Bartees Strange has long cited TV On The Radio is a primary musical influence, and now he’s gone ahead and covered the indie-rock favorites: Today, he teamed up with Eric Slick and Ohmme for a rendition of “Province,” recorded as part of a singles series from Sylvan Esso’s new label, Psychic Hotline.
Strange said in a statement, “I’ll never forget when I found TVOTR. I saw their performance on Letterman while channel surfing. I jumped out of my bed. They gave me somebody to look up to. I don’t think I really knew what I wanted to do musically until I saw them. That was a big deal for me.”
Slick, meanwhile, went into detail about how the recording came to be, saying:
“Bartees and I started talking earlier this year. I loved his album and there seemed to be some interest in working together. We talked about our admiration for TV On The Radio. I was driving around one day and thought about how much I listened to Return To Cookie Mountain in 2006, and how it was a formative record for me. It’s such a strange and simultaneously straightforward album. I made a basic acoustic cover of their song ‘Province’ and from there Bartees added his vocal take. Then I reached out to Ohmme, one of my favorite bands from Chicago. Sima and Macie added some ethereal swells and tied the whole song together. Then I removed all of the rough tracks and built a more modern structure underneath with Mellotron, Moog, and MPC. I’m so excited about the way it came out, and I am deeply inspired by what Bartees and Ohmme brought to the table.”
Listen to Strange, Slick, and Ohmme’s cover of “Province” above.
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.
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Andy Shauf – Wilds
Andy Shauf released one of last year’s best albums with The Neon Skyline. Shauf wrote 50 songs for that record, cutting a lot of great material from the final product. His new album, Wilds, finally showcases some of this material, building upon the world that he generated through song with The Neon Skyline
Angels & Airwaves – Lifeforms
Tom DeLonge has been busy with almost everything but music over the last several years. You’ve probably read about it. But amidst the effort to, you know, shift the very concept of life on earth as we know it, DeLonge was piecing together a new album with his band Angels & Airwaves. The resulting effort Lifeforms is finally here, existing as a document of and homage to DeLonge’s entire musical life, echoing his biggest inspirations and even his own discography, as he explained to me in a recent interview. DeLonge knows how to write a hook, and Lifeforms is an impressive return for Angels & Airwaves that is certainly not lacking in moments that will get your head bobbing.
Laura Jane Grace – At War With The Silverfish EP
Just about a year after dropping her debut solo album Stay Alive out of the sky, Laura Jane Grace has once again surprise-released a new project. At War With The Silverfish is a new EP of songs born of “late night madness and loneliness, orphan songs that came wandering in looking to feed like insects.” The seven-track effort is a demonstration of Grace’s pure songwriting talent, with very few — if any — studio flourishes outside of light drum programming.
Shortly – Dancer
At long last, Detroit’s Shortly has finally “officially” arrived with a full-length album. Dancer was produced by Shortly and Joe Reinhart (Hop Along, Beach Bunny, Smidley, Diet Cig), and was developed from sketches on codependence, gender dysphoria, and the tenderness of belonging. The resulting album is emotional and raw, illustrative of Alexandria Maniak’s talents as one of Michigan’s strongest songwriters.
Frames – Every Room
Richmond emo outfit Frames make twinkly, driving rock songs full of catchy guitar riffs and Sarah Phun’s soaring vocals anchoring impressive arrangements. Their new album Every Room is their strongest to date, with lyrics detailing unresolved resentment and guilt that will draw you in and spit you out.
Japanese Breakfast – Sable (Original Video Game Soundtrack)
Japanese Breakfast has been attached to the just-released video game Sable for some time, and now we can immerse ourselves in the full soundtrack. The 32-track project is full of glitchy, ambient soundscapes that create a world unto themselves. “It was important to me that each biome in this world felt unique,” Michelle Zauner explained in a statement. “I used woodwinds and vocal layering to make monumental ruins feel ancient and unknown, industrial samples and soft synths to make atomic ships feel cold and metallic, classical guitar and bright piano to make encampments feel cozy and familiar.”
Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine – A Beginner’s Mind
After leaning into electronics on his latest album The Ascension, Sufjan Stevens has returned to the world of folk for his new collaboration with Angelo De Augustine. The 14-track album A Beginner’s Mind began to come together when “the pair headed to a friend’s cabin in upstate New York for a ‘monthlong songwriting sabbatical,’ writes Derrick Rossignol for Uproxx. “At the ends of their days, Stevens and De Augustine would unwind by watching movies, and the duo’s songs soon began to reflect on the films. The album was inspired by ‘shoshin,’ a word from Zen Buddhism that means ‘Beginner’s Mind’ (hence the album title) and refers to a sense of openness and eagerness.”
Bartees Strange – “Weights”
Celebrating a massive year of growth, Bartees Strange is gearing up to release a deluxe version of his debut album Live Forever, which features a new track called “Weights.” Produced by Will Yip, “the song immediately kicks off with a wall of sound,” writes Carolyn Droke for Uproxx. “Washed out guitars and a driving beat accompany Strange as he sings of feeling distant from a past flame and regretting how their timing didn’t work out as he had hoped.”
Let’s Eat Grandma – “Hall Of Mirrors”
On their first new song in three years, UK indie-pop duo Let’s Eat Grandma — aka Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth — deliver what Rachel Brodsky calls for Uproxx a “shimmery dream-pop jam.” Although there’s no official word of a forthcoming new record from Let’s Eat Grandma, “Hall Of Mirrors” sets the bar quite high for what’s to come.
Faye Webster – “Overslept”
It’s only been a few short months since Faye Webster dropped her excellent sophomore album I Know I’m Funny Haha, but she’s showing no signs of slowing down. The newly-released track “Overslept” is what Carolyn Droke describes for Uproxx as “a wistful tune features vocals by Japanese artist Mei Ehara, who Webster said was a big source of inspiration for her on the album.”
Ovlov – “Land Of Steve-O”
Connecticut cult legends Ovlov have been putting out music on and off over the last few years, but now they are finally officially back with a new record. Buds is previewed by “Land Of Steve-O,” which is “an upbeat, antsy track that moves along with persistent percussion and sharp guitar solos,” according to Rachel Brodsky for Uproxx.
Blackstarkids – “All Cops Are Bastards”
Blackstarkids’ debut project Whatever, Man was one of 2020’s most exciting releases, and the trio’s proper debut album Puppies Forever is shaping up to do the same in 2021. The latest single “All Cops Are Bastards” is a raucous track that “kicks off with fuzzy guitars and a catchy hook,” writes Carolyn Droke for Uproxx. “As a crashing beat arrives, the trio fire off verses making it clear that they’re no friend of the police.”
Heart Attack Man – “Pitch Black”
Heart Attack Man are back with a vitriolic, bombastic new EP called Thoughtz & Prayerz. The excellent lead single “Pitch Black” is a driving, melodic meditation on not letting your past dictate your present, which the band described in a statement as “truly being in X-Games mode with your emotions and shit.”
The Copyrights – “Stuck In The Winter”
I first discovered The Copyrights on the excellent punk compilation The Thing That Ate Larry Livermore. Nearly ten years later, the band is about to drop a new record called Alone In A Dome on Fat Wreck Chords. The new single “Stuck In The Winter” is an excellent melodic punk track with a massive hook that is hard not to fall in love with.
The Regrettes – “Monday”
The Regrettes’ 2019 album How Do You Love? was a first look at the ways that 2000’s-era rock and punk music was about to make a comeback in a big way. Now, the band is back with “Monday,” a uniquely modern track that Lydia Night explains is about “really learning and trying my best to keep on dancing the pain away so I hope people can relate to that and dance with me.”
RIVER – “Dance In The Darkness”
German duo made waves with their debut single “Inappropriate,” and now they’ve returned with “Dance In The Darkness,” a highly danceable track that is built upon a groovy baseline and harmonized vocals. It’s a promising look at what’s to come as the duo continues to roll out new music.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Houston rapper Don Toliver has had a relatively eventful two years. While most of the entertainment industry was shut down over the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cactus Jack Records product toiled away, building on the buzz he’d accumulated since appearing on his mentor Travis Scott’s 2018 album Astroworld. In addition to popping up on Eminem’s “No Regrets” early in 2020, Toliver dropped his debut album Heaven Or Hell, then featured on projects from Nav, Kaash Paige, Nas, and Rico Nasty, the F9 soundtrack, and on the runaway Internet Money smash, “Lemonade” with Gunna.
Now, he’s set to capitalize on all that hard work with the release of his second album, Life Of A Don. After teasing the project on Twitter earlier this year, Toliver finally shared the release date, October 8, via a grandiose trailer featuring a pair of ballroom dancers onstage in an empty, elegantly appointed theatre.
In addition to the trailer, Toliver has teased the future release with a handful of singles including “What You Need,” “Drugs N Hella Melodies” with Kali Uchis, and “Don’t Go” with Justin Bieber and Skrillex. He’s currently on tour through October 30 with BIA, which means fans on the back end of the tour may well get the opportunity to hear the new album live after its release.
L.O.A.D. (Life Of A Don) is due 10/8 through Cactus Jack and Atlantic Records.
Don Toliver is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Before getting the axe as not just as the new permanent host of Jeopardy! but also the executive producer for the game show and Wheel of Fortune, the controversy-soaked Mike Richards filmed an entire week’s worth of episodes that aired earlier in the month, and now we get to see how he did. According to the latest ratings report, Richards’ sole week as the host of Jeopardy! cost the game show the number one spot, which went to Family Feud.
However, Jeopardy! did make some gains, but not because of Richards. Well, entirely. Via The Wrap:
“Jeopardy!” was the only game show to grow from the same week last year. With the return of champion Matt Amodio, who continued his 18-game winning streak to start the new season, the Sony quiz show rose 2% year over year.
There was likely some viewer intrigue for Amodio, and even more trainwreck tune-in for the lone Richards week.
In fairness to Richards, this is not the first time that Jeopardy! lost the top ratings spot since Alex Trebek’s death. Katie Couric earned that honor back in March, but she performed better than Richards when the show once again fell behind Family Feud. While Richards brought in a 5.1 rating with his second place week, Couric held strong at a 5.3 for a hard-fought loss to the Feud.
Seth Meyers has never missed an opportunity to bust out his Rudy Giuliani impression. So it was hardly surprising when he dedicated Monday night’s “A Closer Look” segment to the recent stories swirling around about both Rudy and his shouty son Andrew being banned from appearing on Fox News because of the libelous drivel that is constantly spilling from their mouths (and occasionally leaking from Rudy’s head). And Meyers can’t wrap his head around with a Fox News without Rudy might look like:
“They banned Rudy from Fox News? That’s like banning a turtle from its shell… Forget the interviews: If he’s banned from Fox News’ greenrooms, where’s he going to sleep? He can’t go back to his own place. The Feds probably took his bed when they raided his apartment because, knowing Rudy, he wrote incriminating notes on his sheets when he couldn’t find any paper.”
While Fox has denied that Rudy has been banned, Meyers isn’t buying it. And says that even in the network’s official statement on the matter, “they found a way to wound his ego yet again. They said he’s not technically banned—they just don’t want him… I’d use the old showbiz expression and say Rudy can’t get arrested, but I’m pretty sure he can get arrested.”
The ban, or non-ban (whichever you choose to believe), comes on the heels of Rudy seeing his license to practice law suspended in both New York and Washington, D.C. And being ghosted by former BFF Donald Trump, who got him into this mess in the first place (and reportedly refuses to even pay Rudy for the many hours he logged lying for the former president). Those rants are also what led Dominion Voting Systems to sue the former New York City Mayor for $1.3 billion for the many election lies he has spewed.
Dave Grohl has lived a very full life. Before being inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Grohl found success in Nirvana and Foo Fighters, toured the country, and was even a documentary filmmaker. In his new book, The Storyteller, Grohl shares unknown anecdotes about his life — like how he nearly joined GWAR as a teenager. But he ended up backing out for a very valid reason: He didn’t want his family members seeing him in the band’s outrageous costumes.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Grohl discussed several of the stories he details in his upcoming book. The musician talked a bit about his pre-Nirvana days, saying there was a point in time when he almost joined the heavy metal band GWAR, which were fairly big at the time:
“GWAR were looking for a drummer. And I talked to their guitar player Dewey about it. And he’s like, it’s great, and you get to design your own costume. As drummer, you don’t want something that covers your face fully. You want your arms to be free. So I was like cool. So I started kind of drawing this thing. At the time Gwar was a band that would draw like 700 people, right? Which is huge. And then the more I thought about it, am I really gonna invite my uncle to see me play when there’s like fake blood and cum shooting all over the place?”
Read Rolling Stone‘s full interview with Grohl here.
Hot Girl Summer was quickly replaced by Stinky Celebs Summer. Jake Gyllenhaal said he found bathing “to be less necessary” (he has since clarified that “of course I bathe”). Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard are big fans of “waiting for the stink” instead of a daily bath or shower (“Once you catch a whiff, that’s biology’s way of letting you know you need to clean it up”), while Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher confessed that when they had kids, they “didn’t wash them every day. I wasn’t that parent that bathed my newborns — ever.”
“I don’t wash my body with soap every day,” [Kunis] shared. “But I wash pits and tits and holes and soles.” As for her husband, “I wash my armpits and my crotch daily, and nothing else ever,” Kutcher admitted. “I got a bar of Lever 2000 that just delivers every time. Nothing else.” … Kutcher [later] weighed in: “If you can see the dirt on ’em, clean ’em. Otherwise, there’s no point.”
Weird! The bathing debate was brought up again on Tuesday’s episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where Kunis was the special guest. “We bathe our dogs. Does that make people happy?” the seemingly annoyed That ’70s Show actress asked host Ellen DeGeneres. She also called the discourse around her comments “so dumb.”
The star continued, “I know, this was blown… oy, yoi, yoi.” She shared about the podcast chat, “Then we all started talking that we don’t bathe our children very often, and/or ourselves. Well, I shower every day, but I don’t wash my hair every day. Like, I don’t find that to be a necessity.” Mila told Ellen that her “intent” is to bathe the kids daily, but then things don’t work out as planned. “I wake up every day and like, ‘Today, ‘I’m going to shower my kids.’ And then bedtime happens, and I forgot to feed them.”
Kunis later mocked The Rock’s tweet about showering three times a day. “But apparently, The Rock showers, so congratulations, The Rock. You shower,” she said.
One of the core pieces of the Indiana Pacers’ roster is reportedly dealing with an injury that might not be as bad as it sounds. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Caris LeVert, whom the team acquired last year as part of the gigantic trade that sent James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets, has a stress fracture in his back.
The good news, per Woj, is that the team does not think it is serious enough to cost him an extended period of time, with the belief among the Pacers being that he could suit up sometime around the start of the regular season.
Pacers guard Caris LeVert has a stress fracture in his back, but there’s optimism that it could only be a minor setback and he could return sometime around the start of the season, sources tell ESPN.
Wojnarowski went on to say that the team still needs to do some more testing before figuring out exactly how long they’ll be without LeVert’s services.
More testing still to come on the stress fracture, but again, there’s optimism that it won’t cause LeVert to miss significant time.
LeVert played in 35 games last season after being acquired by the Pacers, as the team discovered a mass on his left kidney during his physical that was subsequently removed. While the team had its struggles last year, LeVert was able to provide a much-needed scoring punch and found other ways to stuff the stat sheet, averaging 20.7 points per game while doling out 4.9 assists, hauling in 4.6 rebounds, and forcing 1.5 steals in 32.9 minutes per game in Indiana.
The early 2000s were a golden age for Hollywood rom-coms. Think of classics like “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” “Bridget Jones’ Diary,” “Love Actually” and, of course, “13 Going on 30,” starring Jennifer Garner and pre-Marvel Mark Ruffalo. Who wouldn’t fawn over their clumsy yet endearing chemistry in the film’s iconic “Thriller” dance sequence.
And to think, the world was nearly deprived of such a performance.
During an interview in March with theSkimm, Garner shared that Ruffalo nearly quit the production after only one dance rehearsal.
“Our first rehearsal, I think it was Mark and Judy [Greer] and me, and Judy and I were both dancers growing up and poor Mark didn’t know that,” Garner explained. “And he came in and he hated the rehearsal process so much he almost dropped out.”
Ruffalo recently decided to elaborate on this behind-the-scenes story, reposted by Comments by Celebs. It seems Garner wasn’t exaggerating.
“It didn’t help that it took me three hours to learn what Jen mastered in about 20 minutes! 😆😂😆,” he said. “Matty [Ruffalo’s character in the movie] had to be dragged out on that dance floor as well, poor guy. But all this time later he is grateful he did!”
And we’re grateful as well, Mark. The rom-com world is better because of it.
In case you missed this legendary dance number, here it is, full of awkward monster arm movements and teen angst for your viewing pleasure:
Has all this talk about Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo left you feeling nostalgic and wanting more? The two are actually set to work together again in yet another semi-sci-fi rom-com hybrid coming to Netflix called The Adam Project. (You even get the added bonus of Ryan Reynolds, so we know it’s something to look forward to.) And if this post is any indication, it looks like Ruffalo and Garner are having just as much fun the second time around.
It’s hard to know what to make of the Minnesota Timberwolves. There’s a franchise-level talent in Karl-Anthony Towns to build around. Anthony Edwards is heading into year two after a promising rookie year. Chris Finch now gets a full year. Maybe they end up making a swing for Ben Simmons.
So, there are reasons to be excited. But it’s unclear how many wins that gets the Timberwolves right now. And that might also complicate the team’s future.
Roster:
Malik Beasley
Anthony Edwards
Karl-Anthony Towns
Patrick Beverley
Jake Layman
Jaden McDaniels
Jordan McLaughlin
Jaylen Nowell
Josh Okogie
Taurean Prince
D’Angelo Russell
Naz Reid
Jarred Vanderbilt
Nathan Knight (Two-way)
McKinley Wright IV (Two-way)
Projected Vegas Win Total: 34.5
Biggest Addition: Taurean Prince, Patrick Beverley
Prince and Beverley were both acquired by trade and neither really moves the needle in a significant way on the court. They can both play rotation minutes, but don’t really change the trajectory of the team or figure to matter a few years from now.
Together, however, they combine to make $27.3 million in 2021-22 and are in the last year of their contracts. If new interim (and possibly long-term) president of basketball operations Sachin Gupta wants to get aggressive before the trade deadline and make a splash to acquire someone the team really wants making that amount of money, those two contracts are key to getting it done without flipping a core piece.
Biggest Loss: Ricky Rubio
Here’s the thing about Ricky Rubio: Trading him got the Wolves a serviceable forward in Prince, cash and a future second-round pick to play around with. From a purely business perspective, that trade makes sense.
But Rubio is a known leader and dependable point guard that the team will miss. Without him, there’s no real creator on the roster who excels at organizing the offense and keeping the trains running on time. (Russell is more score-first, while Beverly is a defense-first player first and foremost.)
There are ways to solve this — Chris Finch’s offense should put Towns in a moer play-making role, for one — but it’s going to be an adjustment.
Biggest Question: How much of an impact will Chris Finch make?
Finch came in February of last season, taking over for Ryan Saunders. A mid-season hire already made his transition difficult and it was made even harder by the fact that last year was a compacted season due to COVID-19. There was certainly some install done on the fly, but it wasn’t the full Chris Finch playbook. In 41 games under Finch, the Wolves were 16-25 with the league’s 17th best offense, per NBA.com/stats.
Now, with a full offseason and proper training camp, Finch gets a chance to install his full offense. He comes to the role with a reputation as a progressive, modern offensive game planner. If he’s as advertised and can maximize the pieces the team has, that could bump the team up to a top-12ish offense and put Towns in a spot to have the best season of his career. If Finch doesn’t have a massive impact, it’s hard to know what the strength of this team will be. What Makes This Season A Success: A spot in the play-in tournament
The Wolves are not a contender, nor are they a lock to be in the playoff hunt in a still very good Western Conference. Last year, they were 10 games back of the 10th-seeded Spurs and 19 games back of the seventh-seeded Lakers. In terms of net rating, they were significantly worse than the teams ahead of them in the standings.
A leap into the seven-seed range would be massive. Even a leap into the 10th seed range would be a massive step forward. But for a franchise that has someone as good as Towns and at least some interesting supplemental pieces, there’s some pressure to play some meaningful games. Making the play-in tournament would be a step in the right direction.
What Makes This Season A Failure: Finishing near the bottom of the Western Conference
Simply put, the Timberwolves need to improve this year. Another year finishing way outside of the playoff hunt could complicate keeping Towns happy and whatever it is the team wants to accomplish.
>The good news is that, if the season does go bad, the Wolves no longer owe first-round picks in the D’Angelo Russell trade. That gives them some hope even if the year doesn’t play out as expected.
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