Following The Shins’ 2017 album Heartworms and its re-worked version from 2018, The Worm’s Heart, the James Mercer-led group has returned with their first new music since then, a video for “The Great Divide.”
The track contains a blend of The Shins’ classic indie sound with some more contemporary elements, which is essentially what Mercer says of the track: “[It’s] a blend of futurism and nostalgia. We used everything from vintage synthesizers to iPhones, from a sixties Ludwig kit to an 808.” Video director Paul Trillo also said of the visual, “We knew we wanted to craft something as grand as the song; something that was both wildly surreal yet also resonates on a human level. I wanted to place the current state of things, this ‘Great Divide’ we’re going through, within the larger context of the universe.”
“When the Shins do a ‘flipped’ version of a song, the goal is always to re-approach the production aesthetic and show a different side to the piece. The idea is that a song properly written can be framed in many different contexts and still remain engaging. Yuuki Matthews, Jon Sortland and I sat down and talked about how we could change things up. The original idea was to treat it like a piano ballad but that soon gave way to Yuuki’s moody post new wave treatment. I immediately loved it and so the direction was established. When we flip a song correctly you should have a hard time picking which version you like best!”
Watch the “The Great Divide” video above, and find the flipped version below.
A Kentucky grand jury brought no charges against Louisville police on Wednesday for the killing of Breonna Taylor, an unarmed Black woman who was shot five times as cops stormed her home. One of those officers, Brett Hankison, was charged with three counts of “wanton endangerment” for shooting into a neighbor’s apartment, but that’s it. Nothing for Taylor’s death. “Prosecutors found that the two officers who shot Ms. Taylor, who was Black, were justified in their use of force because they had identified themselves as officers and had then come under fire from her boyfriend, who said he thought it was intruders forcing their way inside,” according to the New York Times.
The grand jury basically letting the officers involved get off scot-free led to protests across the country last night (including in Louisville, KY, where two cops were shot), and angry reactions online. “I’ve been lost for words today!” NBA superstar and activist LeBron James tweeted. “I’m devastated, hurt, sad, mad! We want Justice for Breonna yet justice was met for her neighbors apartment walls and not her beautiful life.”
Meanwhile, leave it to Tomi Lahren to have the worst take.
It is NOT an officer’s duty to gamble with his/her life so you can happily and comfortably resist arrest.
“It is NOT an officer’s duty to gamble with his/her life so you can happily and comfortably resist arrest,” the conservative pundit and Kayleigh McEnany clone tweeted, leaving out the fact that when the police arrived at Taylor’s apartment, she was in bed asleep.
“Inside the apartment, Taylor had fallen asleep as the movie Freedom Writers played, and [Kenneth Walker, her boyfriend] said he was starting to doze off,” the Courier Journalwrote in a timeline of what happened on March 13, 2020. “Officers were in place outside of Taylor’s apartment and began to knock on the door. After a few knocks, Mattingly said, they began to identify themselves as police. The knocking startles Taylor and Walker out of bed, and they began yelling out, asking who is there, Walker said. They don’t hear a response.” Less than 10 minutes later, Taylor was dead.
The internet is divided on most things, but nearly everyone agrees that dunking on Tomi is good.
Tomi (Nazi Barbie) loves the right to bear arms and protect yourself… when it’s white people bearing arms and protecting themselves. If a POC does the same… it’s criminal. The officers duty is not to gamble with ANYONE’s life. https://t.co/Kyh8CD2xaV
SHE WAS SLEEPING IN HER OWN FUCKING BED TOMI. SHE WAS AN EMT. SHE COMMITTED NO CRIMES. WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED? I swear people love to move and adjust the boundaries of morality and humanity anytime it comes to killing our people. https://t.co/sNWbWs0IXe
Damn, didn’t realize that being asleep at home in your bed while your boyfriend thinks there’s an intruder on the premises because the police **did not announce themselves** is “resisting arrest” — thanks for this one, noted legal scholar Tomi Lahren. https://t.co/6ioAoRD36c
Kanye West has been trying to bring about a bunch of change lately. Aside from his ongoing presidential campaign, the rapper is also on a quest to re-structure the music industry by giving artists more power over their master recordings. Those aren’t his only causes of the moment, as he has also made it clear recently that he wants seats on the boards of Gap and Adidas, with both of whom he works. Now, Kanye is straight up demanding seats and is threatening to withhold his support of the companies until he gets them.
Kanye tweeted last night, “I’M WEARING JORDANS TILL I’M ON THE BOARD OF ADIDAS.” He quickly added, “I’M NOT RELEASING NOTHING ON GAP TILL I’M ON THE BOARD.” These tweets follow a September 10 tweet in which Kanye wrote, “I DONT HAVE A BOARD SEAT AT GAP I DONT HAVE A BOARD SEAT AT ADIDAS … BLACK BOARD SEATS MATTER.”
I’M WEARING JORDANS TILL I’M ON THE BOARD OF ADIDAS
Gap might understandably be upset by this news, considering they and Kanye just closed a huge ten-year deal which will involve the creation of a new Yeezy Gap line. Kanye also has a well-established relationship with Adidas that has brought about a number of influential and talked-about shoes. Regardless, it remains to be seen what will come of Kanye’s new demands.
Netflix’s October roster of content is almost unbelievably jam-packed, and one of the most intriguing titles (believe it or not) is about chess. Actually, it’s a limited series and coming-of-age story about a chess-playing prodigy. Anya Taylor-Joy stars in The Queen’s Gambit (so named for the opening move but arriving with other connotations) as a narcotics-fueled orphan, Beth Harmon, who strikes out into the male-dominated 1950s subculture of competitive chess playing and emerges as a troubled champion.
What results is an unnerving and surprisingly suspenseful tale about the true cost of genius that’s based upon the Walter Tevis novel of the same name. It’s also a meditation on addiction and danger, given that Beth becomes dependent upon tranquilizers, booze, and well, you name it, while battling towards a world title. It’s a bit of an underdog tale, the likes of which we haven’t seen before since it doesn’t revolve around contact sports, but around a young woman who lives and breathes by the fall of the pawns. The series hails from Godless director Scott Frank, who’s co-creating, showrunning, directing, writing, and executive producing. From the synopsis:
Abandoned and entrusted to a Kentucky orphanage in the late 1950s, a young Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy) discovers an astonishing talent for chess while developing an addiction to tranquilizers provided by the state as a sedative for the children. Haunted by her personal demons and fueled by a cocktail of narcotics and obsession, Beth transforms into an impressively skilled and glamorous outcast while determined to conquer the traditional boundaries established in the male-dominated world of competitive chess.
The Queen’s Gambit (which also stars Marielle Heller, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Moses Ingram, Harry Melling, and Bill Camp) streams on October 23.
Like The Macallan, Glenlivet, and The Balvenie, seeing the name “The Dalmore” on a bottle of scotch whisky means you’re in for a special experience. Drop $50 to purchase The Dalmore 12? You’re getting an interesting expression — worth every penny. But what about a bottle that sets you back between $6,000 and $14,000 dollars? Is there any way to get your money’s worth on an expression like that?
Recently, The Dalmore announced the release of its Rare & Aged expressions. The offerings are The Dalmore 35, The Dalmore 40, and The Dalmore 45. If you were to buy all three, you’d be left with three 750ml bottles of scotch and a $30,000 bill.
These limited-edition expressions were hand-selected by Master Distiller Richard Paterson. If you can afford them, you’ll have three of the best bottles of Scotch in the world. But those prices are no joke. Still, for those interested in the good life (does 2 Chainz like scotch?), each expression is held in a Baccarat crystal decanter emblazoned with a solid silver stag, crafted by silversmiths Hamilton & Inches.
For some reason, we were lucky enough to sample these very exclusive whiskies. Here are our notes.
The Dalmore 35
The Dalmore
ABV: 40%
Price: $6,000
The Story:
Where to possibly start with this one? This expression is aged in a combination of ex-bourbon, Matusalem sherry butt, and Port Colheita pipe. The time spent aging is a whopping 35 years. The result is an 80 proof, highly nuanced, mellow whisky that literally deserves to be treasured.
Tasting Notes:
Don’t disrespect this whisky by not nosing it first. The first aromas that will swirl around your nose are those of almond cookies, sweet cherries, and toasted honey. The first sip delivers bananas foster, sticky toffee pudding, spicy cinnamon, and indulgent sweet cream. The finish is medium in length, comfortably warming, and ends with pleasing final notes of candied orange peels and brown sugar.
Bottom Line:
We don’t have to tell you that a whisky of this magnitude deserves to be enjoyed in a dram — taken slowly, while you sit in front of a roaring fire.
The Dalmore 40
The Dalmore
ABV: 42%
Price: $8,800
The Story:
To say this bottle is rare is an obvious understatement. If you even have the scratch to buy one, good luck finding it. This whisky was first aged in ex-bourbon American oak casks before maturing in 30-year-old Gonzalez Byass Matsualem oloroso sherry butts, then finished in first-fill ex-bourbon barrels. The result is an 84 proof, complex, deeply indulgent whisky.
Tasting Notes:
The nosing of a whisky of this level is like an epic drum roll before a big announcement. The scents of sweet sherry, caramelized sugar, candied orange peel, and butterscotch waft up through your nostrils. The first sip delivers flavors of maple syrup, cinnamon, fruit cake, and pleasing caramel and vanilla notes. The finish is short, slightly warming, and almost unfathomably mellow and creamy.
Bottom Line:
This whisky was aged for 40 years. Four decades. You should take your time sipping it. Not 40 years, but long enough to pick up all of the different flavors and appreciate the complexity.
The Dalmore 45
The Dalmore
ABV: 40%
Price: $14,600
The Story:
When it comes to rare whiskies, it’s hard to beat The Dalmore 45. This super old whisky was first aged in ex-bourbon American white oak casks before being moved to two varieties of Vintage Graham’s Port Colheita pipes. The two liquids are then married together in first-fill ex-bourbon barrels to finish.
The result is an 80 proof whisky that is so sublime you’ll think your soul has left your body for a few moments while you’re sipping it.
Tasting Notes:
We’re not going to lie, we were really excited to finally taste this expression. We lingered for a long time breathing in the various aromas. This sounds overly dramatic, but you can smell the tireless work and the long aging that went into this dram. It’s a slightly musty, warming, welcoming smell of the barrelhouse itself. Following these notes comes the scent of sweet plums, candied cherries, and almond cream. The first sip yields rich honey, subtle Christmas spices, toasted marshmallow, chocolate, and sweet cream. The finish is short, gently warming, and filled with caramel plus a slight kick of warming spice at the very end.
Bottom Line:
While we’re not sure we can justify spending almost $15,000 for a bottle of whisky, we understand why it carries this lofty price tag. This is quite possibly the most mellow, easy to drink, complex whisky this taster has personally have ever tasted.
It’s been an emotional day around the NBA. The Black Lives Matter movement has been fighting for social justice reform for years, with the police killings of unarmed black people in America reaching a tipping point in 2020, as George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and many others becoming the faces of the movement.
On Wednesday, after six months without any arrests, police in Kentucky finally filed charges against one of the officers who killed Taylor, a “wanton endangerment” charge that many saw as a slap in the face to Black people everywhere who fear for their lives against a police system that continues to operate with relative impunity.
The NBA and WNBA world, sports media hosts, and LeBron James all sounded off on that development on Wednesday, decrying the lack of accountability for police officers who were able to enter a Black woman’s home while she was sleeping and shoot her to death while receiving little more than a slap on the wrist.
After Game 4 of the Celtics-Heat series, ESPN’s Malika Andrews was the latest to sound off about the Taylor case, using her time on SportsCenter to give us a tearful and powerful reminder that, as a Black woman who is the same age as Taylor was, she’s in the same position as so many Americans who fear for their lives against a police system that is supposed to protect us.
Andrews reiterated the fact that, while players didn’t consider sitting out Wednesday night’s game, they vowed to use their platform to continue to bring their message to the masses. The league, its players, and its owners have created a massive social reform campaign that seeks to bring education, money, and awareness about various equal justice initiatives. Wednesday’s news in the Taylor case only underscores the need for that now more than ever.
The Boston Celtics have once again found themselves in a dark place in their Eastern Conference Finals series against the Heat. After going down 2-0 to Miami last week, a high-profile locker-room dust-up after Game 2 dominated the headlines and raised serious questions about team morale.
They bounced back in Game 3 and had an opportunity on Wednesday in Game 4 to even the series, but that was not to be, as Heat rookie Tyler Herro had the game of his life, leading his team to a 112-109 victory over the Celtics and bringing them just one win away from the NBA Finals.
Here’s what we learned from a hard-fought Game 4.
Tyler Herro Submitted An Instant Classic Performance
The NBA Playoffs are where superstars are born, but they’re also the place where young players can announce their arrival, and few rookies have done so in more spectacular fashion than Tyler Herro did on Wednesday in Game 4. The 20-year-old sensation was unstoppable against the Celtics, leading all scorers with 37 points on the night, giving him the most points by a rookie in a conference finals game in league history.
Herro got it going almost from the opening tip, scoring 15 points before halftime, and was one of the only players on either team to find any sort of rhythm to start the game. From there, he was lights out, knocking down threes and getting to the basket at will to lead the Heat to a tough victory and prevent Boston from evening the series at 2-2.
Down the stretch, Miami continued to put the ball in Herro’s hands, allowing the rookie to take them to the finish line, with some help from timely Jimmy Butler buckets as well. It was an impressive showing and one that put all of Herro’s offensive talents on display, and his on-ball skills just add another dimension to the Miami offense.
Boston’s Bricks & Turnovers
We live in the age of the long ball, and as such, teams sometimes live and die by the three. That’s a given, but in this one, both teams struggled dreadfully from behind the arc. The Celtics shot just 40 percent from the field overall in the first half and 5-of-19 from three, and Miami wasn’t any better, shooting 4-of-18 from three and just over 40 percent overall before halftime. Herro was just about the only one with any consistency from the outside, and while Jayson Tatum and the Boston offense woke up to charge back to a brief lead, they simply couldn’t execute well enough offensively to stay on the front foot.
The shooting woes were one part of the problem, but turnovers ended up being Boston’s Achilles heel all night long. They coughed the ball up 19 total times in the game, 11 of which came in the second half, with several coming down the stretch. Credit some of that to Heat’s zone defense, which pestered the Celtics all night into poor decision making and contested shots.
Miami, meanwhile, didn’t commit a turnover in the fourth quarter until under a minute remaining and had just two total turnovers in the second half and nine for the game overall. Turnovers and rebounds are often looked to as key stats for good reason, and Miami’s ability to force turnovers and avoid them themselves allowed them to overcome a poor shooting night to get a win.
Jayson Tatum, Sleeping Giant
Jayson Tatum was at the center of the Celtics shooting drought through the first two quarters, going scoreless before halftime on 0-of-6 shooting, four of those misses coming from behind the arc. It was the first time that’s happened to Tatum all season.
Yet, Boston somehow managed to trail by just six points at the break, 50-44. That gave Tatum the room he needed to wake up and remember that there was a playoff game going on. And that’s exactly what he did, scoring 16 points in the third quarter and helping cut the deficit to 77-76 going into the final period.
He kept it rolling in the fourth quarter, finishing with a team-high 28 points to go along with nine rebounds and four assists, but ultimately, it wasn’t enough. Jaylen Brown (21 points, nine rebounds) and Kemba Walker (20 points, five assists) did their best to keep the Celtics afloat, but a nightmarish game from Marcus Smart, who shot 3-of-12 and committed four turnovers, only compounded matters.
The Celtics will try to keep their season alive when Game 5 tips off on Friday at 8:30 ET on ESPN, while the Heat will have a chance to punch their ticket to the NBA Finals.
DaBaby came flying into the mainstream music world in early 2019 thanks to his breakout hit, “Suge.” The song helped bring the Charlotte rapper a nationwide fan base, one that he kept beyond satisfied with new music, as he went on to release three albums in the following 13 months. While the success continued for DaBaby, a major criticism of his grew to be the lack of diversity within his music, a critique that has also grown to be a running joke about the rapper on social media. Nearly two months removed from his deluxe re-issue of his latest album, Blame It On Baby, DaBaby addressed the critique and discussed his future plans in a recent interview with Rolling Stone.
When asked about whether or not he felt the pressure from critics to diversify his sound on Blame It On Baby DaBaby said, “The fact of the matter is, I’ve been making records like that since before the first record.” He added, “I’d been making crossover records, diverse records. With this being my third album in 12 months, I thought at that point fans would be ready. At the end of the day, they take it in how they take it in. I’ve never been afraid to jump in the water. If there’s a style of music I can take it to, I’ll do that. I want to push the envelope and grow as an artist.”
Later in the interview, DaBaby would be asked about his decision to not slow down in the near future. “Some people wait because they have to. Fortunately enough, I wasn’t put in that position,” he replied. “I had the green light, and everything I’ve dropped was hot. If I didn’t put out new music, there wouldn’t be ‘Rockstar.’ I’d still be trying to beat out ‘Suge.’”
In the closing months of 2019, Selena Gomez earned the first No. 1 song of her career with “Lose You To Love Me,” which many believed referred to her past relationship with Justin Bieber. The song was also her first solo release of 2019, which helped the rollout of her third album Rare, released in early 2020. At the time of the album’s release, Gomez said the track was inspired by life events that occurred after her previous album, Revival, from 2015. Joining the Song Exploder podcast on Tuesday along with songwriting friends Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter, Gomez opened up about the part of recording the song that “killed” her the most.
“This song alone represents what a lot of people who are heartbroken have gone through,” she said. “One of the hardest parts for me to sing in the song was the bridge. It’s the ending of the song, and that’s the part where it’s like, ‘You know, I guess this is goodbye forever for us.’ And that killed me.”
Michaels then revealed that it was she who suggested the song be a ballad, which made Gomez emotional. “She just started crying. She was like, ‘This is so beautiful. This is exactly what I wanted,” Michaels recalled. Tranter praised the pop singer for her ability to be honest in her music. “One of her superpowers is being so honest, and she’s going to give you her life in the lyric, but then when she gets on the mic, she does the same thing,” she explained. “She tells you the story, she brings you through her truth, and that is what makes great art.”
Fans can check out the full Song Exploder episode here.
It’s been over six months since Tiger King hit Netflix’s coffers, and yet it’s still a subject of not infrequent tabloid-y speculation and hairpin plot twists. Surely if you’d been told in March that animal rights activist Carole Baskin would wind up being in the news more than its ostensible protagonist, jailed former zookeeper Joe Exotic, you wouldn’t believe it. And yet here she is, on Dancing with the Stars. And — why not? — not she’s being sued for defamation of character.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, Anne McQueen, the former assistant of Baskin’s long-missing former husband Don Lewis, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Baskin, claiming that Baskin had smeared her name on a YouTube video released earlier in September. Baskin is said to have claimed McQueen played a role in Lewis’ disappearance. Since Tiger King’s release, there has been mostly baseless speculation that Baskin played a hand in what happened to him, spurred on by her nemesis Joe Exotic. Baskin has repeatedly denied these allegations.
But there’s more! Attached to the lawsuit is an amendment involving Lewis’ three daughters, formally demanding more information on what happened to their missing father, who was presumed dead two decades back. Back during Baskin’s maiden voyage on Dancing with the Stars, the daughters, McQueen, and the family attorney bought ad space during the broadcast, airing a commercial in which they asked the nation for information on Lewis’ disappearance. So, yes, yet another plot twist in the nonstop tale of Tiger King, the seven-part Netflix documentary series that won’t die.
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Most playoff PTS ever by a Heat rookie. 
