Category: News

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.

Collaboration is nothing without chemistry. It’s why when a superstar athlete joins a new team, critics question if success will be attained or things will crumble into failure. When a group effort sees each member recognizing and making up for one another’s weaknesses, more times than not, art in its most beautiful form arrives, leaving its consumers to stand starry-eyed to take in the new experience. Elsewhere, doubters rush to eat their words in an attempt to hide them and avoid having to own up to their wrongs. It’s this excellent chemistry in collaboration that lives on Van Buren Records’ debut album, Bad For Press.

The thirteen-track effort compiles some of the best hip-hop talents Massachusetts has to offer. The heavy-muscled collective includes names like Luke Bars and Saint Lyor, who both caught attention in 2020 for their respective GoodEvil and If My Sins Could Talk. Jiles is the epitome of a flower blooming in a dark room, as his sinister verses both rattle and enthrall listeners. Meech, Andrew Regis, and Lord Felix punch jaws and dizzy minds with their bars while Ricky Felix and Kiron create the ideal landscape for the rappers to go berzerk in.

Bad For Press arrives with a “yeah, so what?” sneer from the Van Buren collective. Suits & ties with smiles never fit the group’s desired aesthetic like a mean mug and slight tilt of the head do. Just two songs into the project, “Braindead” captures the groups overwhelming audacity towards anything that steps before them. Lyor’s straight-faced hook delivers a message within the words that menacingly leave his mouth: this is not a group you want to spar with. Similar sentiments arrive on “Medic,” a song that sonically warns of impending danger all for the Van Buren rappers to be the individuals to make these fears a reality.

On the album, individual egos aren’t left outside the door, rather, they’re combined into some supernatural force that entwines itself with the words the group raps throughout the albums. So when songs like “It Is What It Is” or “No Interview” pierce through your headphones, it’s a huge disservice to ignore the talent, energy, and persona that are packaged into what is the Van Buren collective. Both tracks encapsulate the rambunctious energy the group would present onstage in a perfect pandemic-less world, but simply hearing them rapping their asses off makes this impending moment all that more desirable.

Despite the strong-armed reinforcement Van Buren delivers on the album, there are moments where the aggression is replaced with reflection and an effort to look into the past and see how far they’ve made it. “Looking For Trouble” opens the memories of their turbulent youth that Lyor describes best, rapping, “I be looking for trouble, I had nothing else to do.” Luckily for them, things have changed for the better. Van Buren also documents their struggle to thaw their cold hearts to receive the warmth of love on “Nevermind” while “Outro” is a smooth landing that ties an elegant bow around the wild ride Bad For Press is. In letting their guard down for a few moments, Van Buren effectively proves why it was up in the first place.

Bad For Press could be dissected in many ways. You could focus on individual talents and applaud Bars’ show-stealing verse to close “Gangbanger (Remix)” or Andrew Regis’ knife-wielding bars on “Medic.” There’s Meech’s slick-talk over Ricky Felix’s best-produced song with “No Interviews” and Jiles’ cutthroat contribution to “Braindead.” Not to mention Lyor’s honest tales on “Looking For Trouble” as well. However, this approach overlooks and diminishes the best thing about Van Buren: the fact that these individual qualities, which vary in presence and effectiveness on each song, contribute to the gleaming pot of gold that represents the Massachusetts rappers and all their glory. If Van Buren thinks they’re Bad For Press so be it, we could use more artists who embrace going against the grain.

Bad For Press is out now via Van Buren Records. Get it here.

Lil Yachty has been on a tear lately, as if he’s out to prove all his early-careers haters’ assumptions that he couldn’t rap wrong. Over the last few months, he’s released a string of lyrically focused freestyles such as the “Royal Rumble” cipher with seemingly all of the rising rappers in Michigan and the “No More Beatboxing Freestyle,” which saw him take on two of the hotter instrumentals of the moment. Now, he keeps the ball rolling with “Cortex,” a quick hitter accompanied by an in-studio video surrounded by his clique.

In addition to his freestyle videos, Yachty’s been rolling out a few singles that show that his songwriting remains as clever as ever, with videos that showcase his quirky sense of humor and visual creativity. In February, he released the dapper “Asshole” video with Oliver Tree, as well as the Vince Staples-featuring “In My Stussy’s” video. Meanwhile, he’s keeping his corporate profile pristine as well; at the end of 2020, he collaborated with Reese’s Puff cereal on a box and a new song, and earlier this year, it was reported that he’s developing a heist movie based on the card game Uno. He’s also set to appear in season two of Lil Dicky’s breakout FX comedy, Dave.

Watch the Lil Yachty “Cortex” video above.

There are 39 episodes of NBC’s Hannibal. I yelled “KISS” during all 39 of them. I’m not the only one: Hannibal has a still-active fan community, with many “Fannibals” shipping Mads Mikkelsen’s Hannibal Lecter and Hugh Dancy’s Will Graham. It might sound weird to want to see a future-cannibal smooch an FBI profiler, but, no, it’s good and healthy.

In an interview with Vulture, Mikkelsen was asked whether the not-so-good doctor’s relationship with Will could be considered romantic. “Yeah, but not necessarily something that would become physical,” he replied. The Another Round star then revealed he and Dancy almost shared a kiss in the season three (series?) finale:

“We actually did a couple of takes of the very last scene where we were looking at each other, and it was a little too obvious — it was almost a kiss. Me and Hugh were like, ‘Why not? We have a couple of takes. Let’s do one. It might be cool.’ [But we] never went for the kiss. [Creator Bryan Fuller] loved it, but he was like, ‘Too much, guys. It’s too obvious.’ And he was absolutely right. But I think we were just stuck on that. A lot of the Fannibals wanted it as well. It’s been a subject of homoerotic fan art. And for good reason.”

Mikkelsen said that Hannibal and Will were “united as twins in many ways,” which is something that should be further explored. If only there was a successful streaming service that was already carrying Hannibal and could make another season. Oh wait.

(Via Vulture)

A few weeks ago, Angel Olsen announced Song Of The Lark And Other Far Memories, a box set that features her two latest albums, 2019’s All Mirrors and 2020’s Whole New Mess (which were once intended to be released together as a double album), as well as a collection of bonus tracks, Far Memory. Some of the songs on Far Memory are actually alternate versions of tracks from the aforementioned albums, like Olsen’s latest, “Alive And Dying (Waving, Smiling),” an orchestral version of the Whole New Mess highlight “Waving, Smiling.”

Olsen says of the track, “This song is all about chapters closing, and learning to let go of things I can’t understand. It’s very me — I will always nosedive into love, and suffering can definitely come with that. When I hear this version the strings really bring the song to its necessary bittersweet boiling point.”

She also says of Song Of The Lark And Other Far Memories more broadly, “It feels like part of my writing has come back from the past, and another part of it was waiting to exist.”

Listen to “Alive And Dying (Waving, Smiling)” above.

Song Of The Lark And Other Far Memories is out 5/7 via Jagjaguwar. Pre-order it here.

This week in the best new pop music saw a number of album announcements. Troye Sivan teamed up with Tate McRae for a sparkling tune, Bebe Rexha made an emotional return, and Julia Michaels officially announced her debut single with a vulnerable track.

Each week, Uproxx rounds up the best new pop music. Listen up.

Troye Sivan, Tate McRae, Regard — “You”

Following up on his 2020 EP In A Dream, Troye Sivan teamed up with Tate McRae for the effervescent synth-heavy number “You.” Over cascading keys, the two singers harmonize about having difficulty moving on from a past relationship.

Bebe Rexha — “Sabotage”

The last we heard from Bebe Rexha, she was a vampire on the hunt for some fresh blood in her “Sacrifice” video. But with her new track “Sabotage,” Bebe is taking a page from her diary with the personal tune. “‘Sabotage’ is one of the most vulnerable songs on my new album, Better Mistakes,” Bebe said in a statement. “It’s just as beautiful as it is painfully honest. I admit to getting in my own way when things are going well. I know I am not alone in experiencing self-sabotage during life’s most precious moments, and this ballad is an acknowledgment that sometimes we are our own worst enemy.”

Julia Michaels — “Love Is Weird”

Julia Michaels may have started her career as a songwriter for other artists, but with her new track “Love Is Weird,” Michaels officially announces her debut album Not In Chronological Order. For Michaels, the LP follows her journey from heartbreak to new love. “I’m not bitter about love anymore,” she said about the album. “I know what functional love is like and being in love and being hesitant about that love because it feels so perfect.”

Ingrid Michaelson, Zayn — “To Begin Again”

Ingrid Michaelson tapped ex-One Direction member Zayn for “To Begin Again,” a love letter to the resilience of New York City dwellers. In a statement about the track, Michaelson said she originally penned the track the night Joe Biden won the election and it felt like everyone around her was rejoicing: “I wrote ‘To Begin Again’ the night that Biden won,” Michaelson said. “There was so much joy in my neighborhood. Pots and pans being banged out of windows. Horns and whistles. Clapping. Singing! The collective sigh of relief resonated with me in such a way that I had to get it out musically.”

Girl In Red — “You Stupid B*tch”

Offering another taste of her upcoming album If I Could Make It Go Quiet, Girl In Red shared the head-spinning track “You Stupid B*tch.” According to the singer, the track is about a complicated friendship. “I was always there for this person who would get their heart broken, and I would just come running,” she said. “I would drop everything just to be there for them. That person would never see me as anything else than just a friend, even though I feel like I could’ve made her so happy…”

Marina — “Purge The Poison”

Another album announcement arrived this week, this time from Marina. The singer had previously teased her upcoming LP Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land with an empowering single and now, Marina shared the charged track “Purge The Poison,” which warns against the impending affects of climate change.

Baby Queen — “Dover Beach”

Following her 2020 debut EP Medicine, Baby Queen has been expanding on her anti-pop sound with a handful of singles this year, “Dover Beach” now being her latest. “It’s about being infatuated with somebody and seeing them everywhere you look,” Baby Queen said about the track. “I was kind of pissed that I went to look at the beach, all I could think about was this person, hence the lyric “you stole the view of Dover Beach.” It’s another internal struggle with my own insecurities and a sort of acceptance of the fact that I can’t escape my daydreams of this person, even if I go to a different place.”

Cautious Clay — “Karma & Friends”

After making a name for himself through a handful of EPs, Cautious Clay officially announced his debut album Deadpan Love with the bouncy single “Karma & Friends.” “Deadpan Love explores the ways I cope with the worst of what humanity has to offer,” Clay said in a statement. “It’s about opposites—having an outer layer that’s tougher, this ‘deadpan’ state, and an inner layer of compassion, where you’re open to being there for the people you care about. It’s this warring compassion and cynicism that has empowered me to express myself through this medium.”

Chet Faker — “Whatever Tomorrow”

It’s been nearly seven years since Chet Faker, moniker of musician Nick Murphy, released his 2014 album Built On Glass. He previously teased a return with the resonating singles “Low” and “Get High” but now, Chet Faker makes his comeback official by announcing his upcoming album Hotel Surrender with the track “Whatever Tomorrow.” “It’s a rebellion to this idea that you have to wait for the things you need,” Murphy says of the new track. “It felt like we were being sold tomorrow and we were paying for today. I was saying, ‘F*ck your tomorrow, we deserve our lives now.’”

Two Feet — “Flatline”

This Friday saw the release of the anticipated album Max Maco Is Dead Right? by Two Feet, which arrived with the driving track “Flatline.” “With Max Maco I’m trying to bring my stage persona to life,” Two Feet said about the album. “The character existed already as someone I would pretend to be when playing on stages in front of thousands of people, it always helped my nerves. Sharing his story has been a crazy experience, it largely wrote itself.”

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

It’s pretty obvious that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is in some deep sh*t regarding the sex trafficking allegations against him. His indicted associate is cooperating with the Feds for leniency, which does not bode well for Gaetz, and even Tucker Carlson sprinted away from the scandal as fast as possible while declaring that Gaetz’s (poor) attempt to defend himself against the sex trafficking allegations against him, was “one of the weirdest” that he’s conducted. Gaetz’s desired Gaetzgate isn’t going well at all, and now, James Carville’s got some harsh words for the congressman, as related to MSNBC.

The Democratic consultant and strategist went on a bit of a rant while regarding both Gaetz and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who he called out for her stunt-queening on several notes. Carville declared, “It’s profitable to be crazy in today’s Republican party.” That’s stating the obvious, although it probably needed to be said, but then came some real bluntness from James Carville about Gaetz: “He looks like a character or something. That is the weirdest looking guy I have ever seen in my life.” He added, “And the weirdest acting guy.”

Well, Carville’s not wrong about Gaetz being “the weirdest acting guy” (or at least one of the weirdest), but as for the comments on Gaetz’s looks? Funny, but ouch. So far, Gaetz has not commented on the subject, although he’s probably, yeah, a little busy at the moment.

After Morrissey’s manager called out The Simpsons for its parody of the former The Smiths frontman, which featured Benedict Cumberbatch voicing the character “Quilloughby,” the singer himself released his own statement on Monday that accuses the cartoon series of “obviously taunting a lawsuit.” In a long-winded, and very Morrissey-esque message in the “Hello Hell” section of his website, the singer rails against everything from the accusations of racism that have plagued him to the lack of “Hate Laws” that he believes should be protecting him from the “scandal sheets.”

Via Morrissey Central:

Since my very first interview several decades ago I have lived with horrible accusations to such a degree that it is generally understood that ‘this is how we write about Morrissey’. In other words, I’m quite used to it. I’ve had enough horror thrown at me that would kill off a herd of bison. Accusations usually come from someone with a crazed desire for importance; they don’t operate at a very high level. Writing for The Simpsons, for example, evidently requires only complete ignorance. But all of these things are too easy for me to say. In a world obsessed with Hate Laws, there are none that protect me.

Despite dramatically accusing The Simpsons of opening themselves up to a lawsuit for daring to parody him like it does to countless other celebrities, Morrissey made it clear that he won’t be going down that road because it would require “more funding than I could possibly muster.” He believes this is why The Simpsons targeted him. “I think this is generally understood and is the reason why I am so carelessly and noisily attacked.”

(Via Morrissey Central)

Perhaps more than any musician (at least relative to his age), Jack White is famously old-fashioned. A few years ago, he was getting into Polaroid photography. The Nashville location of his Third Man Records label is famous for its vinyl record booth, a refurbished 1947 machine that allows people to record a song or any audio directly onto a phonographic disc. It’s probably not surprising to learn that White doesn’t have a cell phone, as he revealed in 2019.

Basically, he’s the last person music fans would expect to get into NFTs, which Uproxx’s Dane Rivera describes as “virtual collectibles that are one-of-a-kind and easily verifiable as such, due to a unique string of characters in the image’s metadata stored on the Blockchain, which if you’re unfamiliar, is the digital database that makes cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Bitcoin safe and secure.” And yet, White has indeed gotten into NFTs with a new White Stripes release.

An unofficial remix of “Seven Nation Army” by The Glitch Mob has received acclaim from White Stripes fans since its release in 2011, and now The White Stripes are officially releasing the track. On top of that, The White Stripes, Glitch Mob, and artist Strangeloop have collaborated on an NFT collection that features “6 unique pieces of art, including a one-of-one full song visualizer that comes with a 7-inch vinyl test pressing of the remix.”

Learn more about the NFT collection here.

Mike Lindell has replaced Donald Trump as every late-night host’s favorite target. During Monday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, host Jimmy Kimmel discussed the pillow man’s new “free speech” (minus the “four swear words”) social media website and his 48-hour telethon, which was continuously (and hilariously) interrupted by prank callers.

“Thank you for joining us on what was, I have to admit, one of the least productive days that we’ve had here at our office in quite some time,” Kimmel said to kick off the episode. “A lot of people said the CEO of a pillow company couldn’t successfully launch a major social media site — and those people were 100 percent correct.” Kimmel compared the “yell-a-thon” to Jerry Lewis’ annual telethons, “if Jerry was on a public access channel and crack.” Lindell actually mentioned Kimmel multiple times during the livestream, discussing all the times the host has “bashed” him. But Kimmel insists he’s an admirer.

“What Mike Lindell doesn’t seem to understand is, I’m his biggest fan,” he said. “I have no idea what he’s doing, but I love it.” Kimmel would even have him on the show, but with two conditions: “Number one, he has to actually come into our studio. I need to see him in person. I want to smell the Knackwurst in his mustache. And number two, I would like to conduct our interview in a bed, surrounded by pillows, just me and Mike, snuggled up side by side in a California king, surrounded by sacks of goose feathers.”

You can watch the clip above.

On Monday, the U.S. State Department had issued “Level 4: Do Not Travel” warnings for 16 percent of countries around the world. Today, that number is jumping up to 80 percent of all countries around the world in accordance with CDC guidance. And while just over 75 million Americans have been vaccinated, the CDC and State Department are still warning against travel, especially internationally.

So, what’s going on? According to an email sent to The Washington Post, “This alignment better reflects the current, unpredictable, and ever-evolving threat posed by COVID-19.” The missive goes on to say that American citizens — vaccinated or not — should “strongly reconsider” all trips abroad or cancel them outright.

Issuing travel warnings is nothing new for the State Department. They have four levels. Level One says simply “Exercise Normal Precautions.” Level two warns you to “Exercise Increased Caution.” Level three asks you to “Reconsider Travel.” And Level Four straight out says “Do Not Travel.” With 80 percent of the world’s countries now falling under the Level Four warning, it’s pretty clear that any travel Americans take this summer is going to be tied to the U.S.

The change in tactics, according to The Washington Post, is due to the State Department starting to “rely more heavily” on recommendations from the CDC again. The State Department is even adding stricter wording to some travel locations. The warning for travel to India came with an additional caveat that “even if you’re fully vaccinated” that you should still cancel your trip.

These warnings track with current CDC information on vaccines and travel in which they stated: “Fully vaccinated travelers are less likely to get and spread COVID-19. However, international travel poses additional risks and even fully vaccinated travelers are at increased risk for getting and possibly spreading new COVID-19 variants.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean that some countries aren’t trying to woo travelers to their shores. Iceland has opened up to American travelers as long as they can provide a vaccination certificate and negative test before entry (and also adhere to hygiene and social distancing rules). Still, it’s probably a much safer bet to look towards your own backyard, even if you’re vaccinated.

(Via The Washington Post)