Category: News

Apple TV+ cannot and will not stop their ascension to sci-fi streaming supremacy. From For All Mankind (and upcoming spin off Star City) and The Gorge to Silo and of course Severance, dare we say that the tech giant’s streaming service has grown more prolific than Paramount Plus (home of Star Trek)? Somehow, that’s the case, and nobody seems to be complaining. Let’s talk about how Apple TV+ will soon roll out an adaptation of a beloved and acclaimed series of books by Martha Wells.

Release Date

This one snuck up on the world in a good way. Murderbot will premiere on May 16, 2025 with two episodes followed by weekly drops. That will culminate with a 10-episode season to end on July 11.

Plot

If you thought Silo (from showrunner Graham Yost) was an ambitious, worldbuilding adaptation, then Murderbot will throw down the gauntlet on a different note with a key change. That is to say, the leading actor throws off expectations by being objectively sexy in contrast to, you know, the character that The Murderbot Diaries readers know and love. Without the helmet, that “sexy” from Alexander Skarsgård cannot be suppressed.

With that said, this show will indeed be based upon The Murderbot Diaries, a 7-edition series (of full-length books and novellas) that snagged a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in addition to hitting the New York Times bestseller list. It might go without saying that expectations loom large, but as not only a sci-fi thriller but also a work of comedy, but the undeniable physical allure of a Skarsgård truly could be an issue. That will be a fine line to walk since the Murderbot (or SecUnit) is referred to as “it” by other characters in the books and is commonly regarded by fans as nonbinary or gender-less. Murderbot probably won’t be thinking about this too much, though, because bingewatching will be their main concern. Really:

“Murderbot” is an action-packed sci-fi series, based on the award-winning books by Wells, about a self-hacking security android who is horrified by human emotion yet drawn to its vulnerable “clients.” Murderbot must hide its free will and complete a dangerous assignment when all it really wants is to be left alone to watch futuristic soap operas and figure out its place in the universe.

The Murderbot Diaries books are laden with the title character’s dry-humored, first-person narration, which should be a treat, and perhaps some clues will roll out when cast interviews begin along with more insight from executive producers, directors and writers Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz.

Skarsgård, for his part, appears to relish this role and skipped out on glitzy parties to get his head back in the game for resumed filming as “an android who has hacked his system so he’s got – or it’s got – free will, and it’s talking about going on these crazy adventures, but instead it’s watching soap operas.” He called the series “a blast,” so fingers will be crossed for multiple seasons.

Cast

Skarsgård’s TV-obsessed robot will be accompanied by David Dastmalchian (Late Night With The Devil) as Gurathin, an adorable, augmented human who tends to mess with Murderbot. This duo will be joined by Sabrina Wu (as Pin-Lee), Tattiawna Jones (as Arada), Tamara Podemski (as Bharadwaj), and Akshay Khanna (as Ratthi).

Trailer

Since no Murderbot trailer exists yet, why not relive the unpredictable opening moments of Prime Video/Amazon’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith?

These New Puritans are back with their first new album in six years. The art-rock duo of twin brothers Jack and George Barnett have announced that Crooked Wing is coming out on May 23, and it will feature contributions from jazz double-bassist Chris Laurence and pop auteur Caroline Polachek.

Crooked Wing is preceded by gorgeous singles “Bells” and “Industrial Love Song,” which Jack called “a duet between two cranes on a building site. Caroline sings the part of one crane, I sing the other; they can’t touch (their movements are controlled by the operator), but when the sun rises they hope that their shadows will cross. I like how the title George came up with misdirects expectations – it’s not that kind of industrial.”

He continued, “As we exit the mechanical age, you realize how much we have in common with our machines, how human they are. Suddenly it didn’t feel so absurd to write a love song from their perspective.”

You can listen to “Industrial Love Song” above and “Bells” here, while the Crooked Wing album cover artwork and tracklist are below.

These New Puritans’ Crooked Wing Album Cover Artwork

These New Puritans’ Crooked Wing Tracklist

1. “Waiting”
2. “Bells”
3. “A Season In Hell”
4. “Industrial Love Song”
5. “I’m Already Here”
6. “Wild Fields (I Don’t Want To)”
7. “The Old World”
8. “Crooked Wing”
9. “Goodnight”
10. “Return”

Crooked Wing is out 5/23 via Domino. Find more information here.

Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels, but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.

Every week, Uproxx is rounding up the best new indie music from the past seven days. This week, we got new music from Car Seat Headrest, Yeule, Destroyer, and more.

While we’re at it, sign up for our newsletter to get the best new indie music delivered directly to your inbox, every Monday.

Yeule – “Skullcrusher”

Nat Ćmiel is something of a painter. As Yeule, the Singaporean songwriter has used each record as a canvas, filtering their personae through glitch-pop, ambient, and, most recently on 2023’s Softscars, digital shoegaze. On the forthcoming Evangelical Girl With A Gun, Ćmiel conceptualizes themselves as, fittingly, “the painter,” taking cues from the Polish artist Zdzisław Beksiński and morphing their idiosyncrasies into darkly entrancing sonic portraits. “Skullcrusher,” which accompanies the announcement, points toward flirtations with trip-hop and goth-rock. Like their previous work, “Skullcrusher” simultaneously cements Yeule’s artistic footprint while treading novel territories.

Car Seat Headrest – “Gethsemane”

Who better to revive the rock opera than Car Seat Headrest? Frontman Will Toledo, famous for writing excellent 10-plus-minute indie-rock songs, has written yet another excellent 10-plus-minute indie-rock song, “Gethsemane.” This time, though, it’s situated within the larger context of The Scholars, which is billed as a concept record set at the fictitious campus Parnassus University. It’s the college where Rosa studies medicine, and she eventually resuscitates a dead patient and, in turn, gains supernatural powers that have lain dormant since her childhood. It’s a dizzying narrative, appropriately ambitious for the band’s first new album since 2020’s Making A Door Less Open. “Gethsemane,” with its epic sprawl, is merely one chapter of the story.

Destroyer – “Cataract Time”

When you see that a Destroyer song is eight minutes long, you know it’s gonna be good. Such is the case with “Cataract Time,” the penultimate cut from the marvelously titled Dan’s Boogie, which is out later this month. John Collins’ harp adds a hypnotizing, celestial quality to Dan Bejar’s universe, making it sound like a Destroyer guest spot on Sufjan Stevens’ Carrie & Lowell. But that’s all before the luxe saxophones come in, reminding you that this is, first and foremost, a Bejar-run production.

Illuminati Hotties – “777”

Sarah Tudzin has hit another jackpot. Following last year’s excellent LP, Power, the Illuminati Hotties mastermind is back with a new single, “777.” Whereas Power is far gentler than IH’s typical tender-punk, “777” dials up the noise, albeit in a much different way than usual. Tudzin’s latest is a bona fide shoegaze song that resembles a punchier take on Loveless. Apparently, there’s nothing that Tudzin can’t do!

Fantasy Of A Broken Heart – “We Confront The Demon In Mysterious Ways”

Who doesn’t love a song title that’s a complete sentence? “We Confront The Demon In Mysterious Ways,” the lead single of Fantasy Of A Broken Heart’s forthcoming EP, resumes the oddball indie-prog of the duo’s debut, Feats Of Engineering. But, whereas Bailey Wollowitz and Al Nardo gallivant through fittingly dreamy landscapes on their full-length, its follow-up EP, Chaos Practitioner, is the drowsy awakening process. “We Confront The Demon…” resembles the half-asleep, half-alert state following REM, both the band and the brain activity. It’s lyrically confrontational, but its instrumentals are steeped in enough eccentricity to warrant the question of whether it all resembles reality or fantasy. Perhaps, it’s a bit of both.

YHWH Nailgun – “Animal Death Already Breathing”

There are a lot of noise-rock bands that find solace in the sprawl: droning guitar tone; blasts of discordant noise that slowly unfurl; vocals that don’t come in until the third minute. Then there’s YHWH Nailgun, whose tempestuous, frenzied outbursts are contained within the limits of three minutes maximum, threatening to break free from their constrictions at any given moment. The Brooklyn four-piece, on the precipice of their debut album, 45 Pounds, make adventurous music that flashes by at the speed of light. “Animal Death Already Breathing,” for instance, traverses 5/4 polyrhythms, clattering industrial percussion, and howling chants within the span of little more than 120 seconds. “Animal Death Already Breathing” is a showcase for how YHWH Nailgun packs suite-worthy ideas into impressively concise packages.

Phil Cook – “Buffalo”

Phil Cook is one of indie rock’s most prolific musicians, having performed on songs by Waxahatchee, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Bon Iver, and plenty more. But he’s also an artist in his own right. Appalachia Borealis, a forthcoming collection of piano instrumentals, is his latest solo endeavor in a storied career. “Buffalo” pays homage to Cook’s loved ones who live in the titular city. Paring down his artistry to its barest components, “Buffalo” unveils Cook’s majestic talents through disarming simplicity. Let Phil cook.

Mei Semones – “I Can Do What I Want”

Mei Semones can do whatever she wants, and she does. Blending bossa nova, math rock, and jangle-pop, the Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter’s predilection for combining virtuosic performances and memorable melodies remains unmatched. On her appropriately named single, “I Can Do What I Want,” Semones and her band weave their way through a vertiginous maze of frenetic strings, modulated time signatures, and ‘90s alt-rock guitars. She proves that, not only does she do whatever she wants, but also that she should.

Kelcey Ayer – “Different Planets”

The former Local Natives vocalist is back. Kelcey Ayer, who has previously shared music under the moniker Jaws Of Love., has decided to move forward with a project using his own name. As Ayer’s second-ever solo single, “Different Planets” unearths another side of the songwriter. Combining flamenco guitars, cooing vocal harmonies, and handclaps right on the downbeat, “Different Planets” presents Ayer in a fascinating new light. There’s certainly something more up his sleeve.

DJ Koze – “Brushtaxi”

Amid an electronic landscape dominated by soulless, interchangeable DJs and EDM producer duos, DJ Koze’s work is a balm. The German producer and synth savant’s take on electronic music is a genre-bending kaleidoscope that’s at once stupefying and divine. It’s like realizing that Elysium is simply a place where an auteur turns all the right knobs and incorporates all the right samples. “Brushtaxi,” the latest preview of next month’s Music Can Hear Us, turns that scenario into reality once again. It’s an instrumental, eight-and-a-half-minute Odyssey, a journey into paradise where the beats reign supreme and the dancefloor never empties.

Cordae’s “Nothing Promised” video is a collection of home movies capturing the best times of the Maryland rapper’s life — which is fitting for the song’s subject. “Y’all don’t understand how crazy it get,” he reflects. “From this life thing, I done seen the craziest sh*t / I’m still a baby, but I’m finna have a baby and sh*t / I thank God my baby mother ain’t crazy as shi*t.”

“Nothings Promised” appears on Cordae’s latest album, The Crossroads, on which he reflects about his aforementioned foray into fatherhood, the breakup of the YBN collective, and his survivor’s guilt from making it out of the hood and living not just his dream, but his mom’s as well. On the song “06 Dreamin,” he details his mother’s efforts to forge her own music career over a sample of one of the songs she recorded when he was just a small child.

Despite the album’s endearing and soulful material, The Crossroads turned out to be his lowest-charting album; however, as he told fans on Twitter, he doesn’t much care about first-week sales. He called them a “very inaccurate way to calculate impact, especially with the current streaming metrics. I seen somebody do 11K first week and then do a ARENA TOUR off the same album.” He elaborated, “N****s said my last project first week numbers wasn’t good, and I ended up doing a sold out headline world tour.”

Watch Cordae’s “Nothing Promised” video above.

Florry‘s 2023 album The Holey Bible was one of our favorites from that year. Now, the twangy group is back with a new album, Sounds Like…

“The Jackass theme song was actually a really big influence on the new album,” bandleader Francie Medosch said about Sounds Like… in a statement, which should be true of more albums. Besides The Minutemen, you can also hear the country-rock influence of The Band and Silver Jews; the album was produced by Colin Miller, a bandmate of MJ Lenderman.

Listen to rollicking first single “Hey Baby” above, and check out Sounds Like…‘s tracklist and Florry’s upcoming tour dates below.

Florry’s Sounds Like… Album Cover Artwork

Florry’s Sounds Like… Tracklist

1. “First It Was A Movie, Then It Was A Book”
2. “Waiting Around To Provide”
3. “Hey Baby”
4. “Sexy”
5. “Truck Flipped Over ’19”
6. “Big Something”
7. “Dip Myself In Like An Ice Cream Cone”
8. “Say Your Prayers Rock”
9. “Pretty Eyes Lorraine”
10. “You Don’t Know”

Florry’s 2025 Tour Dates: The Sounds Like… Tour

06/05 — Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground (Showcase Lounge)
06/06 — Montreal QC @ la Sotteranea
06/07 — Toronto, ON @ The Baby G
06/08 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Bottlerocket Social Hal
06/10 — Columbus, OH @ Rumba Cafe
06/11 — Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop
06/12 — Chicago, IL @ Schubas
06/13 — Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry
06/14 — Madison, WI @ Gamma Ray Bar
06/16 — Des Moines, IA @ Raccoon Motel
06/17 — Lawrence, KS @ Replay Lounge
06/18 — St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway
06/19 — Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar
06/20 — Nashville, TN @ DRKMTTR
06/21 — Athens, GA @ Flicker Theatre
06/22 — Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle
06/24 — Durham, NC @ The Pinhook
06/25 — Richmond, VA @ The Camel
06/26 — Washington, DC @ Songbyrd
06/27 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry
06/28 — Brooklyn, NY @ TV Eye
06/29 — Medford, MA @ Deep Cuts

Sounds Like… is out 5/23 via Dear Life Records. Find more information here.

Over the past five years, Nikola Jokic has held the title of the best player in the NBA, winning three of the last four MVPs and, somewhat ironically, winning his first championship and Finals MVP in the one year he did not take home the regular season MVP honor.

This year, Jokic is again part of a two-man MVP conversation, but finds himself second on the odds sheet to Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. This weekend, the Thunder and Nuggets played a back-to-back where both stars made their case for MVP, with SGA putting up 40/8/5 in a blowout of Denver on Sunday before Jokic put up 35/18/8 as the Nuggets returned the favor on Monday. It was, in effect, a battle to a draw between the two players in terms of the MVP race, which should benefit Gilgeous-Alexander as the presumptive favorite going into the final month of the regular season.

After the Nuggets win on Monday, Jokic was asked about the MVP race and offered a measured take on the battle between himself and SGA, noting it’s out of his control and that no matter the outcome, it’ll be a deserving MVP taking home the trophy, via Bennett Durando of the Denver Post.

“I cannot control it,” Jokic said. “I will say that I think I’m playing the best basketball of my life, so if that’s enough, it’s enough. If not, the guy deserves it. He’s really amazing.”

Jokic is no stranger to the MVP conversation after the past four years and has seen some incredibly toxic MVP debates over that time — most notably in 2023 when Joel Embiid won. His approach has long been to let his game make his MVP case, which shouldn’t be confused with him not caring or striving for the award, but simply that he isn’t very interested in talking about why he should win — his coach will do that for him.

The truth is, this year both Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander have spectacular cases for the award. Jokic is a three-time MVP who, as he said, is playing the best we’ve ever seen him play. He’s averaging 28.9 points, 13.0 rebounds, and 10.5 assists per game on 57.7/43.0/80.9 shooting splits, which is simply preposterous. On the other side is SGA leading the NBA in scoring at 32.7 points per game to go along with 6.2 assists and 5.1 rebounds on 52.5/37.3/90.0 splits, while leading the team with the NBA’s second-best record and providing high-level defense. There isn’t really a wrong answer, which is part of the problem and leads to extremely contentious arguments that Jokic himself seems to want to avoid.

Matt Berninger has been leading The National for over two decades now, but every now and then, he shakes things up by going solo. He dropped his first solo album, Serpentine Prison, in 2020, and now he’s following it up with another: Today (March 11), he announced Get Sunk and shared the single “Bonnet Of Pins.”

Berninger notes the album follows “a long period of writer’s block and self-disgust” in 2020, adding, “I just got sick of asking myself ‘Why am I like this?’” He adds of his music, “Our hearts are like old wells filled with pennies and worms. I can’t resist going down to the bottom of mine to see what else is there. But sometimes you can get yourself stuck.” Berninger also says the new project is “not necessarily an autobiographical album,” and a press release notes it was inspired by “the flora and fauna of his new home in Connecticut after years living in Los Angeles.”

Listen to “Bonnet Of Pins” above. Below, find the Get Sunk album cover and tracklist. Berninger also announced a solo tour (ticket info here), so find those dates below.

Matt Berninger’s Get Sunk Album Cover Artwork

Matt Berninger’s Get Sunk Tracklist

1. “Inland Ocean”
2. “No Love”
3. “Bonnet Of Pins”
4. “Frozen Oranges”
5. “Breaking Into Acting” Feat. Hand Habits
6. “Nowhere Special”
7. “Little By Little”
8. “Junk”
9. “Silver Jeep” Feat. Ronboy
10. “Times Of Difficulty”

Matt Berninger’s 2025 Tour Dates

05/19 — Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
05/20 — San Francisco, CA @ Bimbo’s 365 Club
05/21 — Los Angeles, CA @ Palace Theatre
05/23 — Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
05/24 — Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
05/26 — Toronto, ON @ Concert Hall
05/28 — Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
05/29 — Washington, DC @ Lincoln Theatre
05/30 — New York, NY @ Webster Hall
08/23 — Dublin, Ireland @ Vicar Street
08/25 — Glasgow, UK @ SWG3 Galvanizers
08/26 — Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
08/27 — London, UK @ Troxy
08/28-31 — Nr Tolland Royal, Wiltshire, UK @ End Of The Road Festival
08/31 — Utrecht, Netherlands @ Tivoli Vredenburg
09/01 — Antwerp, Belgium @ Olt Rivierenhof
09/02 — Paris, France @ Elysee Montmartre
09/04 — Berlin, Germany @ Huxleys
09/05 — Copehagen, Denmark @ Vega
09/06 — Oslo, Norway @ Rockefeller Music Hall

Get Sunk is out 5/30 via Book/Concord Records. Find more information here.

Earlier this month, Travis Scott continued his foray into the world of wrestling, appearing in the final segment of WWE’s Elimination Chamber event, where he participated in a brutal beatdown of heroic champion Cody Rhodes alongside John Cena and The Rock. During the segment, it seemed an enthusiastic Scott got really into one of his blows, delivering a slap to Cody’s head that reportedly resulted in real-life injuries.

The report transcended target demos, prompting audiences who might not look twice at Cody Rhodes on the street to express their skepticism. After all, isn’t wrestling fake? Not according to the new T-shirts promoted by the WWE and Travis’ Cactus Jack brand — which is, by the way, named after one of WWE vet Mick Foley’s many, many in-ring personas. The shirts feature a black-and-white photo on the back from Elimination Chamber with The Rock, Cena, and Travis all standing side-by-side (Cody, laying prone on the ground, wouldn’t have fit). The front reads, simply, “Wrestling Is Real.”

Travis seems to be having a ball with his WWE association; after accompanying Jey Uso to the ring during the promotion’s Netflix debut, he’s gotten more and more involved, with his song “4×4” soundtracking segments on Smackdown, and expressing his belief that wrestling is even more fun than performing his own music.

We’ll see if he still believes this when he receives his inevitable receipt from Cody the next time the two are in the ring together. Travis wouldn’t be the first musician to make the leap into taking bumps in the squared circle; Bad Bunny participated in a pair of highly lauded matches with Damian Priest, and Snoop Dogg improvised cold-cocking The Miz during WrestleMania in 2023 — although that storyline never did get a resolution. Snoop’s probably too old to be in there taking bumps at this point, but Travis probably wouldn’t mind picking up a few battle scars.

You can find the Cactus Jack X WWE “Wrestling Is Real” T-shirts here.

Combined, Kendrick Lamar and South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker are only an Oscar away from an EGOT. By this time in 2026, maybe they’ll have it.

Years before Lamar accused Drake of being a pedophile in front of 127 million people, it was announced that the rapper was working with Stone and Parker on a live-action comedy that will “depict the past and present coming to a head when a young Black man who is interning as a slave re-enactor at a living history museum discovers that his white girlfriend’s ancestors once owned his.” The script is from Vernon Chatham (the voice of Towelie!), while Stone, Parker, Lamar, and his pgLang partner Dave Free are on board as producers.

That’s all we knew about the movie, until last year when Stone offered more details during a conversation with Bloomberg. “We are doing a movie with Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free and their company [pgLang],” he said. “And we are working on it, and it will hopefully come out July 4th weekend, opposite Jurassic Park which is pretty funny.” Stone added that Lamar is “very involved, and Dave Free is very, very involved. Every day they are working on it. But that is what we are doing, and then we will do South Park.” So…

When Does The Kendrick Lamar / South Park Creators Movie Come Out?

There were recent reports about the film releasing on July 11, but that date is unconfirmed. So, until we hear otherwise, pencil the comedy for July 4, 2025.

In case this wasn’t already evident, Apple TV+ has achieved King of Sci-Fi Streaming Shows status. From revisionist space-history tales like For All Mankind to the ever evolving nuclear lizard in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters to so many other shows, there’s no comparison at present. Silo has kept that streak going strong, and after the second season pairing of Rebecca Ferguson (as no-nonsense Juliette) and Steve Zahn (as the endearing Solo), the show will for continue for a third and fourth season to complete Hugh Howey’s series of books that began with the Wool omnibus.

The most recent season ended in January, and filming has already been going fast and furious on a followup, so that naturally leads to questions on when more underground secrets will surface.

Does Silo Season 3 Have A Release Date On Apple TV+?

Not yet. Hang tight though, because late 2025 or early 2026 does, however unlikely it seems, feel possible. The third season was already in the thick of filming back in January (as Showrunner Graham Yost told The Wrap), and they’re planning on shooting the fourth season shortly after because “there’s no hiatus.” Really:

“All of season 2 was written before we had finished filming season 1. We had finished writing season 3 pretty much before the strike was called, and that’s while we were filming season 2. And we’ve written all of season 4. So, because we have to plan, there’s no hiatus. We’re shutting down for three months of pre-production for season 4, and then we’re going to roll right in.”

As viewers know, Silo‘s second season finale provided a first glimpse of characters who lived in “normal” civilization hundreds of years prior. Those mystery characters also hail from the second novel, Shift, which the second season already adapted, but Graham Yost apparently recognized that the second season would have been too confusing to go back to pre-silo times in addition to already splitting the second season’s stories in between two silos. In other words, the second book is massive, so it made sense to rearrange the narrative a bit. Hence the total of four seasons to adapt three books. Don’t worry, though, the third season will not drop Juliette. Rebecca Ferguson is always essential, you know?

Speaking of Ferguson, she was pumped when the multi-season renewal came down in this Apple TV+ statement:

“I have always felt passionately about telling the entire story contained within Hugh Howey’s books, so I couldn’t be happier that audiences around the world have enthusiastically embraced the show. Alongside our parters at Apple, Graham, and the entire cast and crew, I cannot wait to dive into these final two thought-provoking seasons that will beautifully conclude this dystopian tale.”

The first two seasons of Silo are streaming on Apple TV+.