never shied away from in the past. But despite doleful ballads and effusive love songs, one thing is strikingly absent from Big Time: Olsen’s incredible vocal range. In past records, Olsen’s voice acts as an instrument itself, bending and contorting between low, enveloping hums and shocking high notes to evoke a range of emotions. With the exception of the cinematic climax on her track “Go Home,” Olsen’s voice hovers in the low end of her vocal range, something she noted in an intimate live show earlier this year.

Perhaps the shift is intentional. Maybe she’s letting the music and lyrics on Big Time speak for themselves. After all, the songs are emotionally charged enough without her voice needing to climb several octaves. It’s possible she’s also saving herself from needing to re-experience her pain during live performances; because of her hyper-personal songwriting, she re-lives her highs and lows every night on stage, something she recently described as “an eternal birthday party.” Either way, Olsen’s initial advertisements about Big Time most definitely ring true. The album is filled with some of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard… and a few happy ones.

Big Time is out 6/3 via Jagjaguwar. Pre-order it here.

Frank Ocean is reportedly in talks with A24 and 2AM about writing and directing his own feature film, according to Discussing Film. The “Nikes” singer has always been open about his interest in filmmaking; he wrote and directed the 46-minute Endless, which streamed alongside his album of the same title in 2016.

It doesn’t stop there. He also interviewed Timothée Chalamet because he enjoyed Call Me By Your Name so much, he covered “Moon River” from the 1961 movie Breakfast At Tiffany’s, and in the Chalamet interview, he expressed interest in recording a film score someday.

Frank has also been reportedly shopping a new record around to labels. It seemed like he was gearing up to head into album mode back in 2019 when he shared both “DHL” and “In My Room,” but it’s likely the pandemic got in the way of any planned releases in early 2020. Though, he did put out another pair of singles in March of 2020, releasing “Dear April” and “Cayendo.”

During a recent Christmas episode of his Apple Music radio show, he also shared another new nine-minute track. Still, the best timeline we have for his new album is pegged to his rumored headlining slot at Coachella 2023. So it makes the most sense that even if we get a few new singles this year and in early 2023, the project would drop close to his appearance at the biggest festival in the world.

Following the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, several Republicans pulled out of appearing at the NRA convention that was scheduled just a few days after the tragic event. However, others like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz did not bail on the convention because it might “look bad” after 19 elementary school children were killed by a gunman.

However, now Cruz is calling out his fellow Republicans for not being a true profile in courage like him. During the recent episode of his podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz, the Texas senator voiced his disappointment with members of the GOP who thought it’d probably be a good idea to sit this one out. Via Mediaite:

“I thought it was important to be there,” Cruz said. “I was disappointed to see so many others make the decision not to be there. In part because the media narrative that comes out of horrific crimes, horrific mass murders within seconds, the media immediately wants to politicize them and use them to advance their longstanding political agenda that they had moments before the murder occurred.”

Cruz took things further by pointing out that Trump also wasn’t thrilled that Republicans didn’t show up. Only Trump wasn’t as polite, and if you’re getting “Darth Vader being told about Stormtroopers messing things up” vibes, that’s almost definitely the point.

“I said, look, ‘It was important that you came, it was important that you didn’t back out. Thank you for being here,’” Cruz said about his chat with Trump. “And he of course agreed. And he had, let me just say, some choice words for some of the folks who chose not to be there.”

(Via Mediaite)

Cardi B had an eventful holiday weekend in Cabo San Lucas with her husband Offset. During their vacation, they encountered the unusual sight of a yacht sinking. Cardi captured the moment on camera while offering her usual hilarious comedy. “Oh my God, they can’t do nothing about it?” she wondered. “There ain’t no big boat that could save it?!?”

Later on, it appeared that the couple went to a club together, where Cardi channeled her old job by putting on a pole dance for her husband — as well as a few others who happened to be nearby. Offset apparently appreciated the view, as a video posted online caught him grinning from ear to ear as he watched Cardi kick off her Crocs and show off a few moves before climbing into his lap.

The vacation was well-earned. Cardi’s been quite busy lately, even without an album to promote. Most recently, she and Megan Thee Stallion teamed up to take on a football training camp with the LA Chargers for Cardi Tries, Cardi gave an insightful interview to David Letterman, and she’s been working on some “technical difficulties” with her new music before giving it a release date. Meanwhile, Offset has been gearing up to release some solo music of his own amid rumors of a potential Migos breakup.

Watch Cardi’s pole dance video above.

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

The Saul Goodman we meet in Breaking Bad is a far cry from the Saul Goodman we know (and because he’s played by Bob Odenkirk, love) on Better Call Saul. Saul-era Saul Goodman finds a strip mall office out of necessity; Breaking Bad-era Saul Goodman embodies the strip mall, ambulance chasing lawyer, with his slick hair and complete lack of human decency. He also sexually harasses his secretary Francesca and says things like, “God, you are killing me with that booty.” (It’s worth noting that “booty” should be pronounced as “boo-tay.” Creeps and sleazes love to say “boo-tay.”)

That line, which Saul remarks in his first episode of Breaking Bad, season two’s “Better Call Saul,” is an interesting moment for the character, considering what we know after six seasons of Better Call Saul. He’s not talking to anyone but himself — so why is he still in character as Saul Goodman, and not letting his guard down as Jimmy McGill?

It’s a question that was recently answered by Breaking Bad and Saul writer Thomas Schnauz. “He’s alone in the scene. Even Francesca has already left and can’t hear it, he’s just saying the line to himself on his own. What’s the point of keeping up the show when nobody’s watching?” Twitter user @luukki wondered. Schnauz replied, “It’s 4 years later of being ‘Saul Goodman,’ and as we like to say, ‘The mask becomes the man.’”

The Better Call Saul season six midseason finale, “Plan and Execution,” takes place in 2004; the “Better Call Saul” episode of Breaking Bad is set in 2008. A lot happens in those four years. I fear that Saul refuses to allow himself to be Jimmy, even in private, because he’s masking a Kim-related trauma. She would not have let him say “boo-tay.”

Better Call Saul returns on July 11.

Quentin Tarantino continues to Quentin Tarantino.

This time, Quentin Tarantino is Quentin Tarantino-ing (talking very quickly and manically about cinema) in podcast form. AP reports that Tarantino and Pulp Fiction co-writer Roger Avary, who met in 1983 years ago when they worked together at video rental store Video Archive in Manhattan Beach, CA, are launching a podcast series in which they rewatch and discuss films from the original Video Archives library. The podcast is called Video Archives Podcast and it will debut on SiriusXM’s Stitcher this summer.

“We never imagined that 30 years after we worked together behind the counter at Video Archives, we would be together again doing the exact same thing we did back then: talking passionately about movies on VHS,” Tarantino and Avary said in a statement. “Watching movies was what originally brought us together and made us friends, and it’s our love of movies that still brings us together today.”

When Video Archives went out of business, Tarantino, a preserver of cinema through and through, bought their inventory, so he essentially has the entire store (an estimated 8,000 VHS tapes and DVDs) in his home. On Video Archives Podcast, Tarantino and Avary will cover a wide variety of genres from “controversial James Bond films” to “surprising exploitation pics and beyond.” Seeing as Tarantino is a host, there will most likely be conversations about feet as well.

“Quentin and Roger have made such enduring marks on filmmaking,” Scott Greenstein, Chief Content Officer at SiriusXM said. “We’re so excited to be able to help them revisit this formative moment in their careers, and to bring their recommendations to new and larger audiences.”

(Via AP)