Category: Viral

Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels, but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.

Every week, Uproxx is rounding up the best new indie music from the past seven days. This week we got the incredible new album from Bill Callahan, some more solo music from the ever-prolific Adrianne Lenker, and the announcement of a new album from Kevin Morby. Check out the rest of the week’s best new indie music below.

Bill Callahan – Gold Record

Over the last 30 years, we have been luck enough to witness Bill Callahan’s personal and artistic evolution, from the indirect lo-fi songwriting of his Smog project, to the lush and thoughtful recent solo output. On Gold Record, his latest release after the 2019 double album Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest, Callahan is focused on topics that “invite a kind of earnestness and even sentimentality that would have been inconceivable when he first started making albums in his 20s,” writes Steven Hyden for Uproxx.

Lomelda – Hannah

For her fifth LP under the name Lomelda, Hannah Read wouldn’t settle for anything less than perfection. The album was recorded and re-recorded in its entirety upwards of three times before Read and her brother/producer Tommy Read got everything just right. The resulting Hannah is a more expansive effort than we’ve heard from Lomelda in the past, with polished production and poignant songwriting that moves seamlessly between insular moments and full-band explosions.

Mike Huguenor – X’ed

You might recognize Mike Huguenor from his work in Jeff Rosenstock’s band, Shinobu, Hard Girls, and more. X’ed is his first proper solo album, and was composed using nothing but guitars. All of the instrumentals on the album were created by two acoustic guitars and one electric guitar, making X’ed one of the most exciting and unconventional albums of the year.

Royal Green – Royal Green

Although The National are not slated to be releasing music in 2020, the members have been keeping more than busy. Aaron Dessner worked with Taylor Swift on Folklore, Matt Berninger has a new solo album out in October, and now the band’s drummer Bryan Devendorf has released his debut solo album under the name Royal Green. The album takes on a more electronic, experimental approach, and features contributions from Aaron Dessner and Muzz’s Josh Kaufman. The eight-song effort showcases Devendorf’s individual strength as a songwriter, with each track containing multitudes of instrumental and lyrical depth.

Hannah Georgas – All That Emotion

Speaking of Aaron Dessner, he is also a collaborator on Hannah Georgas‘ gorgeous new album All That Emotion. It’s a poignant record that is rooted in a “grass is always greener” mentality with lyrics that pack a punch, delivered through dreamy, ethereal vocals that float atop pulsing indie-pop instrumentation.

Total Revenge – Total Revenge

The ever-prolific Ryan Pollie is back with another album, this time under the name Total Revenge. The lo-fi punk project’s debut self-titled album packs a lot of melodic punch into the crunchy instrumentals, with crashing percussion that proves high-end recording equipment is less imperative than a simple knack for strong songwriting.

Adrianne Lenker – “Anything”

While Big Thief has been more or less quiet during 2020, Adrianne Lenker isn’t showing any sign of slowing down. “Anything” is the first single from her new album Songs, which will be released in conjunction with another album called Instrumentals. Like most tracks Lenker puts out, “Anything” is what Derrick Rossignol calls for Uproxx “a lovely and delicate folk tune.”

Anohni – “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” (Bob Dylan cover)

It’s been nearly four years since last got a full-length project from Anohni, but now she is back with a pair of covers. Most notably is her lo-fi take on Bob Dylan’s cryptic track “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” which was originally released on Dylan’s 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home, and may or may not be about his breakup with Joni Mitchell. Regardless of the song’s original intentions, Anohni said in a press release that it reminded her of the current moment and felt more relevant than ever.

Kevin Morby – “Campfire”

Not even a year since releasing Oh My God, Kevin Morby is back with another new album. “Campfire” prefaces Sundowner, the songwriter’s sixth album, and epitomizes the record’s recurring themes as “a depiction of isolation. Of the past. Of an uncertain future,” according to a statement. Sonically, Morby’s vocals take on a Dylan-esque drawl, all the while boasting a strong, resonant chorus.

Gus Dapperton – “Medicine”

After capturing people’s attention with a bedroom pop EP in 2017, Gus Dapperton is taking a slightly different approach to Orca, his sophomore LP. “Medicine” is emblematic of Dapperton’s focus on “honing his sound and shifting to more introspective, moody pop ballads” for the new album, writes Carolyn Droke for Uproxx.

Hundredth – “Bottle It Up”

After making the shift from hardcore punk to shoegaze on their 2017 album Rare, Hundredth are back with another attempt at a sonic shift. “Bottle It Up” takes on a more indie-pop approach that sounds more like Tame Impala than Converge, once again putting the South Carolina-based band’s impressive versatility on full display.

Eastwood – “I (Don’t) Need You”

Eastwood is the indie side project of Cole Crutchfield, best known as the guitarist of hardcore heavyweights Knocked Loose. Crutchfield takes a much more mellow and calculated approach to Eastwood, taking nearly four years to put all the pieces together for the band’s proper debut release, It Never Gets Easy. If “I (Don’t) Need You” is any indication, all of the hard work paid off.

Anjimile – “In Your Eyes”

With his debut full-length project Giver/Taker slated for release in just a few short weeks, Anjimile has shared another preview. “In Your Eyes” takes on a more laid-back approach than some of the other groove-driven tracks we’ve heard so far. “Over enveloping acoustic melodies, Anjimile delivers a soothing reflection on coming to terms with his identity,” writes Carolyn Droke for Uproxx.

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

Back in October 2019, The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke teased fans on Twitter with the information that Patton Oswalt filmed a “secret role” for the hilariously violent Amazon series. A little under a year later, Oswalt’s role was revealed when the first batch of season two episodes debuted on the streaming platform, and well, it was a choice.

While tripping on hallucinogenic mushrooms in episode two, Chace Crawford’s The Deep was forced to confront his tormented feelings over his gills, which now had a voice. Specifically, Oswalt’s. While sitting down with Polygon, Kripke opened up about how he was faced with a series of decisions over how to best animate The Deep’s talking gills, which he had a more colorful name for, and how he originally wanted the CGI fish lungs to be voiced by Helen Mirren. When that didn’t work out, Kripke turned to Oswalt, who had professed his love of the show, and got the wheels spinning.

“I started thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if, like, one of Pixar’s most beloved characters was also the voice of The Deep’s mangina?’” Kripke said. But once Oswalt was in the pocket, Kripke was faced with a host of creative decisions. Via Polygon:

“There were a lot of fascinating questions,” Kripke notes. “How much should it spit? Should the gills all be moving in unison, or should they be saying different things at different times? Talking about a talking mangina is all very complicated.”

So far, Oswalt’s talking gills have only appeared in the second episode of the newest season, but we wouldn’t be surprised if the comedian’s voice pops up again down the road. Especially with The Deep’s journey focusing heavily on accepting his chest… mangina? That still doesn’t sound right.

New episodes of The Boys stream Friday on Amazon.

(Via Polygon)

The 20-year-old Beabadoobee has done a lot with just a pair of EPs under her belt, but now she’s readying her debut full-length. She has shared some previews of Fake It Flowers in recent days, and today she returns with another, the rocking “Worth It.”

Like other previews of the record, “Worth It” borrows its aesthetic from guitar-driven ’90s indie-rock, although it manages to avoid sounding old and played out while doing so. Beabadoobee says the song is “simply about teenage infidelity and the mistakes one can make when they’re tempted to do things.” She continues, “It’s a bit of a confession song but also an understanding that it’s a part of life.”

Beabadoobee, like almost everybody else in the music world (but not Smash Mouth), will not be performing for live audiences this summer. She’s trying to next fall, though, as she has announced a string of UK and Ireland tour dates for September and October 2021.

Listen to “Worth It” above, and find Beabadoobee’s tour dates below.

09/07/2021 — Manchester @ O2 Ritz
09/09/2021 — Leeds @ Beckett University
09/10/2021 — Nottingham @ Rescue Rooms
09/11/2021 — Birmingham @ O2 Institute
09/13/2021 — Cambridge @ Junction
09/14/2021 — Leicester @ O2 Academy
09/23/2021 — London @ O2 Forum Kentish Town
09/24/2021 — Bristol @ Swx
09/25/2021 — Oxford @ O2 Academy
09/28/2021 — Dublin @ The Academy
09/29/2021 — Belfast @ Oh Yeah Music Centre
10/02/2021 — Newcastle @ University Students Union
10/03/2021 — Edinburgh @ The Liquid Room
10/04/2021 — Glasgow @ Swg3

Fake It Flowers is out 10/16 via Dirty Hit. Pre-order it here.

Inside the NBA is, in my estimation, the best sports studio show of all time, in large part because all four members of the crew fully understand that there will be times where things will veer away from talking about basketball and into god knows what. There are many examples of this leading to conversations about legitimately heavy subjects, but this will also veer into being able to laugh at themselves, too, so long as things are not too mean-spirited.

An example of this came on Monday night after the evening’s slate of playoff games. One video you may have seen going around the internet at some point over the last few years is a British weatherman flawlessly pronouncing a town in Wales that consists of 58 letters, but if you have not, here it is.

The town, which is on the Isle of Anglesey, boasts the second-longest name of any town on earth, behind only New Zealand’s Taumatawhakatangi­hangakoauauotamatea­turipukakapikimaunga­horonukupokaiwhen­uakitanatahu. Perhaps we’ll see someone on set try to pronounce that some day, but on Monday, Shaq gave his best go at pronouncing Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. You can probably guess how that went.

It is unclear exactly why this happened, but hey, at least Shaq seemed to have fun with it.

Netflix announcements tend to be slightly controversial, which is probably to be expected, given that the streamer boasts over 180 million subscriber accounts and counting. You can’t please everyone, and remember when the “speed up” feature was originally floated? Boy, some folks were not happy, but Netflix probably won’t find any opposition to a new revelation from CEO Reed Hastings in a Variety interview.

According to Hastings, Netflix has resolved to rely upon their subscription-focused strategy instead of introducing ads (like Hulu has done with a tiered pricing format). This news follows a little over two years since Netflix reportedly tested ads between episodes, and I guess those tests didn’t go well. Yet Hastings believes that they simply don’t want to fix what’s not broken. Also, Hastings said, “It’s hand-to-hand combat to get people to spend less on, you know, ABC and to spend more on Netflix.”

The CEO also made a rather amazing claim about 2021 Netflix original content, which does not appear have been upended (on a massive scale, anyway) by the pandemic:

Next year, we’ve planned out the year — we’ve got a great selection of content. It’s still more originals than this year. It’s not up by as much as we first forecast, but it is up on a year-over-year basis. Of course in Europe we’re producing, in Asia we’re producing. We’re all hopeful for a vaccine, so we can get back to more intensive work..

It sounds like several shows, like The Witcher, may have been pushed back a few months due to stopping production earlier this year, but Henry Cavill and company are back to work in Europe, unflattering photos and all. As for office-related matters, Hastings spoke with the Wall Street Journal and expressed his distaste for working at home. He plans to get the Netflix staff back into buildings as soon as it’s feasible. As he initially (and jokingly) said, it’ll happen “12 hours after a vaccine is approved.” In reality, Reed’s thinking it’ll happen “probably six months after a vaccine… once we can get a majority of people vaccinated.”

(Via Variety & Wall Street Journal)

Juicy J and DJ Paul have reportedly hit Suicideboys members Ruby Da Cherry and Scrim with a copyright infringement lawsuit over their alleged use of uncleared Three 6 Mafia samples.

According to XXL, Juicy and Paul originally filed the copyright infringement lawsuit back in late June against Cherry and Scrim for “illegally sampling and stealing” from 35 songs belonging to Three 6. The lawsuit claims Cherry and Scrim used the unauthorized samples in order to “trade off and profit from Three 6 Mafia’s original sound and hard-earned success in the hip-hop industry.” The lawsuit documents references the Suicideboys tracks “Mask And Da Glock,” “Smoked Out, Loced Out,” and “BreakDaLaw2K16,” all of which feature nearly identical instrumentals to Three 6 songs.

Juicy J and DJ Paul are seeking $1.2 million from the case for “compensatory and actual damages, including [d]efendants’ profits from infringement, in an amount in excess of $1,200,000” as well as $5.25 million for other damages. Suicdeboys don’t deny they used Three 6 instrumentals in their music, but they do state Juicy J gave them “verbal” permission to use the tracks in exchange for production work on Juicy’s Highly Intoxicated and Shutdaf*ckup mixtapes, which they allege the rapper never compensated them for.

Ahead of the lawsuit’s report, Juicy J sat down with Uproxx and discussed the possibility of Three 6 making a comeback: “I always felt like Three 6 Mafia could make a comeback. But it always had me kind of nervous and scared to even do that. Because we’ve done so much in music that I didn’t want it to be like, ‘Aw, they’re not good enough.’ Or ‘Aw, they got old.’ Or they’re not creative like they used to be or things ain’t the way they were. We never really went down that road to bring the group back.”

Summer treasure hunts have been a bit of an obsession of ours lately. With most of the world still locked down or under serious quarantine measures, our only hope for perspective-shifting travel is within the confines of the United States which, admittedly, can feel a bit less life-changing (though we’d argue the states are full of hidden gems and unique cultures). But throw a good treasure hunt into the equation? You’ve got yourself an instant adventure.

To cap off the summer treasure hunting season, it’s time to search for the greatest treasure of all: your very own candy factory. David Klein, the man who brought us the Jelly Belly jelly bean, is going full Willy Wonka for his retirement by launching a golden ticket treasure hunt across the United States, in which treasure hunters can score a cool $5,000 and the chance to grab the grand prize: their very own candy factory.

What are you going to do with a candy factory you ask? Wrong question. What aren’t you going to do with a candy factory?

The golden tickets are being hidden in secret locations throughout the U.S. and to join the hunt, treasure hunters will have to pay $50 to receive their state’s riddle, which will be limited to just 1,000 participants per state. As a lot of twitter users have pointed out, that means it’s not exactly a pure, altruistic giveaway.

The golden tickets will be in the form of dog tag necklaces that include a code to verify your find and claim your $5,000 reward, and all participants will be eligible to join the Ultimate Treasure Hunt for ownership of one of Klein’s Candyman Kitchens.

It doesn’t seem like there are any age requirements or group limits on the contest, though at least one person will have to register for the hunt and will need to have a Facebook account to join a private forum. Also, only one person can win the grand prize, so if you end up winning a candy factory as part of a group effort, you’ll have to settle this the way everything is settled in the cutthroat candy industry — with a duel to the death. (Sorry, we don’t make the rules!)

As mentioned, each treasure hunt is limited to just 1,000 participants. So if you’re interested in joining the hunt, head over to the Gold Ticket website to check when tickets are being released for your state. The first state, Georgia, is scheduled to drop tickets on September 30th at 11 am EST for $49.98, followed by Virginia on October 8th.

While promoting Uncut Gems, star Adam Sandler told Howard Stern that if he didn’t get an Oscar nomination for his Oscar-worthy performance in the Safdie Brothers-directed film, “I’m going to fucking come back and do one again that is so bad on purpose just to make you all pay. That’s how I get them.” Guess what? He wasn’t nominated.

In unrelated news, here’s the first look at Sandler’s next Netflix movie.

To be fair, Sandler was joking when he threatened to make his worst movie ever, and even if he wasn’t, he never said when it would happen. Besides, Hubie Halloween looks… good! The horror-comedy stars the Sandman as Hubie, “a good-natured but eccentric community volunteer who finds himself at the center of a real murder case on Halloween night. Despite his devotion to his hometown of Salem, Massachusetts (and its Halloween celebration), Hubie is a figure of mockery for kids and adults alike,” according to Entertainment Weekly. That could be fun. Also, Hubie is a Happy Gilmore reunion, with Sandler working with Julie Bowen for the first time since Virginia in his happy place.

It’s a real win-win for Sandler. If Hubie is terrible, then he’s living up to his promise; and if Hubie is good, then, well, that would make two good Sandler Netflix comedies.

Hubie Halloween, which also stars Kevin James, Maya Rudolph, Shaquille O’Neal, Ray Liotta, June Squibb, Steve Buscemi, Michael Chiklis, Kenan Thompson, and Rob Schneider (because of course it does), premieres on Netflix on October 7.

Following the death of Chadwick Boseman that left the world in mourning, his Black Panther co-star, Lupita Nyong’o, has shared a lengthy and touching tribute to the late actor. Inspired by the life lessons that Boseman taught her during the time together on the Marvel hit, Nyong’o revealed that she’s struggled to accept his passing, but she’s finding a way forward by remembering Boseman’s dedication to not wasting a second of life.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Nyong’o wrote on Instagram. “The news of his passing is a punch to my gut every morning. I am aware that we are all mortal, but you come across some people in life that possess an immortal energy, that seem like they have existed before, that are exactly where they are supposed to be – here! That seem ageless. Chadwick was one of those people.”

Echoing tributes from director Ryan Coogler and Black Panther star Letitia Wright, Nyong’o spoke glowingly about Boseman’s presence even before filming. He was at every audition and every fight training, pushing his co-stars just by his presence. “He set the bar high by working with a generosity of spirit, creating an ego-free environment by sheer example, and he always had a warm gaze an a strong embrace to share,” Nyong’o wrote. “His large hands would descend on my shoulders and give them a squeeze that relieved me of the tensions I did not realize I was holding. Chadwick’s hands were strong enough to carry the weight of the film and free enough to clasp mine when I needed it.”

Nyong’o also revealed a surprising side of Boseman. “He used his mouth to build, to edify, never to break. And he used it to tell some regrettably lame dad jokes.”

After praising Boseman for his deep love for humanity and his people, Nyong’o ended her tribute with a challenge for others to follow in Boseman’s footsteps. “Chadwick’s death is something that I can neither take in nor take in my stride right now. Perhaps with time… I’m going to take my time… and in his honor, I promise not to waste my time. I hope you will do the same.”

You can see Lupita Nyong’o’s full tribute to Chadwick Boseman below:

(Via Lupita Nyong’o on Instagram)

R. Kelly was reportedly the victim of an attack last week while in his prison cell at Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center. Kelly’s attorney Steven Greenberg confirmed the singer was sitting on his bed when another prisoner walked in and “started punching the crap” out of him. Now, Kelly is claiming he was aware of the attack’s premeditation and warned the prison guards, but they ignored him.

According to a report from TMZ, Greenberg said Kelly was aware of the alleged attack three weeks prior to the incident when he heard the inmate detailing his plan over the phone. Greenberg states Kelly informed the prison guards of what he overheard the next day, but they didn’t take his concerns seriously.

Greenberg originally alleged the attack was carried out due to the prison being on lockdown because of people protesting Kelly’s verdict outside the jailhouse. Guards had reportedly announced the facility was on lockdown, meaning the inmates could not go outside. Kelly’s legal team insists the announcement was against protocol and led to the inmates becoming upset with Kelly.

Reports of the alleged attack are the latest news from Kelly’s case, following the New York Times‘ story that three of the singer’s associates set one of his accuser’s cars on fire to intimidate her. The incident wasn’t the first time Kelly’s team had reportedly used a similar intimidation tactic. Back in October of last year, Kelly was accused of sending threatening letters to his alleged victims and their families.