Category: News

Meeting at the nexus between Death Cab For Cutie’s first three albums, shoegaze greats like Swervedriver and Ride, and hook-heavy ’90s alt-rock is MILLY, the Los Angeles group fresh off their sophomore album. The album in question, Your Own Becoming, is a shrewd encapsulation of what MILLY is all about. It fuses their variegated stylings into a composite whole that’s uniquely them.

Brendan Dyer’s keen sense of melody and dense guitar tone lend themselves well to Yarden Erez’s driving basslines and Conner R. Frankel’s boisterous, dynamic drumming. Your Own Becoming, in short, is a compelling showcase for all that this band has become.

Following the record’s release in June, Dyer sat down with Uproxx to talk about his fear of flying, Polish food, and crying at a Pavement show in our latest Q&A.

What are four words you would use to describe your music?

Rocking, emotional, cathartic, excellent.

It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?

As a great example of what grade-A rock music sounded like in the 2020s. Timeless.

Where did you eat the best meal of your life and what was it?

Some Polish spot in Chicago. Podhalanka, it was out of this world. I think we spent like $150 on it and it was so worth it. Yarden the foodie hooked it up.

Tell us about the best concert you’ve ever attended.

Pavement at the Fonda. It was their first show since 2010. We were right up front and I honestly might have cried a little bit.

What song never fails to make you emotional?

“Speed Of Sound” by Chris Bell. This song destroys me every time without fail. Don’t even listen to it if you don’t want your day ruined. It’s so lethal.

What’s the last thing you Googled?

“Honda Elite.” I Googled this because my friend and I were talking about buying scooters. Those things are badass.

Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?

One time we stayed at this Motel in Mobile, Alabama and the TV was drilled on top of a cabinet slanted sideways. I don’t know if that even makes sense but if you saw it you would know.

What’s your favorite city in the world to perform and what’s the city you hope to perform in for the first time?

I’d say LA but since we’re from here, another great one is Milwaukee. Hope to play in London soon 🙂

What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?

Don’t be so cringe on the internet and don’t be afraid of letting go. And don’t sell your 1977 Fender Musicmaster.

What’s one of your hidden talents?

Kermit The Frog impersonation.

If you had a million dollars to donate to charity, what cause would you support and why?

Anything relative to people having clean and safe drinking water.

What are your thoughts about AI and the future of music?

No thoughts but some of the mashups on Youtube are so funny.

You are throwing a music festival. Give us the dream lineup of 5 artists that will perform with you and the location it would be held.

The Smiths (reunion set), Yuck (reunion set of 2011 band), Helium (reunion set), R.E.M. (reunion set), and The Police (reunion set) live at Fenway Park.

Who’s your favorite person to follow on social media?

Snoop Dogg or Johnny Hamcheck.

What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?

Red Sox logo on my leg which I got in Boise before our set at Treefort Fest. I love Yarden’s puppet on his leg.

What is your pre-show ritual?

Noise-cancelling headphones and coffee.

Who was your first celebrity crush?

Zooey Deschanel.

You have a month off and the resources to take a dream vacation. Where are you going and who is coming with you?

Connecticut in the summertime. No one – it’s me time.

What is your biggest fear?

Flying on airplanes but I do it anyway.

Your Own Becoming is available now via Dangerbird Records. Find more information here.

There’s a lot to love about the Gladiator II trailer.

Paul Mescal‘s muscles. Pedro Pascal in a fighting pit. Denzel Washington’s laugh. Director Ridley Scott still killing it at 86 years old. The Roman Colosseum being filled with water (!) and sharks (!!!). And — if you’re a normal person — the anachronistic use of “No Church In The Wild” by Jay-Z and Kanye West, ft. Frank Ocean and The-Dream.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of not-normal people out there, and they’re having a bit of a meltdown over the Watch The Throne single. There are many good reasons to object to Kanye; this is not one of them.

Here are some comments on the Gladiator II trailer on YouTube:

These are the same people who still think “rap? more like crap” is the peak of comedy (something tells me they didn’t have any issues with the Queen-heavy soundtrack to A Knight’s Tale). But instead of focusing on them, let’s turn our attention to what really matters: a great f*cking trailer.

Here’s more on Gladiator II:

Years after witnessing the death of the revered hero Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius is forced to enter the Colosseum after his home is conquered by the tyrannical Emperors who now lead Rome with an iron fist. With rage in his heart and the future of the Empire at stake, Lucius must look to his past to find strength and honor to return the glory of Rome to its people.

Gladiator II comes out in theaters on November 22.

While Eminem first began teasing his new album, The Death Of Slim Shady, back in April, some fans now think he may have teased it even sooner than that. According to Billboard, some of Em’s most dedicated Stans have apparently discovered clues to the new albums’ release in promos for another Dr. Dre-related product as far back as February.

That’s when Dre and longtime collaborator Snoop Dogg shared the ad for their Gin & Juice canned cocktails, which pays visual homage to Quentin Tarantino’s breakout 1994 film Pulp Fiction. Dressed as the film’s two hitmen, Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield, Dre and Snoop dispose of a body in the woods and open a can of Gin & Juice while Snoop smokes a blunt. Fans have determined that the body might have been the titular Slim Shady, as Eminem’s cover for The Death Of Slim Shady features him being zipped into a body bag like the one Snoop and Dre retrieve from the trunk of their car in the commercial.

Of course, all this could just be fans letting their imaginations run wild. After all, it has been nearly four years since Em last released a new album. As it stands, it’s fun to think that there could be a connection, but for now, there’s little concrete evidence that points to any determined cross promotion.

The Death Of Slim Shady is due on 7/12 via Shady/Aftermath/Interscope.

USA Basketball has a roster spot open on its men’s Olympic team. According to Shams Charania and Joe Vardon of The Athletic, Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard withdrew from the team during its training camp in Las Vegas, which opened up an opportunity for someone else to join the roster before they head over to France — Charania and Vardon noted that Derrick White is a strong candidate to join the team.

The news was confirmed not long after by USA Basketball, which released a statement indicating that Leonard “had a few strong practices,” but ultimately, the decision was made for him “to spend the remainder of the summer preparing for the upcoming season rather than participating in the Olympic Games in Paris.”

It is unclear if anything happened to Leonard — who famously has a checkered injury history — which led to him leaving the team. This comes right before the team’s first exhibition game in the lead-up to the Olympics, which will take place on Wednesday night against Canada.

Losing Leonard is a huge blow for USA Basketball, because while he would almost certainly come off the bench and play limited minutes, his ability to stretch the floor and provide elite on-ball defense would have been an excellent fit on the wing. The roster’s other listed forwards are Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and Jayson Tatum, and while those are three elite players who thrive in the international game, Leonard would have provided something a little different.

Yesterday (July 9), rapper Rich The Kid stressed Kanye West fans all the way out when he shared a screenshot from a text message thread he said was between Rich and Kanye. In it, Kanye appears to contemplate retirement, writing, “I am retiring from professional music. Not sure what else to do.” Rich responds with words of encouragement, telling Ye, “The ppl NEED you.”

So, is Kanye West actually retiring from music?

It doesn’t seem to be out of the realm of possibility. There’s a sense of helplessness behind his message, which could stem from the producer’s recent album distribution struggles. His collaborative album with Ty Dolla Sign, Vultures, was delayed multiple times, then split into three parts, but since announcing its triple album status, Ye has only been able to drop one installment, missing the targeted release dates for the follow-ups, and never really announcing any new ones.

That first part was seemingly only released because West and Ty were able to sneak it into a distributor’s system, but it was promptly removed from some DSPs, and since then, Ye has appeared to be unable to secure another distributor. At one point, he contemplated releasing it directly through his own website or app, but those plans have apparently fallen through — and generated a lawsuit, to boot.

However, all of this might just be moot speculation. Later the same day, Rich quoted XXL‘s tweet about Kanye’s “retirement” to admit it was all just a marketing ploy. Kanye West appears on Rich’s new album, Life’s A Gamble, which drops next Friday, July 19. While the ol’ fake retirement is a tried-and-tested formula (that rarely actually works, by the way), that doesn’t mean Kanye isn’t getting out of the music biz — after all, he still has yet to even announce a solid release date for Vultures 2 — let alone actually releasing it — so he might as well be retired already for all intents and purposes.

Nilüfer Yanya is gearing up to drop her new album, My Method Actor, on September 19. As fans await that release, Yanya has unveiled a new song today: “Call It Love,” a serene, meditative number about trusting yourself.

A press release notes that on the song, Yanya “delves inwards, asking listeners to join her in confronting deep-seated truths and trusting their intuition.” Yanya says of the track, “It takes a certain kind of bravery to fully trust your instincts. It’s about allowing your calling to lead you, to let it guide you somewhere. Let that consume you and destroy you.”

She previously said of the album, “The reason why some people find method acting traumatic and maybe not safe mentally, is because you’re always going back to that moment. It can be good or bad but you’re always feeding off the energy, something that’s defined you — and that’s what helps you become the character. It’s a bit like being a musician. When you’re performing, you’re still trying to invoke the energy and emotion of when you first wrote it, in that moment. It definitely feels like you’re having to recreate or step into that headspace.”

Listen to “Call It Love” above.

My Method Actor is out 9/13 via Ninja Tune. Find more information here.

It has been just a couple of days since ODESZA bid their final goodbye to fans. Truth be told, we’re still not over it.

To properly close out their The Last Goodbye tour – which saw the prolific electronic duo at the iconic Gorge Amphitheatre in their home state – ODESZA raced against the clock to bring a once-in-a-lifetime immersive installation to their fans.

Tapping SETUP and SNAPDRAGON as collaborators, ECHOES was an incredibly technically ambitious project. Yet, when it came time for 20,000 fans to experience the magic of ECHOES, it all came down to just one emotion: Gratitude.

The sight of ECHOES was one that took your breath away and the sonic scape starred intensely emotional fan voicemails. Walking into and out of the venue through the installation, thousands of ODESZA fans found themselves overwhelmed with gratitude, proud to be a part of such an expansive community. It carried real emotional weight.

While ODESZA has officially said their “last goodbye” for an indefinite amount of time, one thing is certain: the power of that music community is sure to echo for a very long time. 

See the awe-striking ECHOES installation with this collection of photos below.

Chappell Roan is in the midst of a major week, as “Good Luck, Babe!” just became her first-ever top-10 single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Now, fans are starting to realize that Roan has actually worked with another star who also had a meteoric rise of their own not long ago.

Did Chappell Roan Sing On Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts Album?

Yup!

As People notes, as Roan has become a bigger star, people on TikTok have started noticing Roan’s voice on songs from Rodrigo’s Guts. This past January, Roan confirmed she sings backing vocals on “Lacy” and “Obsessed,” as well as Rodrigo’s The Hunger Games: Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes song “Can’t Catch Me Now.”

Roan explained, “We all work out of the same studio and Dan [Nigro] is like, ‘Are you free right now, can you come help? So I go over there and sing harmonies cause it’s really nice on a song to have different tones. I love that [Rodrigo’s] open to having another vocalist; she’s so sweet to me.”

(Rodrigo collaborator Nigro was a producer on Roan’s debut album, 2023’s The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess.)

Roan also said she recorded vocals for “Bad Idea Right?” that didn’t end up making it onto the final song. Roan has also served as an opener on Rodrigo’s Sour Tour and Guts World Tour.

Drake threw his support behind Canada ahead of Tuesday night’s Copa America semifinal against Argentina. The upstart Canadian side made a surprise run through the tournament, and as a result, Drake decided to put $300,000 on his national team to defeat Lionel Messi and co. in regulation, which would have been a monumental upset.

Unfortunately for Drake and all of our neighbors to the north, that did not happen, as Argentina were able to pick up a 2-0 win at MetLife Stadium to earn a spot in the final. And because everything involving Drake right now ends up making its way back to his feud with Kendrick Lamar, the official Twitter account for Argentina’s national team took this as an opportunity to troll Drake in an extremely obvious way.

Messi is usually pretty good at setting people up for tap ins, so it’s good to see that he played a part in doing that for Argentina’s social media manager. As for the game, Canada fought valiantly against the best team in the world, but goals by Julian Alvarez and Messi were able to put Argentina ahead.

Now, the defending Copa America and World Cup winners will sit and wait to see if they’ll play Colombia or Uruguay in the final. It is unclear who Drake would bet on in that game, but regardless of who wins, it should be a good one.

With the NBA offseason officially underway, it’s the time of year where we start to get information about the upcoming NBA 2K launch. The latest edition, NBA 2K25, will release on September 6 on all consoles and, for the first time, PC, and on Wednesday we got our first look at the four different covers for the game.

The cover athletes for this year are Jayson Tatum and A’ja Wilson, with Vince Carter gracing the Hall of Fame Edition cover.

Tatum is on the Standard Edition and All-Star Edition covers, while Wilson is on the WNBA Edition (which is available in physical copies only through GameStop) and the All-Star Edition alongside Tatum. It’s the fourth year of the WNBA cover, with Wilson, the two-time league MVP and champion, joining the likes of Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Candace Parker, and Sabrina Ionescu as WNBA athletes to grace the 2K cover. Tatum, meanwhile, gets his first cover coming off of his first championship.

The Standard Edition will cost $69.99 on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC and $59.99 on Nintendo Switch. The WNBA Edition will be available only on Xbox Series X/S and PS5 in physical form as a GameStop exclusive. The All-Star Edition will be $99.99 on all consoles and PC, while the Hall of Fame Edition will only be offered through September 8 for $149.99. Pre-orders are open now for all Editions.