Category: News

The Utah Jazz became the fourth team with a head coaching vacancy in the NBA this summer on Sunday afternoon when Quin Snyder announced his resignation from the team after eight seasons at the helm. Under Snyder’s guidance the Jazz became a consistent presence in the top half of the West during the regular season, reaching the playoffs six straight years, but never made it beyond the second round, with three first round exits including this year to the Mavs.

Entering the offseason, the Jazz faced the question of “where do we go from here?” Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert’s strained relationship has been discussed for a few years now, and after another early exit it’s clear that duo simply isn’t working as hoped. Whether there’s a fix to that on-court fit that involves shuffling pieces around them and building a new supporting cast or if they just need to split the two up and build around one (with Mitchell as the apparent in-house choice) is the million dollar question of this summer. For now, the Jazz are insistent they aren’t trading either, but Mitchell’s confidence in the franchise is reportedly wavering after Snyder’s exit and it’s hard to see how the organization can sell running it back once again to either the team or the fans.

The future in Utah is incredibly murky and that apparently was a deciding factor for Snyder, who spoke with Gordon Monson of the Salt Lake Tribune about his decision to step down and said, simply, “In the end, I just couldn’t see a clear path forward.”

Snyder also says he doesn’t need banners to validate what they accomplished in his tenure, but it’s clear that he could see the stagnation of this group coming and that wore on him this past season. Now, the relationship between the two top stars seem strained beyond repair and whoever takes this job this summer better be willing to roll with just about anything when it comes to the future of the Jazz, because there’s not an obvious route to take for the organization.

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.

Roughly halfway into my conversation with Mike Hadreas, one of my dogs throws up. Hadreas, who makes poignant indie rock under the name Perfume Genius, is gracious, funny, and empathetic toward the whole ordeal. He jokes about including the anecdote in this piece, and here I am realizing his vision. Hadreas also has a dog, a Chihuahua-Pomeranian mix named Wanda, so he’s understanding and lets me take a minute to clean up the mess. At the end of our Zoom session, he quips, “Maybe I’ll find out after this call that my dog threw up, too.”

Hadreas is the kind of artist who strikes a delicate balance between humorous levity and devastating pathos. He’s the kind of artist who names one of his records Put Your Back N 2 It and packs it with songs about healing, abuse, heartbreak, and addiction. On his sixth album, Ugly Season, Hadreas makes space for seemingly disparate feelings to coexist. Created for his collaborative dance piece with choreographer Kate Wallich, The Sun Still Burns Here, he was interested in Ugly Season “having room for all of those competing energies, like really formal and stuffy and really campy and low-brow.”

The result is some of his most amorphous, unconventional music to date, which he wrote alongside his longtime romantic and creative partner Alan Wyffels and the iconic indie producer Blake Mills. “It’s more experimental, but it’s still very much a record I would make,” he explains. “It’s not that far left. I still wanted it to be listened to as a record. I didn’t want it to be super ambient and textural. I wanted it to be more operatic and be songs.”

Hadreas took the time to discuss Ugly Season, working on an accompanying short film with visual artist Jacolby Satterwhite, how he envisions Ugly Season and 2020’s Set My Heart On Fire Immediately as companion pieces, how he approached making music for a dance performance, and more.

How does it feel putting this album out into the world?

I feel good. It’s a little bit different from the things I’ve shared. We recorded it for a different reason. We recorded it in a different way than we usually do. I approached the music very differently with a lot of the same ingredients that I always bring. I’m basically just saying I wasn’t trying to make 12 pop songs to put on the record. I don’t know if I really ever do that, but I usually do at least three or four. This one maybe has only one or two.

There’s one literally called “Pop Song!”

And I called it “Pop Song!” I knew I needed one at least to center the record. I feel like when we were thinking about the record and the show it’s attached to, we wanted to have a more traditional song at the center. But some of the songs that were born out of longer-form improvisations, afterward I tried to put a pop structure onto them. We had this ten-minute-long improvisation between me and Blake [Mills] and Alan [Wyffels], and then I tried to write a verse and a chorus on top of it, which was really hard because I wasn’t thinking about that while we were doing it. So it just shifted suddenly. It wasn’t in these compartmentalized little sections that made sense to put a verse and chorus on. But I figured out how to do it. It was really maddening, honestly. “Eye in the Wall” and “Hellbent” were probably the hardest songs I’ve ever made. I can talk casually about it now, but when I was in the studio, I was really upset trying to figure them out. But they’re my favorite songs on the record now.

This album feels a lot more experimental than your previous work. Was that intentional?

We had an energetic map of what we wanted the music to feel like. It was all very abstract, and we sent a lot of the images back and forth, and I had danced with all the dancers and talked with all of them, which is very different. Usually, it’s just me alone starting completely from scratch. It was letting all the stuff that I make usually but don’t put on the record be more of this record. I make a lot of music, but some of it doesn’t seem suitable sometimes for the record as it starts to take shape.

“Eye In The Wall” and “Pop Song” have finally found a home! Those came out all the way back in 2019.

The record was made in 2019! Those were all made at the same time. They belong on this album. I just released them very soon after they were finished. Originally, I wanted to release this record months after Set My Heart On Fire Immediately. We didn’t have a locked-in game plan, but I didn’t want to wait two years, for sure. These records were made one right after the other two years ago.

Do you think of them as sister albums in that regard?

Yeah, we did this record first, and then Set My Heart On Fire was a few weeks after. It was a response, in a way, at least process-wise. This record was really layered and labored over and also more experimental and improvised, just sort of open. Anything was possible. We could put anything on the songs. We could go as far as we wanted. And Set My Heart On Fire Immediately was more a band in a room and recording it live and trying to use the least amount of elements as possible to communicate something more structured.

Do you think the records complement each other, with one being more structured and one being more experimental?

I think they’re united in that I was completely in an unhinged place when I made both of them. I’m not that far from it now, but I’m a little more in control. Both of the records are born from the dance in a way. This record’s for the dance, and then Set My Heart On Fire is what happened to me as a result of the dance. Essentially, working with Kate [Wallich], me and Kate developed and still have a really intense relationship. I was getting more in my body, and I was around other bodies in this very strange dynamic, almost a cult-like thing. I might have been the only one who felt like I was in a cult, but I was really into it.

A whole cult of your own!

Well, Kate, too! Definitely me and the choreographer Kate were in the same cult.

How did you approach making music for a dance piece?

It was different. The dance world is a lot more formal. It’s kind of stuffy. We had meetings with museums before I had even written a single note or we had even danced together. I guess in order to get stuff made, you have to get money from rich people so you can make your dance thing. So that was very strange. We had some rehearsals before I had even made music. So I was holding people and carrying them and being lifted and talking about process in a whole group of people. Usually, I’m in a room by myself making songs. Eventually, I bring them to the studio, and I share them and finish them with other people. It becomes more collaborative, but not from the very start, generally, and not with so many voices. It still was me, Alan, and Blake making music, but it was informed by all the styling and set design before we even knew what we were gonna do. So it was interesting to build a world from the beginning and then put the music in it or put the music alongside it. It ended up being this thing that exists whether I’m there or not, which I think is different than usual. Usually, I feel like I have to be in the world for it to exist, but not the dance world because there are so many people involved in it. It was so multidimensional.

I also wanted to talk about the short film you did with Jacolby Satterwhite. What was that process like, and how did it differ from the dance piece?

When I saw his work, just everything he does really resonates with me. We’re the same age, and we have the same kinds of obsessions. I could tell that he’s thinking about a lot of the same things when he’s working. Whether that’s true or not doesn’t matter. It was just resonating with me. There’s a lot of memory and body and these utopian visions and humor. I felt really connected to him, and it made sense — the things I was thinking about when I made the dance piece and what I was thinking about when I wrote the lyrics and was making the music, so I trusted him almost fully. We did a lot of back and forth just the same way Kate and I did. We talked a lot about process and why we make things and what this music is about. But then I essentially just fully trusted him to make something. We started talking about this during the beginning of the pandemic where it wasn’t possible to be with a group of people, but I knew he could simulate being in a group of people. He could animate and still have all the ingredients of the physical parts of the piece but not require us to physically be together, which was really exciting to me, especially during a time that felt like a void. The first couple years of COVID were just a dark hole for me. There was nothing really regenerative from it at all.

It probably felt nice to break down these walls and not feel limited or constrained in such a limiting, constraining time.

He just feels like a kindred spirit. So does Kate. I feel like I’ve met a lot of kindred spirits recently, creatively and also personally. I don’t know why. I don’t know if I wasn’t looking before, or if I was moving in a different direction. I love him. I love what he makes. I love what he’s made with my music. I just feel like I magically came into contact with exactly who I needed to come into contact with the last few years, which is wild considering how out-of-contact everything has felt.

How do you think Ugly Season, the dance piece, and the short film all complement one another and speak to one another?

I can attach a physical feeling to all of those things, and it’s the same physical feeling. I don’t know if that’s going to be communicated when you interact with all of these things. I’m sure everybody’s gonna process it differently, and they may process each one, but they’re all born from the same place, in the same dream. A lot of the dream is this defiant, utopian thing. And it’s a physical feeling of safety and love but kind of expansive and wild and gross sometimes. They’re all places where everything can exist, and there’s grace in it, but it’s still fun.

From a lyrical and thematic standpoint, what are some of the things that you’re exploring?

The song “Ugly Season,” I thought of it almost like my song “Queen,” where I flip hate or fear or feeling unsafe as an outsider, harnessing all that and throwing it back. People are using it as a source of power instead of something that can make you feel anxious. That’s what “Ugly Season” is. I imagine it as a kind of disgusting swamp witch, just really filthy but really feeling herself. It’s very Disney villain. I’m trying to explain it in a non-Disney-villain way, but you know: pimples, feeling herself, swamp witch.

But then there are some really sentimental songs on there, too, that are just pure sweetness. I even kind of had to fight for it, like the last song. It resolves into something that’s very sweet, and some people were like, “Maybe it should be more f*cked up.” I really fought for it to be purely sweet and romantic, even if it was sort of hokey. A lot of the time, I need it to resolve in a really pretty way. I don’t want it to be f*cked up.

How do you think Ugly Season pushed you as an artist?

I’ve been doing it for so long that I have a lot more rigid ideas of what my songs are supposed to be like, how I’m supposed to feel when I make them, what’s a good song of mine, what’s a bad one. I just become more self-aware. I have a lot more people in my ear telling me their opinion on everything, too, and it gets a lot harder to shake all that off and go with your gut. So many of my favorite things that I’ve made or other people make, they’re kind of stupid decisions! The things that they do that everybody thinks are really fresh and cool are kind of the dumbest or most wrong or off thing you could do. Everyone’s like, “Whoa, that’s so sick,” but he just did something so stupid! The older I get, and the more I do things, the harder it is to stay in that zone where you’re gonna break rules or do something outside of your comfort zone. But my favorite things are when I stay in that place, and I feel like I stayed in that place more during this record.

What is it about that place that excites you?

It truly feels like you can make something new. I love when I hear a song and when I make music that has ingredients from everything I’ve loved in it, and it feels like a real quilt of influences and memories. But I also like when it’s completely surprising, and you can’t really figure it out. The older I get, the harder it is to be surprised and make surprising stuff. Even when I’m watching movies or making music or reading things, I’m OK with something being bad if it was bad in a surprising way or a way that I’ve never experienced before. Not trying to say that the thing I made was stupid and bad because that’s what it sounds like!

Speaking of movies and music, was there anything you watched or listened to that shaped Ugly Season?

I’m sure a lot, but it’s hard to know. I’ve always been influenced by This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins. I thought a lot about soundtracking this dance piece, so I thought a lot about film scores. When you listen to certain songs from movies, you get that physical sensation of when you watched it or how creeped out you were when you saw it. I love that feeling of listening to pretty much any song that’s been in a David Lynch movie, and whenever you hear it, you just feel off and alien. I love that mix of campy and creepy, and formal and stupid. His movies have a lot of that competing thing. In the movie Dogtooth, I don’t remember what the score was in that movie, but the feeling of that movie, where anything can happen, sometimes it was funny, and sometimes it was disturbing. Those movies allow for a lot of competing things to exist at the same time, and I really like that.

It’s similar to how you mentioned that Ugly Season allows a lot of competing feelings to exist simultaneously.

That’s even how the dancing felt because I was getting physically strong, but I also felt very vulnerable and fragile, too, during parts of it. There were times when I was being lifted, and there were times when I was lifting other people, but it was really harmonious, going back and forth through all those things. I feel like in my daily life, I need to pick one and stick with it if I want to be understood. I think that’s freeing.

Ugly Season is out 6/17 via Matador. Pre-order it here.

After gaining an impressive amount of praise for her role in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm and then being cast in a highly-anticipated A24 film alongside Pete Davidson, the only logical next step for Maria Bakalova is to join the MCU (right?) and she is doing just that!

Deadline reports that the actress will have a “key role” in the upcoming Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3, which is expected to be released next May. Details of Bakalova’s involvement are slim, and the key cast wrapped up filming last week, but we all know how much Marvel loves adding in their post-credits easter eggs, so anything can happen. The third installment of Guardians is expected to be director Sean Gunn’s last in the franchise.

After receiving an Academy Award nomination for her performance in Borat Subsequent MovieFilm, Bakalova also starred in Jud Apatow’s The Bubble, the pandemic movie that was a bit of a mess, alongside Karen Gillilan, who also stars as Nebula in the MCU.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 also stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Sylvester Stallone, Elizabeth Debicki, and Will Poulter. Several more stars have recently been announced, like The Suicide Squad’s Daniela Melchior, so perhaps they are gearing up for the next generation of the quirky space gang.

(Via Deadline)

Because reality can’t be all furries and games, Last Week Tonight also got serious this week with John Oliver’s response to the Ulvade mass school shooting. Given that Oliver was on mini-hiatus in the immediate aftermath of that shooting, however, he ended up delivering a response to the GOP response, which didn’t seem too productive (given that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wants to send fake school-invaders out to freak everyone out), and as Oliver (who has been nailing this subject for over a decade) points out, it’s actually quite counterproductive.

The GOP also wants to beef up law enforcement’s presence inside of schools, and (via Hollywood Reporter), Oliver detailed how most of the recently 54,000 officers ended up filling their time by citing kids who threw paper airplanes or candy, which led the host to declare (of one unfortunate incident), “[C]learly the only thing [they] were guilty of was being a f*cking 5-year-old.”

From there, Oliver showed that he clearly has no patience for the door obsession of the GOP, so the host brought it home:

“When we throw more cops into schools as an easy way out of that difficult and necessary conversation, we not only fail to keep our kids safe from gun violence, we condemn them to a system that criminalizes the very essence of childhood. Kids deserve to be annoying without being arrested, to be sad and angry without being body-slammed. They deserve to have tantrums, throw carrots, do science experiments, talk shite and carve their names into stuff without risking ending up in the back of a police car. They deserve to be curious, to make mistakes, to go a little too car, to be a little too loud, to basically be a f*cking kid. And they definitely deserve better than the fundamental lie the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy who can arrest a 5-year-old.”

Watch the full segment above.

(Via Hollywood Reporter)

In a world where negativity grows at an exponential rate in various areas, it is always refreshing to revel in life’s most tender moments, especially the celebration of new life. Cardi B and Offset had their second child Wave Set Cephus nine months ago, and yesterday (June 5) the Bronx rapper shared some cute photos of her son. The pictures show Wave smiling while sporting a beanie with some heavy bling around his neck and in his ears, revealing his lush curls to the world, and simply staring innocently into the camera.

Wave, born in September, is the younger sibling to now three-year-old Kulture. Cardi first shared Wave’s name and a picture of his face back in April with an Instagram post before Offset took it a step further and revealed their Essence cover featuring all of his children, as the “Straightenin” rapper had three others prior to marrying and conceiving with Cardi B. Though they have had their marital troubles over the years, it is nice to see the couple happy and flourishing alongside their lovely family.

Check out Cardi B’s Instagram post of young Wave Set Cephus and the Essence magazine cover above.

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

Solange Knowles is one talented lady. Completely aside from being Beyonce’s sister — something that likely both benefitted and hindered her own music career over the years — Solange has been a groundbreaking musician, film director, and even art curator over the past few years. Her work is a lightning rod of empowerment and representation for Black women, and she’s always looked super cool doing it. Rumor has it that she’s also nice with her hands when people disrespect her big sis.

However, while talent might be genetic and/or generational, it’s not always a given no matter how gifted your family is. Solange’s son, Danieal Julez J. Smith Jr., seemingly proved as much recently when he posted a video to social media showing off his own music. Let’s just say… It didn’t go well. On Sunday, the 17-year-old, who goes by the stage name Julez, posted a snippet to TikTok in which he raps along to one of his songs in his studio. Here it is:

There are a few issues here, mainly that the beat seems to be a loose guideline for young Julez. The mix is something that can probably be addressed at a later date, but between Julez’s listless delivery and generic bars, fans on Twitter had plenty to say about how much work the young aspiring rapper will need to put into becoming a commercially viable artist in his own right. Maybe he can tap Uncle Jay-Z for help? (Considering the relationship between Jay and Solange, let’s drop that pin somewhere between “unlikely” and “impossible.”)

Fortunately for him, these are all correctable mistakes, and he’s only 17 — he’s got plenty of time (and now, plenty of … ahem… “constructive” criticism) to get started on fixing them. Besides, I used to work at a Boys & Girls Club recording studio and I’ve heard way worse from kids his age. Still, it’s probably going to be awkward when his little cousin Blue flexes her Grammy Award at the family reunion while giving him that signature side-eye of hers.

As Elon Musk’s Twitter deal continues to go badly for the Tesla CEO, his social media activity has becoming an increasingly erratic state of affairs. Granted, Musk has always had a strong trolling presence on Twitter, hence his desire to purchase the social media platform, but he seems to be furiously flinging anything and everything at the wall as of late. However, one thing Musk has not been tweeting about is the aforementioned Twitter deal. He’s seriously all over the map as you can see from his tweeting over the weekend. Just check out these topics:

Jeffrey Epstein:

Colonizing space:

Shakespeare:

And in a smart move for a guy selling electric cars, his thoughts on how environmentalists are annoying and wrongly focused on conservation:

As for why Musk isn’t tweeting about the Twitter purchase, his lawyers have made the first official move in backing out of the deal by sending a letter to the social media company threatening to terminate the deal over Musk’s dubious claims that Twitter inaccurately represented the number of bots on the platform. Via The Hollywood Reporter:

The letter says that the company sent over information to Musk in a June 1 correspondence, but Musk responded that he wants to conduct his own analysis. “At this point, Mr. Musk believes Twitter is transparently refusing to comply with its obligations under the merger agreement, which is causing further suspicion that the company is withholding the requested data due to concern for what Mr. Musk’s own analysis of that data will uncover,” the Monday letter reads.

Musk’s Monday letter to Twitter leaders ends on an ominous note, effectively threatening to terminate the deal if he is not given the requested data.

As legal experts have noted since Musk first showing signs of waffling on the deal, Twitter can still force Musk to go through with the purchase as the board is eager to unload the company. However, there is a chance that Musk could be attempting to renegotiate the price as THR reports that behind-the-scenes talks have been ongoing. What is clear is that Musk’s power grab has tanked the share price of both Twitter and Tesla, which has rightly angered investors in the electric car company. (Saying environmentalists are “annoying” probably isn’t going to help either.)

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Recently, I went with my family to Target, one of our favorite stores. We were only going for a couple of things, but our plans were derailed as soon as we walked in (which is often how it goes at that store). What caught our eyes this time? Target had already put up its Pride display. My partner and I excitedly searched through accessories like sunglasses and mini flags, looking specifically for items featuring the lesbian pride flag. I successfully grabbed an accessory bag plus a pair of rainbow sunglasses for my kiddo before eagerly heading over to the main display.

In recent years, the Target display for Pride has become one of my favorite parts about the month of June. As a queer woman, I like the ease of being able to get something to show my queerness while I’m also picking up household items. It’s nice to be able to buy rainbow kitchen towels that I know I will proudly use all year round. At the same time, I still feel weird about it. Because it goes beyond a T-shirt or a flag. You can’t walk down an aisle without seeing a rainbow adorn something it normally doesn’t—wine, deodorant, even hot sauce.

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While it’s nice to see brands acknowledge that June is Pride month, it still feels like overkill. But a friend shared a Twitter thread with me that reminded me of something very important. While rainbow capitalism still leaves a lot to be desired, there was a time in the not so distant past that brands wouldn’t even acknowledge the LGBTQIA+ community. And while we still have a long way to go, we have to give space to that past.

Sigrid Ellis, whose Twitter bio lists her as an “editor, air traffic controller, parent, feminist, writer, queer,” tweeted:

“As an Elder Queer I want everyone during on corporate gayness to just know a smidge of history. Companies used to refuse our money. Car dealerships would turn us away. Banks would refuse us mortgages. Restaurants and grocery stores would ask us to leave.”

It’s easy to forget the time before the LGBTQIA+ community was as accepted as we are now. However, our history is a lot more recent than people remember, and there are still many queer elders who remember how different things were in the ’80s and ’90s, which was only 30-something years ago. Ellis is talking more specifically of that time, when Pride was far more radical and significantly less corporate. But also, a time when vocally supporting gay people would do a lot more forward-facing damage to a company than it does now.

As an Elder Queer I want everyone during on corporate gayness to just know a smidge of history.

Companies used to refuse our money.

Car dealerships would turn us away. Banks would refuse us mortgages. Restaurants and grocery stores would ask us to leave.

— Sigrid Ellis (@sigridellis) June 2, 2022

Ellis explains that when brands sponsored Pride, it meant that they were safe. And for those who were out at a time where it was significantly less safe to be visible, that meant something. It doesn’t mean they’re perfect allies to the community—but their vocal support in spite of knowing it could affect their bottom line says a lot.

“When Subaru sponsored a float at Pride, it meant we could buy cars there with dignity.

“When Target marched at Pride, it meant my gf and I could go shopping together.

“My first mortgage was from Wells Fargo bank because they would accept gay money,” Ellis wrote.

There’s a reason for the jokey stereotype about lesbians who drive Subarus. It’s because the company wasn’t afraid to stand with the LGBTQIA+ community when no other car companies would. That makes a difference when you’re making such a large purchase. And like I said, Target has been there for a while. I’ve watched the Pride section grow exponentially over the last few years, going from a few vague shirts with rainbows to having items for asexual, nonbinary and aromantic folks. They have family Pride outfits that feature same sex parents (though it would be awesome if they made shirts for the kids of those parents).

It was only 10 years ago, in June 2012, that the internet melted down when Oreo posted a photo in support of Pride. The image of the iconic cookie, posted on Facebook a year and a day after gay marriage was legalized in New York, featured six rainbow-colored layers of creme. The words over the image read “June 25 Pride.” The post was captioned “Proudly support love!” according to an article from Time. “Many commenters have denounced the company for supporting gay rights and for taking on political positions unrelated to its cookie-production mission,” the article stated. In a testament to how time moves things forward, Oreo has special Pride packaging this year.

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Do we still have a long way to go before corporate Pride won’t feel like a moral dilemma? Absolutely. But if we keep pushing the needle forward with the understanding of the past, we just might get there.

Save the bees! Even if you have to call them fish to do so. Will they be rainbow trout, red snapper or puffer fish? Maybe they’ll get their own name and be known forever as bumble fish. It’s likely none of those things, but where’s the fun in knowing that a bee will still be called a bee even when it’s classified as a fish?

People have been concerned about bees and their declining numbers for a while. While it’s customary to run screaming in the opposite direction while waving your arms about any time you encounter one in real life, we kind of need those little buggers. Bees and their fuzzy little limbs and torsos help pollinate plants and crops. Bee pollination is extremely important to commercial farmers and keeps our planet looking the way we’re used to seeing it: full of diverse plants and trees. They’re actually pretty cute, too.

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As much good as bees do for the environment, sadly they have become endangered. The American bumble bee population declined by nearly 90% due to climate change, habitat loss, pesticides and disease. Rapid decline of the bee population is why three judges in California decided to do what they could to protect the bees from extinction by classifying them as fish. In their ruling, the judges wrote, “The issue presented here is whether the bumble bee, a terrestrial invertebrate, falls within the definition of fish.”

In 2018, California classified four species of bees as endangered, but the problem is that the law didn’t explicitly protect land invertebrates under the California Endangered Species Act. The law specifies that it protects endangered “native species or subspecies of a bird, mammal, fish, amphibian, reptile, or plant.” Because bees are obviously devoid of gills, fins and the ability to survive their entire lives submerged in water, the argument to classify bees as fish was ruled against in 2020. The argument being that the other animals who bear the fish label but aren’t actually fish are invertebrates like sea urchins and anemones.

These three judges decided that the lower courts were wrong about excluding bees from the classification. Taking a liberal interpretation of the Endangered Species Act is what has allowed the judges to give bees the new classification, as the law isn’t specific about which invertebrates it’s referring to. The judges wrote in their ruling that “although the term fish is colloquially and commonly understood to refer to aquatic species,” the legal jargon could be used to justify the inclusion of bees … and frogs. While the judges were at it they decided to throw in frogs as they are protected under the amphibian category.

So there you have it folks. From here on out we shall refer to the bees in California as “bumble fish” and the people who have been fighting for this kind of heightened protection for bees can rejoice. This is a big win for bees and the environment! Now go outside and welcome them with the required greeting as you plant new flowers for them to pollinate.

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 Post Malone’s new album drop and the return of Polo G. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

For more music recommendations, check out our Listen To This section, as well as our Indie Mixtape and Pop Life newsletters. Also find our Uproxx HQ Spotify playlist, which is updated weekly with the best new music, at the end of this post.

Post Malone — “Love/Hate Letter To Alcohol” Feat. Fleet Foxes

Post Malone is well known for his musical interests outside of his rap/pop lane, like when he and Travis Barker played a full set of Nirvana covers and when he and Billy Strings covered Johnny Cash. He worked a bit of that into his new album Twelve Carat Toothache, too, by getting Fleet Foxes involved. Robin Pecknold’s distinct vocals carry the track throughout, playing nicely with Malone’s own singing and the brooding instrumental.

Polo G — “Distraction”

Polo G had a massive summer last year when Hall Of Fame was a No. 1 album for him. Whether or not Summer 2022 goes the same remains to be seen, but Polo did drop off “Distraction,” which arrived alongside a creative video that sees Polo in the arcade, beating up a streamer, boxing on top of a birthday cake, and other visually interesting goings-on.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs — “Spitting Off The Edge Of The World” Feat. Perfume Genius

In early 2020, Karen O, in reference to Yeah Yeah Yeahs, declared, “It feels like time to have something new out there.” Now, over two years later, the band has made good on that tease: Last week, they announced Cool It Down, the group’s comeback album. They also shared “Spitting Off The Edge Of The World,” a grandiose and atmospheric track on which they get a perfect assist from Perfume Genius.

Lakeyah — “Mind Yo Business” Feat. Latto

Lakeyah and Latto are two of rap’s finest up-and-comers, so naturally, them linking up on “Mind Yo Business” went well. Uproxx’s Aaron Williams notes that on the song, the rappers “display some aggressive chemistry on the fast-paced track, which finds them boasting their big-money moves while warning haters not to stick their noses where they don’t belong.”

070 Shake — “Medicine”

Modus Vivendi was a big album for 070 Shake, as the 2020 LP was her debut and it was well-received critically. It is also a tough act to follow but Shake did so this week with her sophomore album, You Can’t Kill Me. When the album finally dropped last week, Shake shared a video for “Medicine,” an synth-driven and aggressive-but-measured single.

Angel Olsen — “Ghost On”

In her review of Olsen’s new album Big Time, Uproxx’s Carolyn Droke notes, “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.”

Gucci Mane — “Mrs. Davis”

A lot of songs are about counting notches in your bedpost, but that’s not Gucci Mane, who met now-wife Keyshia Ka’Oir Davis back in 2010. She’s the subject of Mane’s new single “Mrs. Davis,” on which he lovingly pays tribute to how she has continually stuck by him, through good and bad: “I was at my worst, so you deserve my best / I treat you like a queen ’cause you deserve the best / Said I’d get twenty years, she didn’t break a sweat / Went from kissin’ in the jail to kissin’ on a jet.”

Swae Lee and Diplo — “Tupelo Shuffle” Feat. Gary Clark Jr. and Austin Butler

The new Elvis Presley biopic is interesting from a musical perspective in that its soundtrack is giving modern artists, often ones whose styles don’t really align with that of The King, a chance to offer their take on Presley’s style. Swae Lee and Diplo take a crack at it with “Tupelo Shuffle,” which is built on an interpolation of “That’s All Right Mama” and features Gary Clark Jr., who plays Arthur Crudup (the original artist of the song) in the movie.

Niki — “Before”

23-year-old up-and-comer Niki has herself a new album, Nicole, on the way, which she previewed last week with “Before.” The tune is extremely Bridgers-esque and it sees Niki finding closure for an old love story.

Tim Heidecker — “Sirens Of Titan” Feat. Kurt Vile

Over the course of his past two albums, Tim & Eric star Tim Heidecker has recruited some serious indie firepower to help bring his musical visions to life. Just last week, he released “Sirens Of Titan,” a tune Heidecker says he wrote with Kurt Vile in mind (which is evident listening to it) and got Vile himself to join on the track.

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