In December, iconoclastic backpack rap pioneer Yasiin Bey teamed up with Los Angeles beat maker The Alchemist to release his first new music in five years via livestream. The success of the project led to the announcement that the duo had formed a group, Forensics, and were planning to release an album in 2025.
Today, they revealed the impending release date and details of the new album, which is named after the group. Like Money Christmas, FORENSICS will debut via livestream on the group’s Bandcamp page for $9.99 on February 7th at 9:00 PM CET (12:00 AM PST/3:00 AM EST). It’ll be available for replay for the next 48 hours; Vimeo will also host the replay for purchase. If you still have a hankering to play it after that, the duo expects to make it available for download toward spring, with a vinyl release after that.
According to the press release, FORENSICS marks a “new approach to delivering art, bringing together the experience of musical content with fashion, visual art, technology and community.” In addition to the stream, the group’s Bandcamp is selling merch featuring an NFC “Bump” tag, which fans can tap with their phones to unlock new album-related material, including an exclusive track, replay of the live stream video, and the album art, which was created by a friend of the group, Spanish-Moroccan artist Anuar Khalifi, titled The Weight of an Ant.
FORENSICS is out 2/7 via Bandcamp. You can purchase the stream and related merch here.
Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.
This week saw The Weeknd precede the Grammys with one of the year’s biggest albums so far and Jennie make some noise of her own with a big collaboration. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.
Between BTS and Blackpink, we’ve been in a bit of a golden age for K-pop group solo projects lately. The latter group’s Jennie has been among those getting after it, as she linked up with Dominic Fike last week on “Love Hangover,” a smooth track with a fun video.
Sasami — “In Love With A Memory” Feat. Clairo
Sasami has a big year looming: Her album Blood On The Silver Screen lands in March, then she kicks off a tour in April. Clairo certainly has her back, as the two collaborate on the Rostam-produced single “In Love With A Memory.”
Jamie xx — “F.U.” Feat. Erykah Badu
At an afterparty, Erykah Badu was having some equipment issues and went on a bit of a half-joking rant. Jamie xx took that lemon and made it into something sweeter, using the recordings as the basis of “F.U.,” a fun new collab with Badu.
Julien Baker & Torres — “Sylvia”
Everybody’s going country these days, and now that includes Julien Baker and Torres. They’ve been performing together and seemingly gearing up for something big in recent months, and last week, they finally confirmed a collaborative album and shared the breezy, dog-inspired “Sylvia.”
Zach Bryan — “Blue Jean Baby”
The Philadelphia Eagles made the Super Bowl this year and Zach Bryan is pretty darn psyched about it. In celebration, he want ahead and dropped a new song, “Blue Jean Baby,” which he sort of downplayed, but hey: new Zach Bryan is new Zach Bryan.
Will Smith and Big Sean — “Beautiful Scars” Feat. OBanga
Is Will Smith starring in a Matrix reboot? He’s not, no, but he did just leverage the fact that he famously turned down the role of Neo all those years ago, for his new Matrix-themed video for his Big Sean collab “Beautiful Scars.”
2hollis and Nate Sib — “Afraid”
2hollis is on the rise, as his recent signing with Interscope clearly indicates. He shared his first new music of the year last week, teaming with tourmate Nate Sib for the glitchy “Afraid.”
MIKE — “Man In The Mirror” and “Artist Of The Century”
The 2025 release calendar is coming into focus now, and an early highlight from the Q1 rap landscape is MIKE’s new one, Showbiz!. He got creative with his joint video for “Man In The Mirror” and “Artist Of The Century,” too, using the two markedly different tracks to show off his versatility.
Larry June, 2 Chainz, and The Alchemist — “I Been”
The Alchemist is among the busiest people in hip-hop, and now he has yet another endeavor on the way: He, Larry June, and 2 Chainz are teaming up for a new album, Life Is Beautiful. It’s out soon, on February 7, and last week, the trio shared “I Been,” which sees June and Chainz doing their thing on Alchemist’s soulful production.
So much for Jimmy Butler or De’Aaron Fox being the biggest name on the market ahead of the trade deadline, eh? In the early hours of Sunday morning — after the Saturday NBA slate had mostly come to an end — the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers agreed to one of the most remarkable trades in the history of American professional sports. The long and the short of it: Luka Doncic is a Laker, Anthony Davis is a Maverick, the Utah Jazz got involved, and other pieces moved around outside of those two.
I’m still trying to wrap my head around it, and I assume you are, as well. Players of Davis’ caliber do not get traded in the middle of the season unless they force their way out. Players of Doncic’s caliber just don’t get traded. There are rumblings that Dallas had major reservations about handing Doncic a supermax extension this summer. Luka, AD, LeBron James, and Kyrie Irving all apparently had no clue this was coming. It’s a lot to wrap your head around, whether you got the first push notification from Shams Charania as the trade was announced or you woke up on Sunday to a flurry of texts from friends who were talking about the deal into the early hours of the morning.
Like any transaction, there are winners and losers in how all of this played out, and here, we’re going to break them down here.
WINNER: Luka Doncic
I really do not think we have ever seen a trade in any sport quite as fascinating as this. Doncic is, any way you slice it, one of the five best basketball players in the world, a guy that the Mavs have built their entire franchise around from the day that they acquired him during the 2018 NBA Draft. And yet, whether it’s due to his conditioning or whatever else, Dallas does not think that it is worth betting on Doncic anymore. Or, perhaps more accurately, they do not believe it is worth betting on Doncic over the life of the contract extension he was eligible to receive this summer, which would have kept him under contract until he was 32 — Tim Bontemps of ESPN compared this to “The Big Short.”
Giving up on guys of Doncic’s stature never happens, because the only way they go to a new team is on their terms. But doing it at this point in their careers? We’re talking about a once-in-an-ever type of move from the Mavericks. Now, Doncic is on a team that is going to have to build around him going forward, because while the Lakers got an absolute steal here, you can’t trade for a guy to be the face of your franchise and then just let him languish, especially when you are almost certainly going to give him a max contract extension the nanosecond you can this summer.
Above all else, Doncic is the guy who is going to take the baton from LeBron James and become the face of the Los Angeles Lakers whenever James decides his time in L.A. comes to an end, whether that’s because he retires or goes to play somewhere else. That’s a pretty special spot to find yourself in. And I, for one, am not going to miss a single game he plays against the Mavs between now and the end of his career, because while Doncic can be disengaged during regular season games, when he flips that switch, he will rip your heart out, and I expect him to be firing on all cylinders whenever he plays Dallas going forward. A constant theme of all the greats in recent NBA history is finding that extra motivation from people doubting you, and Doncic now has that in abundance thanks to the Mavs.
LOSER: Luka Doncic’s bank account
Ok, so this is semi-facetious, but Doncic can no longer sign what could have been the biggest deal in NBA history — it would have been a 5-year supermax worth $345 million. Instead, he can sign a 4-year deal worth up to $228.6 million that would go into effect in 2026-27. It’s one fewer year and less money, but still, I don’t think he’s going to be late on his rent or anything.
WINNER: Anthony Davis in his never-ending quest to play power forward
Last week, Davis made clear to Shams Charania of ESPN that he wants to get back to playing the 4, saying of the Lakers, “I think we need another big. I feel like I’ve always been at my best when I’ve been the 4, having a big out there.”
Davis has never been shy about how he prefers to play the 4 and let someone else handle the physical toll that playing the 5 takes on them. This is despite the fact, if you have watched AD over the last few years, he is clearly at his best when he is playing the 5 and impacting winning from that spot on both ends of the floor. His shooting has never been great outside of the Lakers winning a title in the Bubble, while his defense is more devastating when he’s around the rim.
But now, he’s going to a team where Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II have formed a pretty stellar center duo — I do wonder if, at some point, the Mavs look to get some help elsewhere by moving one of them (I’d assume Gafford, but also, I would have never assumed that they’d trade Doncic, so). For now, though, AD gets what he wants … although it’s safe to assume he would have preferred playing that role in L.A.
WINNER: JJ Redick
Here’s a fun clip from the Mind the Game podcast (remember that!?) where Redick and James discussed how difficult it is to defend Doncic. Redick specifically lumps Doncic and James together as part of a rare class of guys that can make any pass against a double team. He now has the two of them together on the team he is coaching, and while there is always a learning curve (for a coach getting a talent like Doncic, for guys who become teammates with LeBron, etc.), one line that Redick says in that clip seems especially prescient: “There’s just not good answers for the best players right now.” He’ll do some tinkering, surely, but once he figures out how to strike a balance between Doncic and James, it’s possible the Lakers offense ends up being a nightmare to deal with.
LOSER: The army of three-and-D guys the Mavs got in recent years specifically to play with Luka
Dallas won’t have to totally remake its roster, but if you assume Kyrie Irving is the point guard, Anthony Davis is the 4, and they’ll roll with the Daniel Gafford/Dereck Lively II duo at center, there’s suddenly a lot of guys all log jammed on the wing, like Klay Thompson, PJ Washington, Quentin Grimes, Jaden Hardy, and Naji Marshall. All of them but Hardy were acquired via trade or free agency with the idea of playing alongside Doncic, and now, he’s gone and the playmaking load will fall onto the shoulders of guys who are not on Doncic’s level, which isn’t a knock, he’s just an otherworldly talent. Davis figures to have the ball in his hands a ton, and while he’s not a bad passer, he’s not exactly the second coming of Bill Walton or anything.
What does the Mavs’ roster look like at the start of next year? Will they try to wheel and deal to build things out around Irving and Davis more, or do they think their army of wings fits well enough that a downgrade in playmaking is worth it? There’s a lot of pressure on Nico Harrison to figure that out, in large part because Irving turns 33 next month and has a player option in his contract for next year. Hey, speaking of Nico Harrison:
PROBABLE LOSER: Nico Harrison
I say probable because the bet Dallas seems to be making is that, at some point over the life of Doncic’s next deal, his body is going to break down because he is not focused enough on conditioning. If that happens, and if the Kyrie-AD duo works in perfect harmony over multiple years, then you can argue he’s a winner.
But still, to move a guy who is either in the beginning of or entering his prime and is universally considered one of the best basketball players on the planet because you’re making this bet is a move that general managers do not make. Obviously, you have to consider the bad outcomes before you do things, but the reward of having a guy who has carried your team to the heights Doncic has carried the Mavs outweighs the risk that he might not be “worthy” of a supermax deal by the time he’s 31 or whatever. Just the process alone here is not great.
And then, to reportedly only call one team instead of generating some sort of market and THEN get just one of the firsts that L.A. can send back in a deal — along with an excellent but frequently banged up player in Anthony Davis and an alright youngster in Max Christie — is shocking. Check back in in a few years, but my hunch is we’re going to have a pretty negative view of how Harrison approached the biggest trade of his life.
WINNER: Rob Pelinka
Credit where it’s due, Pelinka knocked this out of the park. He’s come under a ton of criticism for most of the moves he’s made since the Lakers won a championship in 2020, particularly since the team traded for Russell Westbrook and lost a lot of the shooting and defensive versatility that has tended to be the best fit alongside LeBron James. But he never gave into the pressure to rush into a trade with his valuable future first-round picks. Funny enough, the biggest move he made this year prior to the Doncic deal was bringing in Dorian Finney-Smith, one of Doncic’s best friends from their time in Dallas and a hand-in-glove fit next to both James and Doncic.
And then, you consider he got a once-in-a-lifetime deal for a player of Doncic’s caliber that only made him part with one of his remaining future picks, meaning he has one more first (and a few that can go via pick swaps) to play with on the trade market. The biggest question looming over everything the Lakers have been doing the last few years has been how do they position themselves for the post-LeBron era. Well, that’s solved and, even if there’s still work to do to build this year’s roster, they can realistically say they’re also trying to compete now by trading for a guy that just led a Finals run in Dallas. Really, incredible work by a guy who went out and got a top-5 player in the world to be the face of his franchise for the next 8-10 years for seemingly pennies on the dollar.
WINNER: Kyrie Irving
The Mavs are justifiably getting dragged over the coals for this trade, and it makes sense, because giving up Doncic and getting less future-facing stuff back than what, like, the Nets got for Mikal Bridges is nuts. But at least in the short-term, I’m very interested in watching Kyrie Irving with a bunch of long, rangy, athletic guys who can erase everything on the defensive end of the floor. Irving has been very good this year, and this is a pretty big bet on his ability to run the show full-time on the offensive end of the floor. As I mentioned a little higher up, he has a player option for next year, and it’s fair to wonder if the Mavs did this with a plan in place to keep him in Dallas beyond 2025-26.
Now, whether he can go blow-for-blow with someone like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards, or another top-tier guard in the West come playoff time remains to be seen — frankly, I’m a little skeptical he can do it four times in a seven game series — but he’ll have every chance to do that alongside one hell of a pick-and-roll partner in Davis.
LOSER: The Lakers’ center rotation as it stands now
Currently, L.A. has Jaxson Hayes, Christian Koloko (on a two-way deal), and Trey Jemison (on a two-way deal) as its centers under contract. Guys like Maxi Kleber and Rui Hachimura have deputized as a small ball 5 over the years. For a team in the conference that has guys Chet Holmgren/Isaiah Hartenstein, Alperen Sengun, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Nikola Jokic currently sitting in the top-4 seeds, that’s untenable. They can dangle their 2031 first-round pick and guys like Hachimura/Gabe Vincent on the trade market, but regardless, they need help. Could the Wizards expect a call for Jonas Valanciunas? Would the Raptors be willing to move Jakob Poeltl? Is it possible that the Lakers package those two players, that pick, and Jarred Vanderbilt and try to get a guy like Deandre Ayton, or parts of that package for Robert Williams? Who knows! But boy, they better figure something out at the center spot this week.
WINNER AND LOSER: Jason Kidd
Kidd has always been a coach who tries to build stout defenses, and man, did the Mavs give him a fun guy to throw into the mix. Building a defense around Anthony Davis, Daniel Gafford, Dereck Lively, and a whole host of wings is legitimately terrifying, and I would not be stunned if Dallas has a top-5 defense over the rest of the regular season. As for the other side of the ball, well, if Davis does primarily play the 4, Kidd is going to have to build an offense that has him (a bad shooter) and Gafford/Lively (non-shooters) playing a ton, which is not an easy thing to do.
But even beyond that stuff, it is something to be the head coach of a team, not know your best player is about to get traded, and then get given a heads up at the very end of the process — he said he wasn’t away until the “11th hour,” according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN. He looked pretty miserable at the pregame presser with Nico Harrison on Sunday, and I can’t wait until we get his unfiltered thoughts on this trade at some point in the future once he’s no longer coaching in Dallas. It helps that he and Davis won a title together in L.A. during the 2019-20 season, but now, there’s gonna be a ton of pressure on Kidd to make this all work, and at least on the offensive end of the floor, Davis wanting to play the 4 is a structural issue that won’t be impossible to work around, but probably won’t be easy.
UNCLEAR: LeBron James
On one hand, Doncic is one hell of a running mate, and a pretty incredible guy to pass the baton to when the time comes. Plus he’s still a Laker, plans on continuing to be a Laker, plays on the same team as his son, and is LeBron James, so it’s very hard to ever complain about anything.
But at the same time, James and Davis were such an incredible pairing, and he was apparently blindsided by this move. For all the stuff about L.A. (and James specifically) wanting the Lakers to be Davis’ team, James was ultimately the conductor when the going got tough. How quickly will the Lakers want to get into the succession plan, where Doncic takes over as the guy for him? What does his role look like if that happens, and just generally, will he and Doncic play a ton of clunky, your turn/my turn basketball? Or will this truly be the part where he ages gracefully, lets someone else drive, and picks his spots where he can show there’s still some magic left in him? I’m probably more excited to watch this dynamic play out than anything else.
WINNER: The Utah Jazz
Few, if any, teams are as good right now at answering the phone and helping to facilitate a trade for a package of a young player (Jalen Hood-Schifino) and second-round picks (they got two of them) than the Jazz. Danny Ainge masterclass, he’s done it again.
One of the best defenders in the NFL is looking to change teams this offseason, as Myles Garrett issued a formal trade request to the Cleveland Browns on Monday. The All-Pro defensive end has been one of the most dominant forces in the league since he arrived in Cleveland as the No. 1 overall pick in 2017, recording 102.5 sacks in his first eight seasons.
However, Garrett’s patience with the Browns franchise has worn thin, and after another season nowhere near contention, he has decided he’s had enough. Garrett issued a statement on Monday noting his love for Cleveland and the fans there, but saying he can’t keep waiting on the organization to build a contender around him and is requesting a trade (via Ian Rapoport).
Twitter
It’s hard to blame Garrett, who seems aware that staying in Cleveland could resign himself to the same fate as Joe Thomas, being an all-time great and Hall of Famer at your position but never coming close to the ultimate prize in the sport. Garrett wishes to go somewhere that gives him a chance to do that, and right now the Browns are not that team and with Deshaun Watson’s contract looming over everything they do, seem pretty clearly not close to competing for a championship.
The challenge, of course, is finding a trade that brings back the kind of value that can help the Browns reset. Garrett is the foundational piece of their defense and is such a consistent, dominant force on the line that the Browns won’t part with him without getting a massive return. Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports noted the starting point for any trade talks on Garrett would need to be two first round picks, which you don’t often see offered for non-quarterbacks. Garrett is a special case, though, as he’s a sure-fire Hall of Famer in his prime at a premium position, averaging 15 sacks per season over his last four years.
There will definitely be a market for his services, but it remains to be seen if anyone is willing to meet the extremely high price tag Cleveland (which has said it will not trade Garrett) will undoubtedly set.
The 34-date tour features a rotating group of guest openers, including Wilco, Sheryl Crow, and Waxahatchee. There’s also Billy Strings, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Turnpike Troubadours, The Avett Brothers, The Red Clay Strays, Lake Street Dive, Charles Wesley Godwin, Lucinda Williams, Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers, Trampled By Turtles, and many, many more.
Tickets for the Outlaw Music Festival Tour go on sale on Friday, February 7, at 10 a.m. local time, while Citi card members have access to pre-sale tickets beginning Tuesday, February 4, at 10 a.m. local time until Thursday, February 6, at 10 p.m. local time. You can find more information here.
Check out the full tour dates and openers for each show below.
Outlaw Music Festival 2025 Tour Dates: The 10th Anniversary Tour With Bob Dylan And Willie Nelson & Family
05/13 — Phoenix, AZ @ Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre *
05/15 — Chula Vista, CA @ North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre *
05/16 — Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl #
05/18 — Wheatland, CA @ Toyota Amphitheatre *
05/20 — Nampa, ID @ Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater *
05/22 — Spokane, WA @ ONE Spokane Stadium *
05/24 — Ridgefield, WA @ Cascades Amphitheater ^
05/25 — Quincy, WA @ The Gorge Amphitheatre ^
06/20 — Clarkston, MI @ Pine Knob Music Theatre ~
06/21 — Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center %
06/22 — Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center ~
06/25 — Franklin, TN @ FirstBank Amphitheater ~
06/27 — Memphis, TN @ Radians Amphitheater ~
06/28 — Maryland Heights, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre ~
06/29 — Ridgedale, MO @ ThunderRidge Nature Arena ~
07/05 — Dallas, TX @ Dos Equis Pavilion !
07/06 — The Woodlands, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion !
07/25 — Alpharetta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheatre &
07/26 — Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion &
07/27 — Raleigh, NC @ Coastal Credit Union Music Park &
07/29 — Virginia Beach, VA @ Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater =
08/01 — Wantagh, NY @ Northwell at Jones Beach Theater ?
08/02 — Saratoga Springs, NY @ Broadview Stage at SPAC ?
08/03 — Gilford NH @ BankNH Pavilion ?
08/08 — Buffalo, NY @ Darien Lake Amphitheater $
08/09 — Hershey, PA @ Hersheypark Stadium $
08/10 — Syracuse, NY @ Empower FCU Amphitheater at Lakeview $
09/05 — Bangor, ME @ Maine Savings Amphitheater +
09/06 — Hartford, CT @ Xfinity Theatre +
09/07 — Mansfield, MA @ Xfinity Center **
09/12 — Camden, NJ @ Freedom Mortgage Pavilion +
09/13 — Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center +
09/14 — Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion ***
09/19 — East Troy, WI @ Alpine Valley Music Theatre +
* with Billy Strings, Sierra Hull, Lily Meola
# with Billy Strings, Sierra Hull
^ with Billy Strings, Lake Street Dive, Sierra Hull, Lily Meola
~ with Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Trampled by Turtles, Myron Elkins
% with Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers, Myron Elkins
! with The Avett Brothers, The Mavericks, Tami Neilson
& with Turnpike Troubadours, Charles Wesley Godwin, Willow Avalon
= with Turnpike Troubadours, Willow Avalon
? with Wilco, Lucinda Williams, Waylon Payne
$ with Turnpike Troubadours, The Red Clay Strays, Waylon Payne
+ with Sheryl Crow, Waxahatchee, Madeline Edwards
** with TBA, Waxahatchee, Madeline Edwards
*** with Sheryl Crow, Madeline Edwards
Keeping track of all the new albums coming out in a given month is a big job, but we’re up for it: Below is a comprehensive list of the major releases you can look forward to in February. If you’re not trying to potentially miss out on anything, it might be a good idea to keep reading.
Friday, February 7
Avalanche Party — Der Traum Uber Alles (Kartel Music Group)
Biig Piig — 11:11 (Sony Music)
corook — committed to a bit (Atlantic)
Dream Theater — Parasomnia (Ytse Jams)
Drop Nineteens — 1991 (Wharf Cat Records)
FACS — Wish Defense (FACS)
Fotokiller — Eerie Nostalgia (Fotokiller)
FVZZ POPVLI — Melting Pop (Francesco Pucci)
Guided By Voices — Universe Room (GBV Inc)
Heartworms — Glutton For Punishment (Speedy Wunderground/PIAS)
Helen Ganya — Share Your Care (Bella Union)
HONESTY — U R HERE (Partisan Records)
HORSEBATH — Another Farewell (Strolling Bones Records)
Inhaler — Open Wide (Universal)
James Brandon Lewis Trio — Apple Cores (Anti)
Jinjer — Duél (Napalm Records)
John Ely — Love and Freedom (Rack ‘Em Records/Thirty Tigers)
JOHNNYSWIM — When The War Is Over (Mr And Mrs Swim LLC)
Leæther Strip — Pornography: A Tribute to The Cure (Cleopatra Records)
Lewis Watson — blue skies grey (Nettwerk)
Matt Pond PA — The Ballad of the Natural Lines (Sonder House)
The Moles — Composition Book (Splendid Research)
Mun Sing — Frolic EP (Illegal Data)
Nadia Reid — Enter New Brightness (Chrysalis Records)
Natti Natasha — Natti Natasha En Amargue (Sony Music)
Oklou — Choke Enough (True Panther Records)
Olly Alexander — Polari (Universal)
Rats on Rafts — Deep Below (Fire Records)
Real Bad Man and ZelooperZ — Dear Psilocybin (Real Bad Man Records)
The Rumjacks — Dead Anthems (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Sarah Klang — Beautiful Woman (Nettwerk)
Sean Thompson’s Weird Ears — Head In The Sand (Missing Piece Records)
Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory — Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory (Jagjaguwar)
Skeleten — Mentalized (Astral People Recordings)
Sleeper’s Bell — Clover (Fire Talk)
Squid — Cowards (Warp Records)
Thundermother — Dirty & Divine (AFM Records)
Tommy Castro & The Painkillers — Closer to the Bone (Alligator Records)
The Vices — Before It Might Be Gone (+1 Records)
Winona Oak — Salt EP (Nettwerk)
Friday, February 14
Alessia Cara — Love & Hyperbole (Def Jam)
The Altons — Heartache in Room 14 (Daptone Records)
Art d’Ecco — Serene Demon (Paper Bag Records)
Bartees Strange — Horror (4AD)
BLOND:ISH — Never Walk Alone (Insomniac Records)
Chatham Rabbits — Be Real With Me (Chatham Rabbits)
Cryogeyser — Cryogeyser (Cryogeyser)
The Delines — Mr. Luck and Ms. Doom (Decor Records)
Denison Witmer — Anything At All (Asthmatic Kitty)
Doves — Constellations For The Lonely (Universal)
fish narc — frog song (K Records)
Gary Louris — Dark Country (Thirty Tigers)
Horsegirl — Phonetics On and On (Matador)
Immersion and SUSS — Nanocluster Vol.3 (Swim)
JISOO (of BLACKPINK) — AMORTAGE (YG)
John Glacier — Like A Ribbon (Young)
Lacuna Coil — Sleepless Empire (Century Media)
The Lumineers — Automatic (Dualtone)
Mallrat — Light hit my face like a straight right (Nettwerk)
Margaret Cho — Lucky Gift (Clownery Records)
Marshall Allen — New Dawn (Mexican Summer)
Mereba — The Breeze Grew a Fire (Secretly Canadian)
Neil Young — Oceanside Countryside (Reprise Records)
Ohgeesy — Paid N Full (Atlantic)
Oracle Sisters — Divinations (Wizard Artists)
Oslo Twins — Tresor EP (Half Normal Records)
Richard Dawson — End of the Middle (Domino)
Rusty Williams — Grand Man (Congrats Records)
Shygirl — Club Shy Room 2 EP (Because Music)
Thala — Avalance (Fire Records)
The Velveteers — A Million Knives (Easy Eye Sound)
The War and Treaty — Plus One (UMG)
WARLUNG — The Poison Touch (Heavy Psych Sounds)
Winona Fighter — My Apologies to the Chef (Rise Records)
Friday, February 21
A Great Big World — then there were sparks EP (Ian and Chad LLC)
Anna Shoemaker — Someone Should Stop Her (+1 Records)
Anxious — Bambi (Run For Cover Records)
Basia Bulat — Basia’s Palace (Secret City Records)
Bren Joy — Sunset Black (Bren Joy)
Califone — The Villagers Companion (Jealous Butcher Records)
CHALK — Conditions III EP (Dutch Tilt)
Colin Self — respite ∞ levity for the nameless ghost in crisis (RVNG Intl.)
Dirty Honey — Mayhem and Revelry Live (Dirt Records)
Ellis Mano Band — MORPH (SPV Recordings)
Floodlights — Underneath ([PIAS])
Glixen — Quiet Pleasures EP (Wichita Recordings)
IDER — Late to the World (Nettwerk)
Kameron Marlowe — Sad Songs For The Soul (Sony)
Katy Pinke — Strange Behavior (Katy Pinke)
Kelora — Sleepers (True Panther Records)
Killswitch Engage — This Consequence (Metal Blade Records)
Les Rallizes Dénudés — YaneUra Sept. ’80 (Temporal Drift)
Luke Sital-Singh — Fool’s Spring (Nettwerk)
Masma Dream World — Please Come to Me (Valley Of Search)
Max Frost — Shelby Ave (Nettwerk)
The Murder Capital — Blindness (Human Seasons Records)
Nao — Jupiter (Sony)
Nina Nesbitt — Mountain Music (The Summit) (Apple Tree Records)
ONE OK ROCK — DETOX (Elektra)
Patterson Hood — Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams (ATO)
Porridge Radio — The Machine Starts To Sing EP (Secretly Canadian)
Rum Jungle — Recency Bias (Rum Jungle)
SAINt JHN — Festival Season (GODD COMPLEXX)
Sam Fender — People Watching (Universal)
Saya Gray — SAYA (Dirty Hit)
Scour — Gold (Nuclear Blast)
Silverstein — Antibloom / Pink Moon (UNFD)
Tate McRae — So Close To What (RCA)
Tim Hecker — Shards (kranky)
Trupa Trupa — Mourners EP (Glitterbeat Records)
The Wombats — Oh! The Ocean (AWAL)
Yawning Balch — Volume Three (Heavy Psych Sounds)
The Young Mothers — Better If You Let It (Birdwatcher Records)
Youth Lagoon — Rarely Do I Dream (Fat Possum Records)
Ziggy Alberts — New Love (Commonfolk Records)
Friday, February 28
Aloe Blacc — Stand Together (Grand Scheme Productions)
Andy Bell — pinball wanderer (Sonic Cathedral)
Architects — The Sky, The Earth & All Between (Epitaph)
ARTEMIS — ARBORESQUE (UMG)
Banks — Off With Her Head (Her Name Is Banks)
bdrmm — Microtonic (Rock Action Records)
Bonnie Trash — Mourning You (Hand Drawn Dracula)
Chesney Hawkes — Living Arrows (HGLA)
Chick Corea, Christian McBride, and Brian Blade — Trilogy 3 (Universal)
The Chills — Spring Board: The Early Unrecorded Songs (Fire Records)
Cloakroom — Last Leg of the Human Table (Closed Casket Activities)
Cornelia Murr — Run to the Center (22TWENTY)
CAPYAC & Reggie Watts — Songs from Celestial City EP (Nettwerk)
Darkside — Nothing (Matador)
David Grubbs — Whistle from Above (Drag City)
Deep Sea Diver — Billboard Heart (Sub Pop Records)
The Devil Makes Three — Spirits (New West Records)
Domestic Drafts — Only the Singer (Glamour Gowns)
Double Wish — Deeper Ecstasy EP (Hit the North Records)
Edith Frost — In Space (Drag City)
Eric Bass — Eric Bass Presents: I Had A Name (Eric Bass Presents)
Everything Is Recorded — Temporary (XL)
Hachiku — The Joys of Being Pure at Heart (Marathon Artists)
Hope Tala — Hope Handwritten (Secretly Distribution)
James Sweeney has made peace with the fact that what he’s done might be unforgivable. His Sundance breakout, Twinless, recently blindsided critics (in the best way), promising a quirky bromance and delivering instead a twisted, acerbic examination of loneliness that used a bioevolutionary phenomenon as its driving vehicle. And his character was the one yanking the proverbial rug.
“I wish I could say I don’t give a shit what people think but I want to be liked like everyone else,” Sweeney tells UPROXX. “There was always a fear of turning people off. My thing is I’m always going to have fears. I just don’t want to let that prohibit me from doing what I think is best creatively.”
Those creative swings aren’t something we’ll spoil here except to say that, whatever movie you think you’re sitting down for when Twinless eventually gets its wide release – you’re wrong. The late scrolling title credits will no doubt jar you back to reality, setting you adrift on a journey that’s both thrilling and unsettling, mostly because its destination is completely unknown.
Sweeney plays Dennis, an isolated and acid-tongued twink who befriends Dylan O’Brien’s Roman at a bereavement group for those who have lost their twin. O’Brien pulls double duty here, playing both Roman (the dull-witted but well-meaning himbo of this story) and Rocky (his charming, successful, and as of recently, very deceased, counterpart). Rocky and Dennis’ shared sexual orientation lead to some fumbling musings by Roman on nature versus nurture and the existence of the “Gay gene,” cementing it as one of the stranger meet cutes you’ll see on screen this year.
But you’ll likely find yourself rooting for their friendship to work – at least in the beginning – because the boys are lonely. According to Sweeney, both “equally fucked up in their own ways.” Roman needs someone to fill the void his carbon copy has left, to go grocery shopping with, to point out the difference between lemons and limes. Dennis yearns for a stand-in too, a plus one to any awkward after-hours co-working events who can introduce him to violent spectator sports funded by stale pretzels and craft beer.
Their bromance is refreshingly sweet, in spite of all the grief and heartbreak that fuels it.
“We rarely ever see friendships explored specifically about gay men and straight men,” Sweeney explains. “Those are some of the closest relationships in my life. My cinematographer Greg*, he’s my best friend. We met freshman year of film school.”
*This film is not about Greg.
“Our cultural ideas of masculinity are slowly shifting. And I think it was interesting for Dylan and I to be able to explore that through these characters,” he continues. “I mean even the relationship to violence and talking about their feelings. I don’t think that Roman and Dennis are necessarily the role models of male friendship, but I do think there are a lot of aspects of their friendship that I admire, and I think it’s part of why people respond to the movie, because they have a lot of good times together.”
Casting O’Brien, who’s pivoted from early, big-budget YA fare to indie arthouse projects that often showcase his impressive range, was one of the turning points in the creational odyssey of the film.
Sweeney’s feature debut, a quick-witted rom-com called Straight Up, was well received by critics in 2019. He didn’t harbor any “grandiose expectations” in terms of career-changing trajectory, but he also didn’t expect to find himself broke and taking a Java Script course online during lockdown – a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency measure that almost led to him quitting Hollywood. He phoned his agents, begging for any kind of gig, and lucked out with a staffing on Gloria Calderon Kellet’s latest Amazon Prime series, With Love.
“It was a life-changing job for me,” Sweeney says.
He joined the WGA. He got health insurance. After months of searching, he found a therapist who accepted that health insurance. And he learned how to play tennis. He was in a good place … but he still had twins on the brain.
“I think there is something appealing about twins because it sort of fulfills the fantasy of a soulmate. ‘They understand me. I don’t even have to say anything and they’ll be feeling sad.’ That sort of the fantasy of it. The reality can be quite different, but I think that’s where the obsession comes from, especially for people who are struggling with loneliness. They look at them and go, ‘I want that, that feeling. I want to feel understood and seen.’”
When O’Brien’s reps reached out about a possible Zoom meeting, he was seasoned enough to temper his optimism with caution.
“I heard how much he responded to the script and how eager he was to meet me, so I felt good going into it, but talking to him… I mean, talk about feeling seen. He just gets my voice,” Sweeney explains. “I’m just such a fan of his as a performer, his range comedically, dramatically. I think he’s such a versatile actor and it’s been so wonderful to watch him transform. I think it was sort of the best of both worlds where he’s a phenomenal actor who wanted to do the movie, but also he’s just a really wonderful person who evolved into a friend and that made the process of making it feel like I had a partner in crime. He’s an executive producer on film, so every step, every heartbreak… we’ve been on this journey together.”
O’Brien shoulders the burden of conveying the film’s more dramatic, emotionally searing moments, making tweaks to his voice, mannerisms, and appearance to sell the seeing-double aspect of his role. Sweeney recalls how they obsessed over everything, O’Brien sending selfies with fake mustaches of varying lengths and thickness, to nail down the difference between the twins on-screen. The thought? The more the audience connected with the we – the idiosyncratic differences that made each sibling unique and likable – the more devastating it would be to see the aftermath, the “me.”
“Whenever I see a twin die and it [doesn’t] really have any implication on a storyline, it makes me go, ‘Come on,’” Sweeney says. “To me it’s the most heartbreaking because it’s a loss of self. I mean, every twin relationship is different, it’s not a monolithic experience, but it’s such a unique and complex relationship.”
But, while Twinless is certainly a love letter to that rare familial bond, Sweeney isn’t precious about it – or how his character’s choices when dealing with the guilt and grief of losing someone might be received. It’s his willingness to probe deeper, to make us confront the uncomfortable truth that duality is inherent in our nature, that good people can do bad things, that we all harbor parts of ourselves we don’t necessarily like, that makes his film better than what we expected. He trades in surface-level laughs for something stickier, a complex and thought-provoking musing on loneliness and our sense of self and the lengths we might go to for connection.
Jisoo recently announced Amortage, her debut solo EP, and the project marks a turning point, as it’s the Blackpink member’s first solo project since signing with Warner Records just a few days ago. Now, she has unveiled a bit more about the release: its tracklist. Pre-orders are also now open.
Jisoo previously said of the project, “I’m excited about this new era and the continuation of my musical journey. I feel like I’m just getting started, and I’d like to thank the BLINKs for all of their love and support. This is just the beginning, and I’m thrilled to kick off this seismic moment with Warner Records.”
Aaron Bay-Schuck, CEO/co-chairman of Warner Records, also said in a statement, “There is no question that Jisoo is one of the biggest stars in the world, and we have no doubt that her solo career will be even more impactful. The energy, passion, and artistry Jisoo brings to her music is on another level. Her music transcends cultures and Tom Corson and I along with the entire team are thrilled to join forces with Jisoo as she continues to make history and inspire millions around the world.”
Check out the Amortage cover art and tracklist below.
As much as award shows like the Grammys are competitions, they are also elaborate parties designed to celebrate and promote camaraderie among the members of the entertainment industry. Case in point: watching Taylor Swift vibing out to “Not Like Us” as Kendrick Lamar won the awards for Song and Record Of The Year, or handing Beyoncé the golden gramophone for Best Country Album. In fact, Ms. Swift seemed to be having herself a ball all night despite not winning anything, even taking home a shiny souvenir of her night that wasn’t a trophy, courtesy of Janelle Monáe.
Monáe had donned a Michael Jackson inspired suit for the Grammys’ Quincy Jones tribute, as she performed the late stars’ chart-topping classic “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.” Her sequin-studded suit was an homage to Jackson’s ensemble in the music video for the post-disco hit, but midway through her performance, the non-binary star whipped off the jacket and tossed it into the crowd. A close study of the reaction shots from the crowd reveals which of the attending stars caught it; that’s right, Taylor Swift. She can even be seen slipping it on in the background, and in her next close-up, she cheers like a fan who just caught a valuable piece of show merch — which, on some level, she is. After all, anyone who records music for a living is a fan of recorded music, and judging from Taylor’s reaction, getting to keep the Janelle Monáe worn, one-of-a-kind piece was almost just as good as winning an award.
St. Vincent ended up being one of the winningest artists at the 2025 Grammys, coming home with three awards, good enough to tie for third-most overall behind Kendrick Lamar with five and Sierra Ferrell with four. It turns out Annie Clark is winning in more ways than that: She recently got married and had a kid.
While accepting the award for Best Alternative Music Performance during the pre-show, St. Vincent started her speech (here’s a video of it) by thanking her “beautiful family: my beautiful wife Leah and our beautiful daughter.”
That may sound like a typical thing to say after getting a Grammy, but St. Vincent had not previously publicly revealed that she was married or had become a parent.
In the backstage press room later on (video here), a reporter congratulated St. Vincent on the family news and noted he was “totally unaware” of it, and St. Vincent interjected, “Oh, most people were, that’s OK. It was kept… she’s young, we’ve kept it under wraps.” She added, “The child is young, just to be clear: The child is young, not the wife.”
During a 2024 Billboard interview about her album All Born Screaming, St. Vincent explained, “Every record I’ve ever made has been so personal about what’s going on in my life at any given time. I’m queer. I know how to code-switch. The idea of identity as performance has been very clear to me since I was a child. […] I’m queer, I’m living in multitudes, but this record in particular is not about persona or deconstruction.”
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