Month: April 2025

Indigo De Souza named her 2023 album All Of This Will End, which is technically true. All of this will end, but until then, De Souza is going to keep making acclaimed, insightful music.

On Wednesday (April 23), De Souza announced that she has a new album, Precipice, coming out on July 25. “Life feels like always being on the edge of something without knowing what that something is,” she wrote in a statement. “Music gives me ways to harness that feeling. Ways to push forward in new directions.”

De Souza also shared the album’s uptempo first single, “Heartthrob,” which she wrote as “a way to help process something that is often hard to talk about — the harmful ways I’ve been taken advantage of in my physical memory. ‘Heartthrob’ is about harnessing anger, and turning it into something powerful and embodied. It’s about taking back my body and my experience. It’s a big f*ck you to the abusers of the world. A sarcastic, angry cry for all bodies that have ever been touched in harmful ways.”

You can listen to “Heartthrob” above, and check out the Precipice album cover and tracklist below.

Indigo De Souza’s Precipice Album Cover Artwork

Indigo De Souza’s Precipice Tracklist

1. “Be My Love”
2. “Crying Over Nothing”
3. “Crush”
4. “Not Afraid”
5. “Be Like The Water”
6. “Heartthrob”
7. “Dinner”
8. “Clean It Up”
9. “Heartbreaker”
10. “Pass It By”
11. “Precipice”

Precipice is out 7/25 via Loma Vista Recordings. Find more information here.

Lorde recently teased, “I just wanted to say hi because everything is about to change and these are really the last moments where it’s just us, which is crazy [laughs]. But so right, I’m so ready. I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to say that, but I am. I’m so thankful for your patience. I’ve felt your love, I’ve felt you right there. And yeah, this is gonna be crazy. You have no idea [laughs]. OK, I love you so much. I’ll talk to you soon.”

Then, the single “What Was That” followed, and now we’ve gotten the inevitable news: Today (April 30), Lorde has announced a new album, Virgin. A tracklist has not yet been revealed, but the project will presumably include “What Was That.” The album is set for release on June 27.

A press release says the project “promises a bold evolution in her sound and storytelling.” Additionally, Lorde’s website notes she produced the project alongside Jim-E Stack, and that it features Fabiana Palladino, Andrew Aged, Buddy Ross, Dan Nigro, and Devonté Hynes.

In an email sent to her newsletter subscribers, she also wrote:

“The colour of the album is clear. Like bathwater, windows, ice, spit. Full transparency. The language is plain and unsentimental. The sounds are the same wherever possible. I was trying to see myself, all the way through. I was trying to make a document that reflected my femininity: raw, primal, innocent, elegant, openhearted, spiritual, masc.

I’m proud and scared of this album. There’s nowhere to hide. I believe that putting the deepest parts of ourselves to music is what sets us free.”

Check out the album cover below.

Lorde’s Virgin Album Cover Artwork

Virgin is out 6/27 via Republic Records. Find more information here.

This week, Sound Check‘s Jeremy Hecht goes mobile for a fun on-location episode from Dreamville Festival. His guest: Ludacris, one of the biggest names in hip-hop, who shares his picks backstage ahead of his hit-packed performance. Although this time around, Jeremy doesn’t get to guess Luda’s “desert island” pick from a pair of choices, he does get a strong sense of the hitmaker’s musical taste, and still gets a chance to stump the star, reciting one of Chris’s own verses back to him (“Which song is that?” Luda wonders).

Among the choices Ludacris faces in this special episode are his favorite bar-for-bar verses (UGK’s “Wood Wheel” vs. OutKast’s “Elevators (Me & You)”), a pick between two of rap’s GOATS (Jay-Z’s “D’Evils” vs. Lil Wayne’s “Mr. Carter”), and a pair of songs from movies that Luda himself appears in (Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again” from Furious 7 and Three 6 Mafia’s “Hard Out Here For A Pimp” from Hustle & Flow). He even has to make a pick between a pair of his unlikeliest collaborators: Justin Bieber and Sum 41.

Watch Sound Check with Ludacris at Dreamville Festival above.

Previous episodes of Sound Check include challenges from Big Sean, The LOX, and OhGeesy of Shoreline Mafia.

Samara Cyn has been rapidly rising since the release of her 2024 EP, The Drive Home. The 10-track project put the 26-year-old Murfreesboro, Tennessee native on plenty of radars, and her joining Smino on his ongoing Kountry Kousins Tour is putting her on even more.

That makes the timing of her latest release, the introspective single “Bad Brains,” perfect as more eyes and ears than ever are on the lookout for Samara Cyn. Over a slowed-down sample of Thee Sacred Souls’ viral hit “Can I Can You Rose?” Samara contemplates her current situation through a stream of consciousness that includes slick punchlines, devastating realizations, and references to viral memes (“I’m a bad b*tch — you can’t kill me!”).

Samara Cyn’s 2025 breakout even included a crossover with one of the year’s other major rap breakouts, Doechii. At the same Jazz Fest concert where Lauryn Hill bestowed Doechii with her co-sign and a duet performance, Hill also knighted Samara Cyn, sealing her as one of the most exciting artists coming up today. Stay tuned.

Listen to Samara Cyn’s “Bad Brains” above and see the remaining tour dates for Kountry Kousins below.

5/01 – Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Expo Hall
5/02 – Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues Las Vegas
5/05 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
5/07 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
5/09 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater
5/10 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
5/11 – Dallas, TX @ The Factory in Deep Ellum
5/14 – New Orleans, LA @ The Joy Theater
5/16 – Orlando, FL @ The Plaza Live
5/17 – Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution Live
5/18 – St. Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Live
5/20 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern
5/22 – Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore Charlotte
5/24 – Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa
5/28 – Washington, DC @ Echostage
5/31 – New York, NY @ Terminal 5
6/03 – Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall
6/05 – Hartford, CT @ The Webster Theater
6/07 – Boston, MA @ Roadrunner
6/10 – Toronto, CA @ REBEL
6/13 – Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed
6/14 – Detroit, MI @ Masonic Temple
6/15 – Newport, KY @ MegaCorp Pavilion
6/17 – Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre and Ballroom
6/19 – Nashville, TN @ The Pinnacle
6/21 – Madison, WI @ The Sylvee
6/22 – Maryland Heights, MO @ Saint Louis Music Park

For Kacey Musgraves, there’s no place like home. Both her home state of Texas and her musical home, Lost Highway Records. The label signed Musgraves in 2011, but before she could release her debut album, 2012’s Grammy-winning Same Trailer Different Park, it was absorbed by Mercury Nashville.

But now Lost Highway Records has returned with backing from Interscope Geffen A&M, and on Wednesday (April 30), it was announced that Musgraves signed with the Nashville-based label.

Musgraves said in a statement:

“Lost Highway was always a musical stable for artists who might be considered outliers or outlaws; those who live on the fringe. In 2011, when other record labels questioned my songwriting and my more traditional country sound, Lost Highway believed in me, signing me to my first label deal and helped me take my music around the world. That journey has now come full circle in such a special way with [chairman & CEO] John Janick and Interscope and I’m deeply honored to be able to once again call Lost Highway my musical home.”

Appropriately, her first single for Lost Highway is a cover of “Lost Highway,” a song made famous by Hank Williams. You can listen to it above (the adorable cowboy hat-wearing armadillo in the artwork wants you to).

For years, NBA referee James Williams has carved out a special place in the intersection of basketball and hip-hop, ever since fans noticed that he bears a striking resemblance to Gucci Mane. Now, finally, the two have met.

On Instagram yesterday (April 29), Mane shared some photos from his time at Miami’s Kaseya Center, for one of the Heat’s first-round playoff games against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Williams was one of the game’s officials, so sure enough, the last photo is of him and Mane of them standing on the court, with Williams beaming as he looks at the rapper.

Speaking about the resemblance in 2023, Williams said, “I am Gucci Mane. At this point. that’s who I am. I’m actually shocked when somebody on the floor calls me James. Nobody calls me James. Everybody calls me Gucci or Guwop. I’ve really just embraced it. It humanizes us. Referees who are just cops out there, I’m not a big fan of because that’s not how I referee. I go out there, I like to have fun. Engage the players, the fans, the coaches. While we have a job to do, you should still have fun while you’re doing it.”

Once, NBA star Ja Morant even requested a photo with Williams, later sharing it and captioning his post, “Me & gucci,” with some laughing emojis.

To paraphrase one of her biggest hits, Bonnie Raitt gives Chappell Roan something to cry about.

In an interview with W Magazine, “The Giver” singer was asked to name the song that makes her shed tears when she hears it. “‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’ by Bonnie Raitt, makes me cry every time,” Roan replied. It should be illegal for radio stations to play that track without warning — it’s hard to drive when you’re sobbing.

Roan also said that Alfonso Cuarón’s Oscar-winning Roma had her bawling, as did the documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound Of My Voice. “I cried at the end because she has Parkinson’s disease and she lost her voice,” she shared. “It just put so much in perspective, like: f*ck everything; I have the ability to use my voice! She’s one of the greatest vocalists of all time, and to see her struggle was gut-wrenching.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Roan revealed her biggest pet peeve (“When people name-drop”), first kiss (“In my parents’ driveway. I was 15”), and favorite Halloween costume. “I am not a Halloween girl,” she said. “My favorite Halloween costumes I admire from afar, because I’m always the b*tch who has the cat ears on and that’s it. My work outfit is like Halloween! But when I was a child, I was a red M&M for three years in a row.”

Barbra Streisand has been at it for decades and the legend isn’t stopping now: Today (April 30), she announced The Secret Of Life: Partners, Volume Two, a new album filled with collaborations.

She shared the Hozier meet-up “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” today, and the tracklist also features Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande joining Streisand on one song, as well as other tracks with Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Laufey, Sam Smith, and more.

Streisand says in a statement:

“I’ve always loved singing duets with gifted artists. They inspire me in unique and different ways… and make our time in the studio a joy! My new album, The Secret Of Life: Partners, Volume Two, gave me the chance to work and play with some of my old friends, label mates, and new artists too. I admire all of them… and I hope that you’ll enjoy listening to our collaborations as much as I enjoyed recording with all of my wonderful partners.”

Listen to “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” above and find the The Secret Of Life: Partners, Volume Two cover art and tracklist below.

Barbra Streisand’s The Secret Of Life: Partners, Volume Two Album Cover Artwork

Barbra Streisand’s The Secret Of Life: Partners, Volume Two Tracklist

1. “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” with Hozier
2. “My Valentine” with Paul McCartney
3. “To Lose You Again” with Sam Smith
4. “The Very Thought Of You” with Bob Dylan
5. “Letter To My 13 Year Old Self” with Laufey
6. “One Heart, One Voice” with Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande
7. “I Love Us” with Tim McGraw
8. “Secret O’ Life” with James Taylor
9. “Fragile” with Sting
10. “Where Do I Go From You?” with Josh Groban
11. “Love Will Survive” with Seal

The Secret Of Life: Partners, Volume Two is out 6/27 via Columbia Records. Find more information here.

Ben Affleck recently visited the Criterion Closet and took home physical copies of some of his favorite movies, including Miller’s Crossing, The Silence Of The Lambs, and, because he’s a real one, Michael Bay’s Armageddon (“I feel like maybe my best work in my career is the commentary on this disc”).

Affleck grabbed more than four films in total, so you couldn’t call it his Mount Rushmore of movies (save it for Letterboxd). But in an interview for Complex, he was asked by The Accountant 2 co-star Jon Bernthal for his “rapper Mount Rushmore.” Sorry, Machine Gun Kelly, but you didn’t make the cut.

Ben Affleck’s Rapper Mount Rushmore

1. Lil Wayne
2. Eazy-E
3. Slick Rick
4. Kendrick Lamar

You get the sense that Affleck is going off the dome, and if you gave him the same prompt the following day, he would have an entirely different set of answers. But that’s part of the fun.

While promoting Air in 2023, Affleck was tasked with guessing what Michael Jordan would have been listening to on his Walkman in the mid-1980s. “I think it’s safe to say he was listening to Prince, like any self-respecting human alive at that time,” he told Spotify. “And then I’d guess Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five, Van Halen, Run-D.M.C., Chaka Khan, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Whodini, Kool & The Gang, Fleetwood Mac, and The Sugarhill Gang.”

Kendrick might be on MJ’s Mount Rushmore, too.

Every month, Uproxx cultural critic Steven Hyden makes an unranked list of his favorite music-related items released during this period — songs, albums, books, films, you name it.

1. Bon Iver — SABLE, fABLE

The song titles are a tip-off. With a Bon Iver album, they can be a difficult proposition. Ever since 2016’s 22, A Million, the tracklist for a Justin Vernon LP reads more like a menacing letter from a Zodiac-inspired serial killer than a rundown of songs. Random numbers and strange symbols are plentiful. Easily pronounceable words are not. But there is a method to the madness. When it’s a challenge to put a name to a song, that song becomes hard to pin down and decipher. Even when contained on a record by one of the biggest indie-rock stars of the last 20 years, the song remains elusive and enigmatic. And, by association, so does the artist. But on SABLE, fABLE (the first Bon Iver album in six years, and the fifth overall), the song titles are shockingly comprehensible. Yes, there’s a song called “Speyside” — one of three tracks carried over from last year’s SABLE, EP — which is stylized in all caps with a space between each letter, a move designed to taunt typesetters everywhere while also possibly confusing Scotch liquor enthusiasts. And don’t overlook “There’s A Rhythmn,” with the intentional misspelling that may or may not reference the state of Minnesota, just because that seems like an extremely Bon Iver thing to do.

2. Bill Fox — Resonance

Resonance is the first Bill Fox record in 13 years, and only his fifth solo LP in the past 29 years. (He also fronted a power-pop band in the ’80s called The Mice that is worshipped by power-pop freaks like the aforementioned Robert Pollard, who has raved about them being an influence on GBV. Fox, in turn, sounds a bit like an amalgam of Pollard and his former GBV bandmate, the elfin-voiced Tobin Sprout.) The bulk of Fox’s reputation rests on two albums he put out in the late ’90s, Shelter From The Smoke (1996) and Transit Byzantium (1998). They were mostly recorded at home by Fox himself on a four-track. Unlike the unruly blasts of psychedelic pseudo-arena rock turned out by his peers in GBV, Fox plays songs with Dylanesque instrumentation (voice, guitar, harmonica) and a Beatlesque melodic sense. And his lyrics — often lovelorn, occasionally political, usually introspective, and always poetic in a plainspoken way — are far better-written and heartbreaking than they need to be.

3. Fust at 7th Street Entry, April 10

I caught the six-piece ensemble last week at Minneapolis’ historic rock club 7th Street Entry — a gig Dowdy says he was extra-excited about, and I don’t think that was just stage banter — and they put on a musically rambunctious and spiritually big-hearted show. On record, the focal point is squarely on Dowdy’s songs, which marry hearty alt-country music with impressionistic lyrics infused with authentic small-town southern lore. He is especially fond of deploying regional slang that might be confounding to outsiders, starting with the album title (named after one of the record’s best songs), which refers to an unruly, unsightly creek. On stage, however, Fust has a communal band vibe that’s immediately inviting, starting with the interplay between Dowdy and singer/fiddle player Libby Rodenbough, and extending to the lively interjections of pianist (and long-time Dowdy collaborator) Frank Meadows. Seeing Fust live only made me love their latest album Big Ugly more, and it was already one of my favorite albums of early 2025.

4. Jerry David DeCicca — Cardiac Country

I’ve been a fan of this Texas-based singer-songwriter since his time with The Black Swans back in the aughts. But DeCicca is on an extra-special roll lately, after 2023’s New Shadows — a pitch-perfect homage to boomer rock singer-songwriter records from the 1980s, a la Bob Dylan’s Infidels and Don Henley’s Building The Perfect Beast — and the new album out this month. Unlike a lot of artists working in a similar “literate Americana” lane, DeCicca understands that the right vibe can take a good song and make it something greater. On Cardiac Country, he locks into a hyper-specific frequency I would liken to watching an old episode of Austin City Limits from the ’90s on YouTube starring Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Joe Ely. If that description communicates something visceral to you, grip this album now.

5. Craig Finn — Always Been

Craig Finn’s voice and songs plus music that sounds like The War On Drugs — the elevator pitch for Always Been is so simple that it almost seems too simplistic as a description. But that’s basically what this album is. Lyrically, Finn was so inspired by the character he invented for “Bethany” — a preacher with serious spiritual doubts and a mysterious past — that he created a song cycle fleshing out a story that also addresses matters of sin, redemption, reinvention, and murder. And then, with Adam Granduciel’s assistance, he placed those songs in rousing heartland rock soundscapes rife with atmospheric guitar and synth sounds. For an artist who has been compared to Bruce Springsteen semi-constantly for the past two decades, Always Been is the closest Finn has come to making an actual Springsteen record. Born In The U.S.A. and Tunnel Of Love, in particular, feel like obvious signposts.

6. Adrianne Lenker — Live At Revolution Hall

I’m still working my way through this massive 43-song set. I’m also one of the freaks that ordered the album on cassette, so I’m waiting for that to arrive before I fully absorb this thing. But I’m already prepared to call Live At Revolution Hall the most conceptually interesting live record to come out in a long while. The mix of fidelities — lo-fi, hi-fi, no-fi — as well as the blend of music and found sounds makes it feel like something Neil Young would have attempted in the mid-1970s but not actually put out until the mid-2020s. It’s as much a documentary about Lenker’s recent tour as it is an album.

7. Momma — Welcome To My Blue Sky

This Brooklyn-by-way-of-LA band suffers somewhat by virtue of doing something musically that a million other bands have attempted in the past several years. The reference points couldn’t be more obvious: Siamese Dream, Veruca Salt, Hole’s Celebrity Skin era, general shoegaziness. On paper, it doesn’t get more shopworn. But Momma deserves extra credit for attempting all that and actually pulling it off. If you can allow yourself to be drawn in one more time by a music critic promising “MTV Buzz Bin rock but new,” I promise that you will find Welcome To My Blue Sky as fun as I do.

8. Waterboys — Life, Death, And Dennis Hopper

The year’s weirdest rock album so far, and one of the more fascinating. I am a huge fan of the music that Mike Scott made in the ’80s — most of all 1988’s Fisherman’s Blues, his masterpiece — but I haven’t kept up with the bounty of records he’s put out since. But Life, Death, And Dennis Hopper — a concept record about the famous actor, and the times he shaped — makes a case for me playing catch up. Scott’s knack of tuneful folk-rock grandiosity remains intact, and he’s helped by a galaxy of guest stars that includes Bruce Springsteen, Fiona Apple, and Steve Earle.