Category: Worldwide

Steven begins this episode like he has many other installments of Indiecast — by complaining to Ian about the performance of his Fantasy Albums team. In this instance, he thought he had a sure thing — a new Taylor Swift album — but after a predictable wave of early raves, Taylor’s Metacritic score has tumbled amid a critical backlash. What happened? Steven and Ian also recap their recent experiences at two very different concerts, Phish at Sphere and Cindy Lee in San Diego.

After that, Steven proceeds to rant about Oasis not get inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame this year, and how this underlines once again the Rock Hall’s bias against alt and indie bands of the 1980s and ’90s. He also compares Foreigner and Peter Frampton to former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer. and it definitely makes sense. Then the guys review the new album by the charming Austin indie-pop duo Hovvdy, who make very good patio music. In the mailbag, a listener brings up new music from Menomena and if it’s ever bad to sound too much like yourself.

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks about the “sasscore” band SeeYouSpaceCowboy while Steven goes for a classic rec with the ’80s band Love And Rockets.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 186 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

After seeing another double-digit lead evaporate against the Nuggets on Thursday night, the Lakers are just one more loss away from the offseason.

That could happen as soon as Saturday night when the two teams meet for Game 4 in L.A., as the Lakers certainly seemed dispirited, at best, after a third straight loss after having an early lead. For Charles Barkley, a Lakers playoff flameout would be some vindication as he spent all year insisting the Lakers and Warriors (who didn’t even make it to the playoffs, losing in the Play-In to the Kings) were overrated.

Barkley has been consistent all year with this, even calling the Warriors “cooked” after the first half of basketball they played this season, and much of his frustration has been with how the “other network,” ESPN, talks about those two teams. Just over a month ago, Barkley called out the “idiots” at ESPN for pretending the Lakers and Warriors have a chance, and took his victory lap on Thursday night, even though the Lakers still aren’t quite done yet.

“I just want to say to all you people who’ve been kissing up to the Lakers and the Warriors all year talking about ‘they gonna make a run.’ Know where they gonna run to? The Bahamas. Sunday morning. I told y’all all along. … I get tired of these fools on the other network. … I told y’all, the Lakers and the Warriors both stink.”

It’s Chuck at his best, and, honestly, he speaks for a lot of fans who have grown tired of how often ESPN discusses the Lakers and Warriors despite them spending all year in the Play-In race rather than the top of the standings. Given TNT won’t have Game 4 (it’s the lone ABC game on Saturday night, with TNT having the three games before it), Chuck couldn’t risk them being eliminated before he could cut this promo and went ahead with it after Game 3.

PARTYNEXTDOOR’s PartyNextDoor 4 (P4) album cover art reveal was jarring because it captures a nude woman from behind. Among Uproxx’s Wongo Okon’s “4 Wishes” for PARTYNEXTDOOR’s first full-length effort since 2020 was a new album cover. We have not gotten that, but the video for P4 track “For Certain” proves that PARTYNEXTDOOR wasn’t aiming for surface-level shock value.

Directed by Edgar Daniel, the five-plus-minute video begins with PARTYNEXTDOOR pulling up to an undisclosed and unassuming location at night. Once inside, a party is raging. “We didn’t vibe on the first night, but you’re so enticing,” he sings. “We didn’t vibe then, but now I want you.” And yes, he is “for certain” that he wants someone as his girlfriend, but the sheer number of beautiful women dancing makes it impossible to know which woman he wants.

All seems well and good. Everyone appears to be lost in the vibe, as harmless as a promiscuous night like this could be — and then, there’s a jarring plot twist about three minutes in. PARTYNEXTDOOR is holding cash and receiving a lap dance when a woman brings out drinks, and it’s soon very evident that he has been roofied. Suddenly, we’re inside of a hallucination, and an unseen narrator takes over.

“Those guys, they walk around acting like gods,” she says while footage of different men schmoozing women flits across the screen. “You wouldn’t believe the sh*t they get away with, and they’re still up in the club. That’s why we can do this — again, again, again, and again — because, to them, it’s just another night. But to us, it’s all about money.”

By now, the video depicts the women spiking several men’s drinks to steal their cash. The video’s end credits double as a pseudo breaking news broadcast about “a clandestine underground crime ring” with “multiple female suspects” in custody after “targeting unsuspecting men on online platforms.” The departing message is, “It’s a sinister twist in the realm of criminal activity — shattering stereotypes and underscoring the need for vigilance in today’s society.”

Watch the “For Certain” video above.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the Lakers ran out to a fast start against the Nuggets before watching Denver steadily reel them in and beat them.

For the 11th straight game, the Lakers fell to the Nuggets, and for the third straight game this series, they saw a double-digit lead evaporate. This time it wasn’t quite as dramatic as the Game 2 thriller, but L.A. took a 10-point lead into the second quarter, as LeBron James and Anthony Davis led the way, and got it up to 12 before Denver began closing the gap.

The Nuggets, despite having a rough shooting start, were able to cut the deficit to four at the half and by the early third quarter they’d taken the lead on a Michael Porter Jr. three.

On a night where no one on either side could consistently buy a bucket from the three-point line, Denver’s ability to score in myriad ways proved to be the difference. The Nuggets shot 5-of-28 from three and the Lakers went 5-of-27 from beyond the arc, but Denver was able to turn to a balanced attack and get to the basket more consistently than the Lakers.

Aaron Gordon led Denver in scoring with 29 points and 15 rebounds, going 12-of-18 from the floor and absolutely feasting in the paint, as every single one of his buckets came in the restricted area.

Nikola Jokic had 24 points (9-of-13 shooting) with 15 rebounds and nine assists, a relatively ho-hum game from the likely MVP. Jamal Murray had 22 points — but needed 21 shots to get there — and nine assists, while Michael Porter Jr. pitched in 20 points and 10 boards, including some big second half buckets to help Denver separate.

For the Lakers, James finished with 26 points and nine assists, while Davis had 33 points and 15 rebounds, but they got little in the way of support beyond a 2-point night from Austin Reaves (with many coming in a futile fourth quarter effort). D’Angelo Russell went scoreless, missing all seven shot attempts on the night (including six from three), but he certainly wasn’t alone in having a tough night. The Lakers just simply seem outgunned in this matchup, as there’s not enough support for their two stars, and by the time the fourth quarter arrives, those two seem gassed from having to carry so much of the load.

Denver, meanwhile, still hasn’t seemed to hit their stride in this series, but continues to find ways to win. This time they got their comeback done before the fourth quarter and were able to cruise down the stretch, and their ability to create offense in multiple ways makes them an absolute nightmare to deal with.

We’ll see if the Lakers can dig deep to find the will to snap the streak in Game 4, or if the Nuggets will polish off a second straight sweep in L.A.

It happened slowly, and then all at once. The Tems well ran dry (outside of her casually earning an Oscar nomination for writing on Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up”) for two years before she returned with “Me & U” last October, and the Nigerian artist proceeded to drop “Not An Angel” in December. Then, in between her Coachella 2024 sets, Tems announced Born In The Wild, her debut studio album due out in May.

Before officially announcing the album with a 56-second trailer, Tems confirmed to her audience during Coachella 2024 Weekend 1 that her album was done. As shared by Seyi Sodimu on Instagram, Tems introduced “Love Me JeJe” as her “paying tribute to my country” and debuted it with a call-and-response performance, including the catchy hook, “Love my jeje, love me tender.” Elsewhere in the song, Tems emphasizes her undying devotion and loyalty with masterful use of repetition: “Any time you call me, I’ll be down / I’ll be down / Because I love and I love and I love and I love you only / Because I need and I need and I need and I need you more.”

“Love Me Jeje” officially arrived on Friday, April 26. As pointed out by Billboard, Sodimu, a Nigerian singer-songwriter, released “Love Me JeJe” featuring Shafy Bello in 1997. Now, “Love Me JeJe” serves as the first song confirmed to be from Tems’ Born In The Wild.

Listen to “Love Me JeJe” below.

Aaron Carter died unexpectedly on November 5, 2022. He was 34 years old, and his cause of death was later confirmed as “drowning and the effects of alprazolam, a generic form of Xanax, and inhaling difluoroethane,” as reported by Variety last April. The tragic circumstances around Carter’s death are magnified through “Recovery,” a single released posthumously from the forthcoming posthumous Carter album, The Recovery Album.

The swelling anthem finds Carter singing about struggling to let go and desperately pursuing relief from the pain: “Tomorrow is a new day / Tryin’ to shake the pain away / ‘Cause I’m still in recovery.”

On April 5, Angel Carter Conrad, Carter’s twin sister, and Aaron Pearce, a longtime collaborator of Carter’s, and Carter’s former manager Lori Knight announced The Recovery Album. The posthumous project is due out on May 24 — purposefully released during Mental Health Awareness Month.

“A portion of all proceeds will go to benefit On Our Sleeves and a trust established for Aaron’s son, Prince Lyric Carter,” a press release stated. “The album and previously unreleased visuals will also serve to be a legacy Prince Carter can carry of his father when he was happy and healthy.”

Last December, Angel Carter Conrad commemorated what would have been Aaron’s 36th birthday with an Instagram post explaining the purpose behind On Our Sleeves — Kids Mental Health Foundation. She also appeared on CBS Mornings this week to discuss her mission in Aaron’s honor.

Listen to “Recovery” above, and watch a 2015 video of Carter performing the song below.

The Recovery Album is out 5/24 via Symphonic Distribution. Find more information here.

JT has gone hard for “Okay,” her latest single that finds her bars going even harder. “I’m about to get super annoying promoting okay!” The Miami rapper admitted to her followers on X (formerly Twitter) ahead of the song’s release. “I want this song to GO!”

JT shouldn’t have to try too hard to convince people on “Okay,” considering the song oozes infectious confidence. “I’m pretty than a motherf*cker, hoes be looking okay,” she raps. “She think that she f*ckin’ with me, is this b*tch okay? / He said he ain’t f*ckin’ around, I look at him like, ‘Okay’ / I used to down bad, but now a b*tch okay.”

The City Girls star is currently on her first headlining solo US tour, with her next show set for Friday, April 26, at The Harbor in New York, New York.

“The Harbor said I can go all night,” JT posted on Thursday night, April 25. “Safe to say WE OUTSIDE tomorrow & that’s on OKAY!!!”

“Okay” follows “No Bars” and “Sideways” as JT’s solo releases — all generating anticipation for her forthcoming solo project City Cinderella.

The project is named after JT’s fund “uplifting local partners who work tirelessly to ensure that every girl who dreams of going to prom can do so in a dress that makes her feel like royalty” because “economic barriers should not prevent any high school girl from experiencing the joy and self-confidence that comes with feeling beautiful on of the most memorable nights,” as detailed on the campaign’s official website.

In other words, JT is trying to make as many people as possible feel as good as she does in “Okay.”

Listen to “Okay” above.

Normani has given new meaning to long-awaited. Her fans have been waiting for her debut full-length studio album for five-plus years, and she finally announced Dopamine alongside its cover art in February. By late March, an X (formerly Twitter) user circled back with Normani about the silence since her album announcement, to which Normani replied that she’d address the matter the following day, and she did — announcing the lead single “1:59” featuring Gunna would arrive on April 26.

As promised, “1:59” is here. Plus, Normani finally confirmed that Dopamine will be released on June 14. As it were, the slow-burning R&B banger finds Normani just as tired of waiting around as her fans. “When I get you alone / Boy, what you gon’ do with it?” Normani sings, her vocals as strong as ever. “Don’t talk too much, just do this sh*t.” Gunna’s sings back to her, promising “You gon’ like the things I do.”

The sultry song is Normani’s first release since she collaborated with Sam Smith on the 2019 earworm “Dancing With A Stranger,” which peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. Meanwhile, Gunna is 10 days removed from announcing One Of Wun as his next album.

While “1:59” is the official lead single from Dopamine, Normani gave a taste of “Candy Paint” in a Bose ad last summer.

Listen to “1:59” above.

Dopamine is out 6/14 via RCA Records. Find more information here.

The Philadelphia 76ers got on the board in their first round series with the New York Knicks on Thursday night, winning Game 3 in Philly thanks to a huge third quarter run spurred on by their star center, Joel Embiid.

Embiid scored 18 in the third on his way to the first 50-point game of his playoff career. The big man was dominant inside and out, playing through the continued issues with his knee as he came back recently from a torn meniscus. That’s not the only ailment last year’s MVP is dealing with, however, as word emerged on Thursday night after Game 3 that he has been treated for the last week for Bell’s palsy, which causes weakness and/or paralysis of muscles on one half of the face.

Embiid had been wearing sunglasses at times when meeting with the media and after Game 2 he did his availability looking down while reporters crowded around his locker. That led to questions as to whether he had an eye injury, but then some watching Game 3 noticed Embiid struggling to blink with his left eye while at the free throw line.

After Game 3, Embiid confirmed he was dealing with Bell’s Palsy, calling it “pretty annoying” and noting the muscles on the left side of his face, particularly his mouth and eye, have been impacted. He also said it’s just another thing to push through and that he’ll continue playing while navigating the issue.

He certainly did that admirably in Game 3 and got the Sixers back on track in the series.

The 2024 NFL Draft is being held in Eminem’s beloved Detroit, so he was prominently featured alongside NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in the league’s promotion. Once the NFL Draft began on Thursday night, April 25, Eminem pivoted to promote something else — announcing a new album. Of course, Eminem fooled people with a faux album announcement on April Fools’ Day, but this announcement seems real.

According to Variety, a trailer for the album began making the rounds on X (formerly Twitter) after Eminem appeared on stage with Goodell to officially commence the NFL Draft.

XXL was among the accounts circulating the 30-second video, which shows a true crime reporter on “Detroit Murder Files” discussing “the blond anti-hero known as Slim Shady,” who “has had no shortage of enemies.” 50 Cent appears, saying, “He’s not a friend; he’s a psychopath.” Back to the true crime reporter (or rather, the man spoofing a true crime reporter with impeccable accuracy), detailing that Slim Shady’s “rude lyrics and controversial antics may have ultimately led to his demise.” He concludes, “Join me as we recreate the events that led to the murder of Slim Shady.”

The screen is then populated with the message, “THE DEATH OF SLIM SHADY (COUP DE GRACE) SUMMER 2024.”

Earlier this month, Eminem also announced an upcoming documentary by posting a casting call for real-life “Stans.”

See the video below.