Griselda Records’ Conway The Machine followed up his 2019 project Look What What I Became today with the release of Lulu, a seven-song EP produced entirely by The Alchemist. The EP features appearances from Schoolboy Q and Queens rap legend Cormega and haunting, hardcore beats from the mind of the veteran LA producer. The complete project landed just three days after the lead single, “Shoot Sideways” with Schoolboy Q.
The Griselda rapper recently collaborated with producer Big Ghost Ltd. on the nine-song album Griselda Ghost in October, just a month after releasing Look What What I Became. Those two releases, along with Eif 2: Eat What U Kill and Everybody Is F.O.O.D. 3, brought the number of solo releases from Conway in 2019 to four — not including his contribution to Griselda’s group debut, WWCD. It’s probably safe to say that Conway is one of the busiest rappers in the game today.
Lulu was also accompanied with an exclusive collaboration with Dutch streetwear brand Patta. The collection includes a security jacket with the album art on the back, a snapback cap, and an exclusive vinyl of the record. You can learn more about the collaboration at Patta’s blog here.
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.
Across the globe, artists are postponing and canceling shows, suspending promotional campaigns, and pushing their albums back. But last week, Dua Lipa did the opposite. While it might be more in line with the pop audience’s love of breathless exaggeration to call this act heroic, in a lot of ways, it felt like a vote of confidence that the listening public desperately needed. Lipa’s second album, Future Nostalgia, was slated for release this coming Friday, April 3, but when the world began to shift drastically due to social distancing required to halt the global spread of Coronavirus, Lipa didn’t postpone her album, she pushed it up.
Released a week early this past Friday, March 27, the widely-anticipated follow-up to her self-titled 2017 debut, Future Nostalgia features the kind of shimmering, dance-floor bops that can instantly elevate the mood of irritated, exhausted, and isolated people everywhere. It’s one of the most solid wall-to-wall pop albums of the last few years, as each of these eleven tracks has its own mood and style, but each song still blends seamlessly in with the others. Future Nostalgia feels like an aesthetic as much as an album, channeling ‘80s pop like “Physical” right alongside and neon-tinted high-tempo bangers like “Hallucinate.”
Rising to prominence off the swaggering, single-minded get-the-f*ck-over-him banger “No Rules,” Lipa’s take on the brokenhearted pop star protagonist was all cure, no symptoms. Her brisk, no-nonsense prescription for getting rid of the man who can’t commit but wants to keep hooking up anyway struck a chord with a generation raised on casual sex and aloof dismissals. Following that up with an aloof dismissal of her own, in the towering and bombastic “IDGAF,” Lipa proved that regardless of the BPM, listeners were enthralled with her approach.
Future Nostalgia doubles down on all that breakup ammunition, particularly on the lead single “Don’t Start Now,” and another early release, “Break My Heart,” but also stretches out into pure horniness, a perfect complement to the European disco vibes scattered across the record. “Physical” is a cousin to her Calvin Harris collab “One Kiss,” but goes a lot farther than needing a single peck on the lips, and “Good In Bed” is the ideal ode to hate sex, channeling early Kate Nash insolence and just a hint of twee. It’s been a good year, so far, for pop music, but we haven’t gotten anything this devoted to the thrilling rush of physical lust. While everyone is locked away and barred from contact with others, nothing could be hotter.
Interestingly enough, Lipa is the rare global pop star in the social media era who has (mostly) managed to keep her actual personal life out of the spotlight while her star continues to rise. Between Ariana Grande’s Thank U, Next love triangles, Taylor Swift’s album about her real-life Lover, and Beyonce’s dissection of her marriage, the public has come to expect some of a massive star’s IRL love life to animate their music, but Dua is making hits without including any details about her inspirations.
As I listened to her new album this weekend in utter isolation, not driving up and down Sunset Blvd, not blasting it on speakers with friends around, this separation actually offered a welcome distance. Being sick and fearful for the physical health of those I love makes the emotional drama of celebrity relationships feel pale and meaningless, so it’s a relief that this album sidesteps all of that, and still manages to deliver fascinating, endlessly repeatable pop songs full of drama and grace.
And speaking of the latter, sex isn’t the only topic of conversation here, as the album’s concluding track is a mic drop about the excuses our culture routinely makes for the toxic behavior of men, on “Boys Will Be Boys,” where Lipa concludes: “And girls will be women.” The girls who are hurt and abused by the boys who grow up under that blanket excuse become adults, too, and are left with the burden of processing their trauma, falling into the same cycles, and trying to heal. Thankfully, in Dua’s world, a sense of sex-positive strength comes through much stronger than the hearbreak of before – proof that growth and healing isn’t just possible, but is worth celebrating.
Heroic or not, this sleek, electropop album is a cohesive meditation on no-strings horniness and bucking the systems that are set up to hold women, in particular, down. Even just days into listening, it sounds like the kind of album that will invoke nostalgia, in the future, when we remember what it felt like to live in isolation, and the implacable disco-pop that kept us afloat.
Future Nostalgia is out now via Warner Music. Get it here.
Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
About two weeks ago, Death Cab For Cutie leader Ben Gibbard started a new routine: Every day, he would hop on the DCFC YouTube page and perform a livestream concert from his home studio for anybody who wanted to watch. He has kept this up consistently for a good while, but now, he is changing his plans: His livestream series will no longer be daily moving forward, but will instead happen once a week.
Gibbard’s first weekly livestream will take place on Thursday, April 2 at 9 p.m. EST. Presumably, the weekly shows to follow will also be on Thursdays at the same time.
The last of his daily broadcasts came yesterday (March 29), and like he did the previous Sunday, last night’s stream consisted only of covers. He began with a rendition of R.E.M.’s “Half A World Away,” and from there, he also performed songs by The Cure, Morrissey, Hall & Oates, The Magnetic Fields, Neil Young, Kris Kristofferson, and Spiritualized.
Check out the full setlist from Gibbard’s latest performance below.
1. R.E.M. — “Half A World Away”
2. The Cure — “Just Like Heaven”
3. Morrissey — “Everyday Is Like Sunday”
4. Hall & Oates — “Out Of Touch”
5. The Magnetic Fields — “Strange Powers”
6. Neil Young — “Harvest Moon”
7. Kris Kristofferson — “Please Don’t Tell Me How The Story Ends”
8. Spiritualized — “Hold On”
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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 music released in the last week.
This week saw a consistently exciting new album from Dua Lipa and Rihanna’s first guest appearance on a song in a while. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.
Dua Lipa — Future Nostalgia
Dua Lipa kicked off a disco-inspired new era with “Don’t Start Now,” and the stylistic shift paid off, as the song is her highest-charting single in the US thanks to its peak at No. 2. The full Future Nostalgia album is out now, and it is a front-to-back banger fest thanks to songs like the aforementioned lead single, the title track, “Physical,” “Break My Heart,” and the Tove Lo-co-written “Cool.”
Waxahatchee — Saint Cloud
Katie Crutchfield told Uproxx of making her new Waxahatchee album, “I got sober and really focused on that for a year. I think in the past I’ve leaned into making music as a way to help myself heal from things. I tried to not do that with this record. I tried to do the work outside of music and have an identity outside of music. […] I would definitely say that the mood of the album came first, and then the songs swiftly followed. Then it just snowballed from there.”
PartyNextDoor had been quiet for the past few years before he dropped his first new songs in a while, “The News” and the Drake collaboration “Loyal.” A few months later, he’s back with a new album, and while most of the songs don’t have features, he went big when he did include guests: A “Loyal” remix also features Bad Bunny, and Rihanna pops up on “Believe It.”
Nav — “Turks” Feat. Travis Scott and Gunna
Nav’s sophomore album, Bad Habits, arrived a year ago last week, and the rapper celebrated in a big way, dropping the Travis Scott- and Gunna-featuring “Turks.” The track is the fourth collaboration between Nav and Scott, and one of those songs, “Yosemite,” also featured Gunna. On the latest from the trio, Nav raps about his opulent lifestyle, bragging about his valuable jewelry and the time he spends in Turks And Caicos.
Run The Jewels — “Ooh La La”
El-P has been forthcoming with progress updates about Run The Jewels 4, saying recently that while he hopes he doesn’t have to delay the album, he’s not yet sure when it’s coming out. One thing we know for certain is that RTJ dropped a new song last week, “Ooh La La.” Featuring rap icons DJ Premier and Greg Nice, the track previews the album’s Golden Era hip-hop influences.
Nine Inch Nails — Ghosts V-VI
Life has been full of surprises over the past few months, and last week, Trent Reznor provided a positive one: Out of nowhere, he dropped a pair of new Nine Inch Nails albums, Ghosts V: Together and Ghosts VI: Locusts. Continuations of the Ghosts series (which improbably served as the origin of 2019’s biggest hit), the records hit different moods. As Reznor put it, “Some of it [is] kind of happy, some not so much.”
Pearl Jam — Gigaton
Uproxx’s Steven Hyden notes that when it comes to Pearl Jam’s latest album, its strength is in its familiarity, especially given the time during which it was released: “My main takeaway from this album is that I am grateful for how familiar it sounds. Yes, Gigaton sounds like a Pearl Jam record. […] During a moment when nothing that we rely upon seems to be working properly, a Pearl Jam record that competently delivers abundant Pearl Jam-ness suddenly seems revolutionary.”
Conor Oberst has been teasing a big 2020 for Bright Eyes, and finally, he delivered last week. The group shared “Persona Non Grata,” their first new song in almost a decade, and it’s an appealing teaser for the next album. It’s pure Bright Eyes, but it brings new elements into the mix: The song has some surprisingly appropriate bagpipes, which the band insists “is a first for us.”
Rosalía — “Dolerme”
Social distancing isn’t the easiest thing for everybody to manage, and for those people and others, Rosalía penned a new song, “Dolerme.” It was accompanied by a statement, in which Rosalía said, “I am in quarantine and I have lost track of time a bit because I decided that I was not going to think about it too much and that instead I was going to put my energy and my heart into doing something for others, in my own way.”
Jessie Reyez — Before Love Came To Kill Us
Jessie Reyez is well-established at this point, and part of the reason for that is the co-signs she has received from big-time collaborators. She and Eminem linked up for multiple tracks on Eminem’s Kamikaze, and now Em returns the favor on “Coffin,” from Reyez’s fresh album Before Love Came To Kill Us. The bluesy ballad isn’t exactly Eminem’s natural habitat, but as always, Eminem highlights the track with his idiosyncratic style.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
It didn’t take too long for Dave Grohl to launch Foo Fighters following Kurt Cobain’s death and the subsequent disbandment of Nirvana. While some Nirvana fans were surely happy to have new music from the band’s members, that didn’t apply to all of them. In fact, Grohl says he got a lot of hate for Foo Fighters at first, but naturally, that only made him want to pursue the band even more.
In the recently published May issue of Mojo, Grohl said of the reactions to his then-new music and his mindset at the time, “[Some Nirvana fans were] like, ‘How dare you be in a band again? Your music is f*cking sh*t and that was a real band and you’re not.’ It’s like, you really think that’s gonna stop me? It only makes me wanna f*cking do it more, y’know. So, you can keep it coming if you want, but I don’t give a f*ck.”
The new MOJO has a Foo Fighters world exclusive, a CD of ’90s alt-rock nuggets, Art Garfunkel, Jarvis Cocker, Margo Price, John Entwistle, Pearl Jam, Jesus & Mary Chain, Black Crowes, Psychedelic Furs and much more. Have a copy delivered to your door: https://t.co/fvmGDufSYkpic.twitter.com/nahEol05nL
He went on to make the obvious admission that his time in Nirvana was an important factor in Foo Fighters’ success, saying, “I’ve never been afraid to say that if it weren’t for Nirvana, the Foo Fighters wouldn’t be in the same position that we’re in now. We had an advantage right out of the gate that there was an interest in the band because of that. I mean, it’s obvious.”
If you’re anything like me (I pray that you’re not), your attention span is so bad right now that you don’t remember if you’re anything like me. It’s why I’m playing Animal Crossing and binging half-hour sitcoms, but not spending my endless isolation hours learning a second language or doing something else equally important, like watching every Best Picture winner. That’s mostly because I don’t want to see Crash again, but also: only four Best Picture winners are under 100 minutes. I can barely watch an episode of Better Call Saul without checking my phone, let alone all 183 minutes of The Deer Hunter. Not even 90 minutes of Ernest Borgnine in Marty (a great movie!) can keep my attention lately.
This list below, of nine excellent movies that are under 80 minutes (listed in alphabetical order), is for my fellow short-attention-span sufferers.
Alice in Wonderland
DISNEY
This list could be composed exclusively of classic animated Disney movies — especially in the early years of Walt Disney Animation Studios, when anything over 90 minutes was a massive achievement — but I’m restricting myself to only one title: Alice in Wonderland. Alice was considered a bit of a flop when it was released in 1951, but in the ensuing decades, it’s become essential viewing for fans of animation and/or stoners. Just don’t watch the other Alice in Wonderland movie on Disney+, believe me.
Still bummed about the dissolution of the Dark Universe? I am. I am every day. Oh, what could have been. Russell Crowe as Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde! Javier Bardem as the Frankenstein Monster! Johnny Depp as the Invisible Man! Tom Cruise as… a mummy? I’m not sure. I didn’t watch The Mummy, other than the plane video. Universal Pictures wanted to make a Bride of Frankenstein movie, too — a script was written and Bill Condon was slated to direct — with Angelina Jolie in the lead role. But it never came to be, obviously. Just as well: the original Bride of Frankenstein, starring Elsa Lanchester as the bride, is unbeatable; it’s arguably the best of all the Universal monster movies.
Duck Soup is not only a great under-80 movie — it’s also one of the funniest movies ever. It’s packed with jokes that still hold up 87 years later, from pun-perfect wordplay (“This is a gala day for you” “Well, a gal a day is enough for me. I don’t think I could handle any more”) to physical comedy bits that people still “borrow” from (the mirror bit). Groucho was never funnier than in Duck Soup, but Margaret Dumont, the so-called fifth Marx Brother, deserves acknowledgement, too. Rufus T. Firefly’s zingers wouldn’t zing without the exasperated reactions from one Mrs. Gloria Teasdale.
You know who’s taking the pandemic hard? Well, everyone, but especially Christopher Nolan. He has a new film that’s supposed to come out on July 17, emphasis on the word “supposed.” If there’s one director who values the “theatrical experience,” it’s Nolan. Warner Bros. has already pushed back Wonder Woman 1984 and In the Heights, among others, but “Christopher Nolan’s Tenet will stay firm on July 17 in anticipation the global theatrical marketplace will be well by then,” according to Deadline. In other words, it’s either theaters (even if it means in 2021) or bust; he’s not a direct-to-streaming guy. But you can currently stream his directorial debut, the low-budget crime thriller Following, for when you need a break from re-watching/still attempting to “get”Interstellar.
Just because Hot Topic has co-opted The Nightmare Before Christmas into a year-round commercial enterprise to sell, like, chain wallets doesn’t mean it’s not a good movie. Actually, it’s not a good movie; it’s a great movie, a stop-motion masterpiece from Henry Selick and Tim Burton. (Looking for a good way to spend a few hours? Hire up a Zoom with your friends, and ask them to name Burton’s last quality film.) “This Is Halloween” is a year-round banger, “Oogie Boogie’s Song” is a top-tier villain song, and “Sally’s Song” is secretly the saddest song ever. How has Danny Elfman never won an Oscar?
Paris Is Burning, a documentary about New York’s queer African-American and Latinx drag ball scene in the 1980s, was inducted into the National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Or as Criterion put it, “Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women, Paris Is Burning brings it, celebrating the joy of movement, the force of eloquence, and the draw of community.” It’s a must-watch.
You know that scene from The Simpsons where Homer is watching Twin Peaks and says, “Brilliant! … I have absolutely no idea what’s going on.” Do I have any idea what’s happening in Primer? No. Could I explain the plot to another person? Also no. Good thing I’m/we’re stuck at home, away from other people, and can re-watch Shane Carruth’s skillful Sundance-winning film about time travel (now there’s an understatement) over and over and over and over and over and over again.
Maybe you don’t want to watch a found footage movie where a TV reporter and her cameraman are trapped in a building, along with the residents, and not allowed to go outside, out of fear that they’ll spread a deadly virus. Or maybe it’s the cathartic release you need. Don’t bother with the American remake Quarantine (it’s only a matter of time before it’s the next Contagion), but do check out the surprisingly good sequel, Rec 2.
OK, OK. South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut is TECHNICALLY 81 minutes long, but if you turn it off at 79:59, all you’ll miss is some credits and Michael McDonald singing “Eyes of a Child.” That’s not nothing, but at least you’ll still hear the “What Would Brian Boitano Do?” reprise. Anyway, Bigger, Longer, & Uncut, made during South Park‘s third season on Comedy Central, is one of the best show-to-movie-adaptations, and a killer Stephen Sondheim-approved musical to boot. It’s easy to watch, mmmkay?
The Weeknd’s new album After Hours has expanded greatly since its initial release a bit over a week ago. Just a few days after it came out, it received a deluxe edition that added remixes by and/or featuring Lil Uzi Vert, Oneohtrix Point Never, The Blaze, and Chromatics, as well as the Saturday Night Live performance of “Scared To Live.” Now the deluxe version of the album has gotten even bigger: Over the weekend, The Weeknd added three new songs to the ever-growing album.
The trio of tracks includes “Nothing Compares,” “Missed You,” and “Final Lullaby.” The first is an airy track grounded by heavy synths, the second is a quick shot of after-dark pop, while the latter song is a synthy nighttime ballad.
The Weeknd’s post-release tweaking of After Hours has apparently been successful: It was revealed yesterday that the album has debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart, making it his fourth No. 1 release. It went No. 1 thanks to 444,000 equivalent album units sold, which is The Weeknd’s biggest opening frame ever, surpassing his previous personal best that was set by his 2015 album, Beauty Behind The Madness.
Listen to “Nothing Compares” above, and stream the full deluxe edition of After Hours below.
After Hours is out now via Republic Records. Get it here.
Hoping to inject some positivity into our dreary world, John Krasinski launched a new YouTube series called “Some Good News” over the weekend.
“For years now, I’ve been wondering, why is there not a news show dedicated entirely to good news?” he asked (probably because people need to know about corrupt institutions more than a dog and cat becoming unlikely friends, but I digress). “Well, desperately seeking my fix somewhere else, I reached out to all of you this week, asking — nay, begging — for some good news. And boy, did you deliver. After reading those replies and the incredibly heartwarming stories that came with them, I thought, ‘All right. Enough is enough, world. Why not us? Why not now?’ So, ladies and gentleman, this is your fault, and this is SGN. I’m John Krasinski, and if it isn’t clear yet, I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing.” Even so, he booked an impressive guest for his first episode.
Steve Carell and Krasinki reunited virtually to discuss the 15th anniversary of The Office and their favorite memories from the show, including the “Dinner Party” episode and filming “Fun Run” in extreme heat. “Part of what was so much fun about it was that everybody in the cast was rooting for everybody else,” Carell said. “People would step back when it was time for other people to shine and celebrate it.” The oft-discussed reunion was brought up, but for now, they would settle for getting “to reunite as people.”
Watch the video above.
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