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Rye whiskey means a lot of things. Sadly for most folks, it only means one thing: peppery spice. That is, in part, due to MGP’s 95 percent rye mash bill dominating the modern rye scene with everyone from WhistlePig to Bulleit to Redemption to Templeton (and many more) all pulling their juice from the same source.

In reality, rye whiskey is so much more than white pepper driven spice. Savory herbs, orchard fruits, dry woods, anise, and licorice are all relatively common flavor notes, depending on the aging and exact mash bill. Today, we’re aiming to illuminate that fact with this blind tasting of 12 (!) rye whisk(e)ys from the U.S. and Canada.

This blind tasting and ranking is pretty straightforward. I’m tasting 12 ryes and ranking them by which ones taste the best and (crucially) which I want to drink again. Price is not a factor and neither is availability. A couple of these will be out of reach, but I really tried to make the list a group of ryes you can find and, most likely, afford.

We have a lot to cover, so let’s dive in.

Part 1: The Taste

Taste 1:

Tasting Notes:

There’s a sweet but spicy apple up top with hints of vanilla and honey. The taste is slightly oaky, a little peppery, and has a note of dried fruit. It’s very mellow and … just fine. It’s easy for sure.

Taste 2:

Tasting Notes:

This is completely different from Taste 1, with notes of licorice next to apple with a bit of spice at the end of the nose. The taste has a dose of vanilla next to apricot that builds towards raisins. Going back to the nose, there’s a hint of dill popping in with a little bit of a savory fig.

Interesting. I don’t know what this is but I kind of dig it.

Taste 3:

Tasting Notes:

There’s a dry straw note next to mild toffee with a hint of sweet but old oak on the nose. The taste leans into bitter dark chocolate with a touch of spiced apple and caramel while still holding onto that old-yet-sweet oak. It’s goddamn delicious on each of those notes and so clear.

There’s an interesting build on the end — this gets really hot as it (very slowly) fades out.

Taste 4:

Tasting Notes:

This is nice. There’s a savory note that’s maybe dill or pumpkin next to toffee and dried fruit. On the taste, there’s a real sense of cinnamon-infused dark chocolate with notes of Christmas spice, creamy vanilla, and a mild tobacco chew.

Taste 5:

Tasting Notes:

Okay… This is kind of wild.

There’s a nose of vanilla next to licorice that leads to … Lysol. Not in a bad way, per se. But, it’s 100 percent on the nose. The taste has none of that and is light, velvety, full of spiced chocolate, and caramel. The end has a light tobacco chew with a mild spicy edge.

Sadly, I just can’t get past that aerosol note on the nose.

Taste 6:

Tasting Notes:

Orange soda leads towards a clear note of dill and… it works. This is really unique. The taste is this mix of rich toffee, creamy vanilla, and soft cedar. It’s ultra-velvet and has this light touch of powdery spice on the very end.

Intermission

Please drink water, folks.

Taste 7:

Tasting Notes:

A nose of oak, cherry, vanilla pudding, and mild spice … this has to be from Beam. The taste has this beautiful balance of peppery spice with vanilla cream that it almost feels like a high-rye bourbon — kind of like a sibling to Old Grand-Dad. There’s a musty chocolate edge near the end and the finish leaves you with a fine tobacco spicy buzz.

Taste 8:

Tasting Notes:

There’s this opening of cedar that leads to, I swear, firecracker black powder. This is f*cking wild and I love it. There’s also a sense of savory fruit (think pumpkin) on the end of the nose that just works with that black gunpowder and cedar. The taste is a cream vanilla — nearly a mint ice-cream — with hints of Christmas spices next to sweet yet spicy caramel apples on the very end.

I wrote, “WOW” in my tasting notes.

Taste 9:

Tasting Notes:

This is wild and unique again! There’s this grassy note that leads to dry reeds that then leads to dry pine boards with dill and toffee all popping off on the nose. That woodiness mellows to a cedar on the palate with a honeyed pear body and a mildly cinnamon spicy twinge next to … chocolate mints.

What’s amazing is as this fades away very slowly. You’re left with this extremely clear sense of freshly cracked black peppercorns. It’s great.

Taste 10:

Tasting Notes:

There’s a dill note next to wet cedar, a hint of vanilla, and, I think, cherry candy. The taste is full of cream soda with tart red berries and a savory fruit vibe. The end gets peppery, leading towards dark chocolate infused with chili pepper. It really works and feels like absolute silk.

Taste 11:

Tasting Notes:

There’s a clear sense of toffee right away next to a rummy edge with a hint of spicy oak. The taste is so goddamn mild while still popping off with notes of sharp Red Hots, orange oils, and vanilla creaminess. The end amps up the spice with a rich tobacco chewiness while ending on the slightest note of sweet red berry.

Taste 12:

Tasting Notes:

This opens with caramel, cherry, vanilla, oak, and maybe a touch of pear. This smells like bourbon. That cherry becomes a cherry candy while the vanilla holds onto the middle of the taste … Okay, this is Jim Beam. But it really feels like I’m being tricked becasue this tastes like their higher-end bourbon.

The taste has a mild heat but it’s really the cherry and vanilla that shine the brightest.

Part 2: The Ranking

12) Jim Beam Prohibition Rye (Taste 12)

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $22

The Whiskey:

This rye was designed by the master himself — Master Distiller and whiskey legend Fred Noe — as a return to the bigger and bolder days of rye before Prohibition defanged a lot of the industry and its recipes. The juice is a throwback recipe to the 1920s version of Beam’s rye, giving the whiskey a fruitier and spicer edge in the process.

Bottom Line:

I honestly didn’t think this was rye, hence its ranking as last. I did really like it though, because it was so easy to drink, light, and flavorful. Still, if you’re looking for big, bold rye, this is the furthest you can get from that on this particular list.

11) Basil Hayden’s 10-Year-Old Rye (Taste 5)

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $78

The Whiskey:

This is Beam’s high-end brand and their high-end rye within that brand. The barrels are the ones that made it to ten years and hit just the right marks of flavor and texture to be batched, proofed down to a very accessible 80 proof, and bottled.

Bottom Line:

This was nice, though light. That Lysol note was wild and only grew as I nosed more after sipping. I don’t know where it came from but it was there. I really like this rye, in general, but I almost always drink it on the rocks.

10) Rittenhouse Bottled-in-Bond Rye (Taste 4)

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $28

The Whiskey:

Haling from Heaven Hill’s stills and warehouses, this rye is very much a bourbon drinker’s rye. The mash bill is only 51 percent rye with 37 percent corn, and 12 percent malted barley. The juice then matures under the federal regulations allowing it to be “bottled-in-bond” and is barely proofed down to 100 proof with that soft Kentucky limestone water before bottling.

Bottom Line:

This was good. But there was nothing that popped. I can see using this bottle as a great rye cocktail mixer for Sazeracs.

9) Bulleit Rye (Taste 1)

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $32

The Whiskey:

Indiana’s MGP rye is one of the most popular ryes on earth. Their rye is has a mash bill of 95 percent rye and five percent malted barley. The juice is aged for four to seven years at MGP before blending, proofing, and bottling by Bulleit at their warehouse.

Bottom Line:

This was a nice, easy opening. Though it rang kind of sweet and thin but in a good way. This feels like a great mixer and an occasional on the rocks dram.

8) Pinhook Rye’d On (Taste 2)

ABV: 48.5%

Average Price: $40

The Whiskey:

Pinhook is a blendery that’s creating some high-quality whiskeys. They source their rye from MGP’s iconic 95 percent rye mash bill juice. In this case, they’re taking hand-selected barrels and blending and proofing them according to their desire, creating a wholly unique expression with an all-too-well-known base product.

Bottom Line:

This was such a departure from the first taste that I didn’t really know where to put it. And that’s wild since both juices are from MGP! Still, this felt a little more advanced and hit a little nicer today than the first taste (Bulleit).

7) Sazerac 18 Antique Collection 2020 (Taste 3)

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $1,100

The Whiskey:

This iconic rye from Buffalo Trace pulls the focus from the Kentucky corn and places it on that Minnesota rye. The juice then spends 18 long years mellowing in heavily charred oak on one floor of one warehouse at Buffalo Trace. 76.9 percent of the whiskey is lost to evaporation over that time, leaving a concentrate that’s then filtered down to 90 proof.

Bottom Line:

This was tasty but, f*ck, it was hot. All those notes that made it so beautiful were burned out of my senses as it faded, leaving me just with heat. I know this works amazingly with water or a rock but as a taster, it was just too hot.

Still… the build of this dram is so, so good that I can forgive that final note of heat. Hence the solid B+.

6) Alberta Premium Cask Strength (Taste 10)

ABV: 65.1%

Average Price: $80

The Whiskey:

The rye comes from the Alberta prairies for the 100 percent rye mash bill. The grist (milled rye grains) is then married with Rocky Mountain glacial water for fermentation. The spirit is then barrelled and left to mature for an undisclosed amount of time. The results are blended and bottled with zero fussing at cask strength, giving this whisky a real depth and sense of those chilly plains, mountains, and barrels from Alberta.

Bottom Line:

This beloved award winner was … nice. It was complex rye but nothing jumped out and grabbed me. Still, amazingly drinkable.

5) Knob Creek Rye (Taste 7)

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $35

The Whiskey:

This is another bourbon drinker’s rye with a mash bill that’s believed to be only 51 percent rye (which is likely the same for the Basil Hayden’s above). This rye, however, is batched and proofed at a higher ABV, 50 proof, allowing more of the barrel to shine through.

Bottom Line:

This had a huge heavy-rye bourbon vibe, but in a really accessible way. It was super easy drinking but still lets you know that you’re drinking rye — with the comfort of a “bourbon home” to fall back on.

4) Michter’s Single Barrel Rye 10 (Taste 11)

ABV: 46.4%

Average Price: $200

The Whiskey:

Michter’s 10-year rye is contract distilled by Willett (that is, Willett uses Michter’s mash bills and aging instructions) though they’re making their own juice now in Louisville too. The juice in this bottle is hand-selected from single barrels to represent the essence of a subtle yet delicious rye whiskey. It’s then just proofed with soft water and bottled.

Bottom Line:

We’re already starting to split hairs with the next two entries. This is great, really. It’s so goddamn easy to drink while still imparting a sense of “rye whiskey” that it’s hard not to love.

3) Woodford Reserve Rye (Taste 9)

ABV: 45.2%

Average Price: $40

The Whiskey:

This whiskey was a long time coming. Master Distiller Chris Morris tinkered with this recipe for nine years before it was just right. The juice has a fairly low-rye mash bill — for a rye, that is. The bill only calls for 53 percent of the spicy grain. The rest is made up of local corn and malted barley. The whiskey then spends up to seven years maturing at their Versailles, Kentucky facility before its blended, proofed with soft limestone water, and bottled.

Bottom Line:

This started off very rye-forward and then kept growing and deepening on every subsequent nose and sip. It really is just great and feels like it denotes everything rye can be. That pop of black pepper, like, a minute after the end of the sip was wild and applause-worthy (I was also nine drams deep and really, ahem, feeling it too).

2) Lot 40 (Taste 6)

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $45

The Whiskey:

Lot 40 is Canada’s Hiram Walker Distillery’s signature rye. The mash bill is 100 percent rye with 90 percent comprising of standard Canadian rye and the remaining ten percent malted Canadian rye. The recipe goes back to the 1700s and keeps things simple in aging, proofing, and bottling, allowing the rye grains to take center stage.

Bottom Line:

This kind of came out of nowhere and really shined brightly. It’s so smooth and easy to drink while still clearly hitting notes that make it stand out as a unique whiskey. I tried it on the rocks after and it got even better with notes of cedar, chili-chocolate, and savory fruit.

1) Wild Turkey Rye 101 (Taste 8)

ABV: 50.5%

Average Price: $40

The Whiskey:

Wild Turkey’s signature rye benefits from the brand’s signature moves in making all their whiskey. The juice is matured for around six years in heavily charred “alligator” barrels. That heavy char and longer aging imbues a lot into the whiskey before it’s batched, lightly proofed down to 101 proof, and bottled.

Bottom Line:

This is the only dram that I wrote, “Wow” next to. It stood out so clearly from the rest of the pack while also being a really f*cking delicious whiskey in general. But it also felt like it was “rye.” It was more than bourbon, had unique and engaging flavors, and was really, really crushable.

Part 3: Final Thoughts

There were a lot of great whiskeys on the dock today. But in the end, nothing even came close to Wild Turkey in sip-ability, uniqueness, and depth. It was a surprise (especially for a dram I know pretty well) and stood out the most. I’ll be drinking more of that this weekend, for sure.

That being said, the Lot 40 (which I haven’t tasted in easily a year or two) really popped in a way that was extremely accessible while also packing some seriously beautiful flavor notes.

Overall, this exercise was illuminating. I think we all get a little bogged down in rye=spice. And that’s just … wrong. Rye is a wide-ranging style that can hit so many great and unique notes that we need to stop pigeonholing into a “spicy” corner. If you take anything from this massive blind test, let it be that.

Ted Cruz is still getting heat from his escape to Cancun while his home state suffers through a climate disaster, and now a party store is giving some of his constitutes a way to take out some of their frustrations in a safe, healthy manner. Now that Cruz has returned stateside and been parodied on SNL, the hubbub about him escaping freezing cold and power outages by flying to Mexico has subsided a bit. But a party store in Dallas has started selling a piñata that looks remarkably like Cruz as he returned from Cancun wearing a grey polo and a Texan flag mask.

The mockup is pretty faithful, including a piñata 5 o’clock shadow, a passport and a depressing black carryon suitcase. As one Twitter user described it, this is a “therapy piñata.”

As NBC News detailed, the party store has made a habit of making meme-inspired ps, with a Bernie Sanders at Joe Biden’s inauguration piñata and others in the past. And since the story in Texas required them to close for six days, it seemed more than fitting that Cruz in his Texas-themed mask would get the piñata treatment:

“That’s the reason that I’ve gotten creative and made some piñatas, so that people can come and support,” De La Fuente told NBC News. “I’m always looking for something positive out of negative things so that we can all get a laugh out of it.”

Cruz’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The 3 1/2 foot piñata sells for $100 and though they are only sold at the store, it has already led to around $2,000 in sales as of Tuesday.

That’s a bit pricy, though custom work doesn’t come cheap. And despite it not being really a great idea to throw parties during a pandemic, it certainly got a lot of people talking online.

This kind of piñata therapy is much safer than, say, inciting a MAGA coup at the US Capitol just because something didn’t quite go your way. We’ll have to see if Cruz can troll has way out of this one on Twitter, but it’s safe to say plenty of Texans are looking forward to buying — and destroying — a likeness of him as long as they’ll get some candy out of it.

(Via NBC News)

Chris Paul is headed to the All-Star Game next month. For the 11th time in his prestigious career, Paul was given this honor, but there is a catch: Point God views this particular selection as “the most bittersweet of them all.”

Paul caught up with the NBA on TNT crew on Wednesday night after the 14 players who will start the game in Atlanta on the bench were announced. After being asked by Adam Lefkoe about his teammate, Devin Booker, not joining him, Paul expressed that he was upset about the perceived snub.

“First and foremost, it’s an honor and a privilege to be an All-Star,” Paul said. “That’s something [I] never take for granted, lot of hard work, my teammates, my coaching staff. But probably the most bittersweet of them all because Book is an All-Star. You know, it’s not taking away from any of the guys that was named All-Stars, but our team, the Phoenix Suns, we go as Book goes, and he knows that, and we know that.”

As Lefkoe pointed out, Booker seemed primed to make it should Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers be ruled out due to an achilles injury, but in Paul’s eyes, that does not make it any less than a snub. Booker is putting up big numbers for the Suns, which sit in fourth place in the Western Conference with a 20-10 record, and Paul isn’t the only player to express some dismay over Booker’s snub — following the roster announcement, LeBron James tweeted out his belief that Booker is the NBA’s “most disrespected player.”

As streaming breaks down the barriers of music globally, more and more artists have teamed up across genres and borders to create some truly fascinating combinations. Today we get a great example as Los Angeles-born reggaeton artist Becky G and Nigerian Afrofusion artist Burna Boy link up on “Rotate.” Built on a signature reggaeton beat, the song blends the two artists’ unique sounds, resulting in a scintillating track that could be a hit in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa, as well as the US, the melting pot where people from all cultures collide and collaborate.

Becky G, who began her musical career as a pop-oriented rapper before shifting to Spanish lyrics and South-of-the-border sounds, truly exploded in popularity after embracing Latin music. She’s also found success as an actress, appearing in the 2017 Power Rangers film as the yellow Ranger, and being featured in Riot Games’ League Of Legends in 2019 as part of the first virtual rap band. Meanwhile, Burna Boy accidentally blew up in the US after the coincidentally-titled “Ye” exposed him to fans searching for Kanye’s album with the same name. Since then, he’s become one of the primary representative’s of his home country’s music scene, receiving Grammy acknowledgement and seeing his second album Twice As Tall become a hit.

Listen to Becky G and Burna Boy’s “Rotate” above.

Burna Boy is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

For the last several years, New York art-punk trio Palberta has dropping impressive album after impressive album. Their latest, Palberta5000, was released earlier this year, and might be the most intriguing of all the band’s releases to date. Across sixteen tracks, the trio seamlessly blends the danceability of funk and R&B with minimalist, plucky indie rock instrumentals, making for a constantly innovative and exciting listen.

To celebrate the new album, the band sat down to talk Avril Lavigne, their matching Palberta tattoos, and Zoolander in the latest Indie Mixtape 20 Q&A.

What are four words you would use to describe your music?

Friendship, organic, fun, giggles.

It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?

As music that inspires people.

What’s your favorite city in the world to perform?

NYC baby!

Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?

Not sure if we have an answer to this question. While there is definitely overlap in what we listen to and grew up listening to, we also each listen to different music. And we don’t go into songwriting having a specific artist in mind that we try to emulate. Maybe our inspiration comes from our many incredibly talented and creative friends in our immediate and peripheral music community.

Where did you eat the best meal of your life?

Too many to choose from! Too many meals!

What album do you know every word to?

Let Go and/or Under My Skin by Avril Lavigne.

What was the best concert you’ve ever attended?

Probably when we saw Liz Phair at a festival we played in Raleigh, NC. It was summer, so we were all covered in sweat in the front row, scream-singing and jumping the whole time. Then we got to meet Liz after her set and it was magical.

What is the best outfit for performing and why?

Jeans, tank top or t-shirt and a pair of fly sneakers. It’s the cutest and most comfortable outfit

.Who’s your favorite person to follow on Twitter and/or Instagram?

Lately we’ve all been really enjoying watching Tierra Whack’s incredible freestyles on her Instagram.

What’s your most frequently played song in the van on tour?

Probably a Lucinda Williams or Neil Young song.

What’s the last thing you Googled?

Recipe for cinnamon buns.

What album makes for the perfect gift?

Bad Girls by Donna Summer.

Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?

Oh god, so many to choose from. Maybe in Albuquerque, trying to fall asleep on the living room floor of someone who wouldn’t stop playing piano ballads & singing goth-cabaret-opera for hours after the show ended? Followed by them having loud sex in the same room divided by a curtain?

What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?

Our matching Palberta tattoo, written by Ani’s mom in her beautiful cursive. A friend in Philly gave it to us at their house! A couple of ours came out squiggly from shaking in pain!

What artists keep you from flipping the channel on the radio?

Drake, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Cardi B, also pretty much any pop song from the early 2000s.

What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?

When we’re touring and people bring us home-cooked meals to our shows.

What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?

Don’t worry, you won’t be playing shitty boring folk music with boys forever!

What’s the last show you went to?

Lily’s band opening for Of Montreal at Union Transfer in Philly.

What movie can you not resist watching when it’s on TV?

Zoolander.

What would you cook if Obama were coming to your house for dinner?

Clams linguine.

Palberta5000 is out now. Listen and pick up some merch on Bandcamp.

It feels like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, a glimmer of hope that we might be able to actually see the return of live music by the end of 2021. And with the possibility of hitting the road this year still in the cards, many up-and-coming artists are getting ready to make their defining statements. Everyone has had their time to experience the varying cycles of emotion that come with trying to navigate a global pandemic, with some artists reframing their whole musical identity around our new reality, and others forging forward and refusing to slow down.

Whether a rising pop star, rapper, or indie rocker, 2021 is sure to the be year of some massive breakout acts. You might recognize some of the below names from our list of the most anticipated albums of 2021, and there are even some we’ve discovered and become bullish on within the last month. With more range of definition for “indie rock” than ever before, here are the rising indie musicians to watch in 2021.

Another Michael

After making waves in the DIY scene, Philadelphia-based trio Another Michael turned heads with their recently released debut album New Music And Big Pop. The album showcases their tight knight chemistry and their modest-yet-fun-loving attitudes, which give them the ability to craft breezy and infectious tunes. As they’ve already drummed up excitement about their debut release, Another Michael is sure to be going places. – Carolyn Droke

Michelle

New York City collective Michelle stormed onto the indie scene last year with their infectious and joyful single “Sunrise,” which boasted a unique blend of R&B and funky indie rock aesthetic. The group is said to be working on a new full-length album for release sometime soon, proceeded by the singles “Unbound” and “FYO,” all of which show the group’s versatility and ability to jump seamlessly across genre boundaries and sonic sensibilities. – Zac Gelfand

Wild Pink

One self-released EP was all John Ross’ band Wild Pink needed to get some label attention. After a release on Texas Is Funny Records, they found their way to Tiny Engines, where the group spread their wings over the course of their first two albums. That includes 2018’s Yolk In The Fur, a soaring, heartland-inspired indie rock album that first landed them on many people’s radars. Their first album on Royal Mountain Records, A Billion Little Lights, just dropped, showing that Ross and company are continuing on their upward trajectory with an exciting and natural progression forward.– Derrick Rossignol

Quinton Brock

Brooklyn-based rocker Quinton Brock caught our attention late last year with the infectious standalone single “To The Moon,” which blurs the lines between anthemic indie rock and reserved punk aggression. The track was born out of a particularly rough period in Brock’s life, when his best friend passed away, then his dog passed away, then his longtime girlfriend packed up and left. The track is Brock’s attempt to reconcile with his difficult new reality, something he manages to do with grace and poise. While there has been no official confirmation of forthcoming new music, we can’t wait to see what Brock comes up with next.– Z.G.

Kississippi

Kississippi (aka Zoe Allaire Reynolds) has undergone quite the transformation over the past few years and the whole journey has been worth keeping tabs on. She began her musical journey in more of an indie-folk lane, but she has new things cooking now. She signed with Triple Crown Records last year and dropped “Around Your Room,” a propulsive synth-pop single that shows off her adaptability, vocal smoothness, and melodic talents. She hasn’t released a new song since then, but it’s also the kind of tune that lives in your head rent-free, generating all kinds of interest for whatever she has coming up next. – D.R.

Arlo Parks

20-year-old UK songwriter Arlo Parks went from creating melodies in her bedroom to writing music that has literally saved people’s marriage. With her debut album Collapsed In Sunbeams, Parks combined poetic lyrics about relatable but oft-ignored aspects of teenage depression and anxiety, while also reminding listeners there’s always hope. Her words have resonated with many and thereby catapulted her into the indie spotlight, so keep an eye out to see where Parks takes her fluttering music next. – C.D.

Hovvdy

The Austin, Texas group has called their music “pillowcore,” and while that was said half in jest, it’s an accurate descriptor for the downtempo and comforting music they make best. Their 2020 single “I’m Sorry,” the band’s latest material released since their 2019 third album Heavy Lifter, encapsulates that energy well, as it’s an alternative-leaning track seemingly tailored for calming nerves while retaining musical interest. Hopefully, it’s also a sign of things to come.– D.R.

Buzzy Lee

Although Sasha Spielberg’s latest album Spoiled Love was just released earlier this year, the album’s intercontinental writing process imbued each song with a sense of space. It’s this fresh approach to songwriting that makes Spoiled Love a very interesting listen that will surely reward listeners and help to grow Spielberg’s following both within and outside in the indie-folk scene. – Z.G.

Petey

Making comparisons is a useful way to give a new listener an idea of what an artist sounds like. That doesn’t really work for Petey, though, because he’s just… Petey. He borrowed from emo, indie pop, folk, and pretty much everything else on the handful of EPs he has released since 2019. 2020 was particularly fortuitous, as the year yielded highlights like the LCD Soundsystem meets trap meets electronica of “Pitch A Fit!” and the emo-folk of “More To Life Than Baseball” (which, coincidentally, are both baseball-related). “You never know what they’ll do next” is a worn-out saying, but the only thing you can expect out of a new Petey release is that it will be distinctly Petey.– D.R.

Squid

After gaining a significant amount of buzz with a series of EPs and other short-form releases over the last several years, UK quintet Squid are finally prepping their debut full-length effort for release later this year. Bright Green Field finds Squid at a crossroads between the melodic sensibilities of the Talking Heads and the modern avant garde experimentation of an act like Black Midi. So far, we have only heard one single from Bright Green Field in the form of “Narrator,” which puts the band’s eccentricities on full display and promises a wild ride from the remainder of the album. – Z.G.

Sun June

Upon releasing their 2018 debut album, Austin, Texas five-piece Sun June spent the year touring with the likes of Lucy Dacus. Changing gears with their sophomore album Somewhere, the band focused on their songs’ production by leaning on the mantra “melodies are king,” which resulted in open spaces and discernible textures. Their focus on production, coupled with poignant lyrics, created an album that expertly examines grief in all forms with equal parts humor and humility. – C.D.

Miloe

Miloe’s 2020 EP Greenhouse was is an incredibly exciting taste of what this young Minneapolis artist by way of The Democratic Republic of Congo has to offer from a forthcoming full-length release. With only five tracks, the effort showcases Miloe’s seemingly almost effortless knack for melodies and simple, yet captivating instrumentals that make the project as a whole undeniable. Not much is known about what’s on Miloe’s docket for 2021, but consider us excited for whatever that may be. – Z.G.

Katy Kirby

Katy Kirby grew up in the Bible belt, an identity that she both explores and dismantles throughout her debut album Cool Dry Place. The album puts her own unique twist on folk rock, combining gentle melodies with playful instrumentation. Her disarming vocals and troubling ballads are oftentimes interrupted by well-timed pauses and samples of wind chimes, which also give her soulful music a unique sense of place. – C.D.

Pinkshift

2020 was supposed to be the year Baltimore’s Pinkshift really came into their own as a band, with their first official tour as a four-piece on the books, and new music in the works. The pandemic upended all of those plans, but they didn’t let that stop them. They unleashed their ferocious pop-punk single “I’m Gonna Tell My Therapist On You” in July, when it promptly went viral due to its My Chemical Romance-like grandeur and Ashrita Kumar’s insanely catchy vocals. With a viral hit under their belt, Pinkshift is already buzzing like crazy, and new music is surely on the way. – Z.G.

Proper.

Proper.‘s latest single “Don’t” was co-produced by The Wonder Years’ Dan Campbell, and undoubtedly features the band’s most direct and emotional songwriting to date as vocalist Erik Garlington grapples with the reality that they could be murdered by police at any moment. The powerful message is delivered atop the trio’s unique and earnest approach to emo and pop punk, a promising look at what’s to come from the buzzing Brooklyn outfit. The trio has used the pandemic to hone their songwriting, with Garlington attending virtual writing sessions with Campbell again, hopefully resulting in a sophomore LP for 2021. – Z.G.

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

Bruce Springsteen had a run-in with police officers last fall in New Jersey that resulted a driving while intoxicated (DWI) charge. News of the incident broke earlier this month and on Wednesday morning, Springsteen appeared in virtual court to for a scheduled arraignment. The singer plead guilty to one misdemeanor charge, but his more serious DWI and reckless driving charges were dropped.

Back on November 14th, Springsteen was on a motorcycle in Sandy Hook, New Jersey’s Gateway National Recreation Area. A police officer pulled him over and noted that he had a blood alcohol level of .02, well under the legal limit. “I had two small shots of tequila,” Springsteen told the judge during his hearing. But because drinking is prohibited in the area, the officer charged him with reckless driving, DWI, and consuming alcohol in a closed area.

According to AP News, prosecutors did not have sufficient evidence to convict Springsteen for driving while intoxicated and reckless driving, so they have decided to drop the charges altogether. However, because Springsteen plead guilty to the misdemeanor charge of consuming alcohol in the prohibited area, he’ll face a fine of $500 for the offense, plus $40 in court fees.

At the time that news broke of Springsteen’s arrest, he was just days away from appearing in a Jeep Super Bowl commercial. But because Jeep didn’t want someone with a DWI charge to appear in their ad, so they decided to pull it off the air. As a Jeep spokesperson had said, “It would be inappropriate for us to comment on the details of a matter we have only read about and we cannot substantiate. But it’s also right that we pause our Big Game commercial until the actual facts can be established. Its message of community and unity is as relevant as ever. As is the message that drinking and driving can never be condoned.”

Zach LaVine is in the middle of a historically great offensive season, and there’s really no way around that. But because the Bulls have hovered below .500 most of the year and LaVine has a reputation that he is not necessarily a winning player, there was a lot of doubt over whether he would be named to the Eastern Conference All-Star team. Now that he has indeed made the team, though, Chicago is rightly pumping up their guy.

The team tricked LaVine into joining what he thought was a media availability session on Zoom, but was actually a collection of his friends and family members who had come together to wish him congratulations. His parents looked back on the work it took to get here, his mentor Jamal Crawford gave him praise for the dedication he’s shown since being a kid in the Pacific Northwest, and his little sister even called in during a dinner run to help ring in the big moment.

These are the people LaVine likely would have been around all season if not for the restrictions put in place during this pandemic season, so it had to be nice for LaVine to see them, even if it was virtual.

LaVine was also consistent that his work isn’t done, and when teammate Thaddeus Young chimed in on the call, the two doubled down on their goal of making the postseason with the Bulls this year. So while LaVine’s prolific scoring season (he’s averaging nearly 29 points per game on 52 percent shooting) is impressive, the All-Star game is just one reward on his journey toward proving he can be a winning player.

Vic Chesnutt was an important musician to many in the ’90s and ’00s. Most famously, he was honored on the 1996 compilation album Sweet Relief II: Gravity Of The Situation, which featured covers of his songs from folks like R.E.M., Garbage, and Madonna. Now his music has been covered again, and this time, it’s Bright Eyes tackling “Flirted With You All My Life.”

Conor Oberst says of the cover, “I had the pleasure of seeing Vic perform many times over the years and from a young age. I can truly say he deeply changed my worldview and what it meant to write a really unique and thought-provoking song. One of the greatest ever. Always missed. Here is our humble version of one of his best.”

This recording is actually one Bright Eyes fans have heard before: It was a B-side on the vinyl single “Persona Non Grata” released in August 2020. However, this is the first time the cover is available on streaming services.

The song was a tragically prophetic one for Chesnutt. The song addresses his thoughts on death, with lyrics like, “I flirted with you all my life / Even kissed you once or twice / And to this day, I swear it was nice / But, clearly, I was not ready.” The song appears on his 2009 album At The Cut, which was released shortly after the artist died on Christmas 2009 due to an overdose of muscle relaxers.

Listen to Bright Eyes cover “Flirted With You All My Life” above.

Not that Matthew McConaughey needs to worry about his bank account, but he could have a few extra millions in there if he continued making romantic comedies like he did throughout the 2000s. The Wedding Planner, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Failure to Launch — they all made money (even Ghosts of Girlfriends Past grossed over $100 million), and as he wrote in his memoir, “I enjoyed being able to give people a nitty-minute breezy romantic getaway from the stress of their lives where they didn’t have to think about anything, just watch the boy chase the girl, fall down, then get up and finally get her. I had taken the baton from Hugh Grant, and I ran with it.” But by 2010, he was ready to move on. McConaughey turned down a $14.5 million paycheck to make another rom-com where he takes his shirt off, and thus, the McConaissance was born.

There isn’t really a new rom–com king (Noah Centineo does not count), so Jared Leto sees an opening. The Oscar winner and recent Golden Globe nominee was interviewed by W magazine for the publication’s “Best Performances” issues, where he was asked if he ever would star in a Notting Hill-style romantic comedy.

“You know, I was threatening to do, like, an opposite McConaissance. I just go dive straight into early-2000s-style rom-coms. Shoot on the beach in either Mexico or Hawaii — that’s contractual. Eight-hour days, maybe six, just show up and have a blast,” Leto answered. “The hardest part of preparation is the keto diet. That’s basically what it’s going to come down to. Avoiding those carbs can be tough work.”

I can see it already: boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy gives girl a dead rat, girl gets her own movie, boy turns into Jesus. A tale as old as time. Starring Jared Leto!

(Via W magazine)