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Being a DJ can be tough, and that was especially true for Mark Ronson recently: At a gig, he sustained an injury that landed him in the hospital. Fortunately, it’s not serious and he’ll ultimately be fine.

Yesterday (April 2), Ronson shared a photo of himself laying in a hospital bed and wrote, “That time the house PA was so bad that I tried to one-hand turn the stage monitor towards the crowd mid-mix to give them some extra juice. Turns out they weigh more than I thought…Two popped bicep tendons and one finished gig later, here we are, baby! #tornthisway.”

Meanwhile, Ronson recently announced a new book, Night People: How To Be A DJ In 90’s New York City, set for release on September 16, 2025. Ronson said of the book in a press release, “DJing in 90s New York City informed everything I ever did after, becoming the foundation for all my future work and creativity. In Night People, I wanted to capture that transformative period of my life and celebrate three of my great loves: the art of DJing, the thrilling energy of New York City after dark, and the wild and wonderful characters who populated our world and became my second family. This book is my love letter to a vanished era that shaped not just my career but my identity — a time when finding my craft put me on the path to finding myself.”

When I met up with Craig Finn last week at a Minneapolis coffee shop, I was slightly worried that we might have trouble finding one another. We are, after all, two bookish white guys between the ages of 45 and 55. And this particular coffee shop was overloaded with bookish white guys between the ages of 45 and 55. I did a double-take at one faux-Finn immediately after finding a table. I also spotted multiple faux-me’s. Possibilities for confusion, clearly, abounded. Meeting up at a place like this could be like finding a graying beige needle in a graying beige haystack.

Luckily, there were no such identity crises. The frontman for The Hold Steady bumped into me by the counter, and we quickly fell into a conversation about life, sports, and his great new solo album out on Friday, Always Been. While Craig continues to tour with THS, he’s been busier making Craig Finn records in the past dozen or so years. Always Been is his sixth solo effort, though it also represents an exciting departure. After years of fruitful collaboration with producer Josh Kaufman, who is based in New York’s Hudson Valley, Finn switched coasts and threw in his lot with Adam Granduciel, who recruited several of his bandmates from The War On Drugs to give Finn’s songs an unmistakable TWOD vibe.

“It’s one of my favorite bands,” Finn said of The War On Drugs, who first entered his orbit when The Hold Steady tapped them to open a European tour in the late 2000s. Unfortunately, THS had to back out at the last minute after guitarist Tad Kubler was hospitalized with pancreatitis. “They got stuck in Europe with no tour,” Finn recalled. “So that was the inauspicious beginning to our friendship.”

Finn reunited with TWOD for real in 2022 after Granduciel invited him to sit in at one of their annual “Drugscember” shows in Philadelphia. Soon after, their paths crossed again in Granduciel’s current home base in Los Angeles. Finn played him a new song, “Bethany,” on acoustic guitar at his studio.

“I was hooked and we started not long after that,” Adam told me via email. TWOD bassist Dave Hartley and guitarist Anthony La Marca were in town to work on band recordings, and they were also roped into laying down tracks for what became the introductory song on Always Been, along with two other songs, “The Man I’ve Always Been” and “Postcards.”

Craig Finn’s voice and songs plus music that sounds like The War On Drugs — the elevator pitch for Always Been is so simple that it almost seems too simplistic as a description. But that’s basically what this album is. Lyrically, Finn was so inspired by the character he invented for “Bethany” — a preacher with serious spiritual doubts and a mysterious past — that he created a song cycle fleshing out a story that also addresses matters of sin, redemption, reinvention, and murder. And then, with Granduciel’s assistance, he placed those songs in rousing heartland rock soundscapes rife with atmospheric guitar and synth sounds. For an artist who has been compared to Springsteen semi-constantly for the past two decades, Always Been is the closest Finn has come to making an actual Springsteen record. Born In The U.S.A. and Tunnel Of Love, in particular, feel like obvious signposts.

And then there’s the Los Angeles of it all. On the cover of Always Been, Finn alludes to Randy Newman’s 1977 album Little Criminals, the record where he recruited The Eagles to back him up on a song.

Are The War On Drugs Craig Finn’s Eagles? Is Always Been his “LA record”? Once we sat down, I asked Craig these burning questions. (I have also included Adam’s emailed responses in places where his input is pertinent.)

“An inside joke with that album cover is that I always wanted to make an LA record,” Finn told me. Then he added with twinkle, “‘Can you make an LA record when a studio generally doesn’t have many windows?’”

I know what I immediately think of when someone says “LA record.” But what does it mean to you?

Craig Finn: LA artists to me are Zevon, Randy Newman, Jackson Browne. The later ’70s singer-songwriter Asylum records. Disillusioned, LA smog, divorced kind of vibes.

Adam Granduciel: If anything, there has to be a darkness there above all else. Tonight’s The Night is one of my favorite LA records. LA is very alienating and lonely. I think these songs — with their characters searching for meaning and redemption, for purpose, their stories overlapping — makes LA a perfect place to have brought these songs to life.

The War On Drugs have very obvious 1980s LA textures — specifically something like Don Henley’s “Boys Of Summer” and the rest of Building The Perfect Beast. That seems like a new texture for you to embrace.

CF: As a War On Drugs fan going into this record, I thought of them as a guitar band. Then I sat in with Adam at Newport last year. We did a John Hiatt song, and I looked around and they had six synths on stage. And I’m like, “Maybe this is a synth band.”

I’ve always been a Tom Petty fan, but in the past few years, before I sold my car, I really got into the Tom Petty Sirius station. It just didn’t move. And I started to really marvel at his songs because they’re direct. It’s classic songwriting. When I came in with the songs to Adam, I was like, “I want to make a direct record.” And I thought, versus Josh Kaufman, who I love and produced most of my other solo records, we really got into songwriting and he changed maybe a few chords.

In a way, you and Adam working together makes perfect sense, given that you are friends and you have a lot of the same influences. But the way you work seems very different.

CF: I knew from conversations with him that he kind of goes on a journey of sound a little bit. He’ll start making music, and the way he said it to me is that he might start putting stuff down and the tempo might change. And eventually at some point, it comes to the point where it comes into focus and he writes lyrics for it. I’m the exact opposite. I’ll have the story and two chords. So, one of my thoughts was, “What if we met in the middle? And what would that be like?”

AG: I’m always in awe of anybody as prolific as Craig is. I love the worlds and the scenes his characters inhabit. I love how specific and detailed his writing is and how he weaves the stories through multiple songs and even albums. I’m in awe of anyone that can seamlessly write in the third person like Craig does so well — how he can become these characters and tell their stories with ease.

Did Adam help with writing the music or coming up with arrangements?

CF: In “Bethany,” he changed a few chords. Arrangement-wise, he would be like, “Seems like this could breathe here?” Or, “Would you like a guitar solo here?” Figuring out where the space was, I think, was something he really helped on.

AG: Craig was very open to whatever sonic palate I thought to bring to each song. He sells himself short but his guitar playing on the demos he sent me is pretty special. There’s a lot of information and spirit already right there — the voicings and shapes, the countermelodies. I just had to bring them to life, basically. I’d put a few different bands together for the songs. Craig was enthusiastic about all of it. He’d be refining bits of his lyrics the whole time and we’d always be doing new takes of vocals to keep the tunes fresh and evolving. Basically, if I was into the track, he was into it — and if he was digging it then I was happy, so it was really easy and fluid. I’d send stuff to Dave at his home in North Carolina for him to do bass or backing vocals on. He’s always an important part of the process for me, and Craig has known Dave since the Drugs/Hold Steady tours in 2009 as well, so we’re all pretty comfortable together.

We were talking about this being an LA record musically, but lyrically, it takes place mainly in Pennsylvania and Washington state. Also, in keeping with your classic style, the songs tell an interconnected narrative.

CF: I thought of this guy, this character, and “Bethany” was the first song I wrote towards that. It was about a priest who doesn’t believe in God. And because of that, everything comes crashing down. Once I wrote that, I was like, “I love this character. What if I wrote another song about him from a different angle?” “Bethany” is about his wife. The next song on the album is “People With Substance,” where he is pleading to his wife that he’s not depressed anymore. And then also in “Bethany,” he mentions his sister. The third song, “Crumbs,” is where he goes to stay with her. So, I kept him moving around.

I can’t remember at what point I saw this, but I went and saw Paris, Texas in the theater. It may have been after I wrote the songs, but before we made the record. But that movie really kind of felt like something to me — the moving around, the wandering. I liked the idea of that. And not just the classic part where he is in the desert and walking on the side of the road, but also when they move into the city at the end of the movie. I think they go to Houston and there’s these glass buildings and this idea of someone just kind of wandering and trying to find it.

Part of the thing with the record is this idea — which may be an LA thing anyway — is trying on different things and only finding yourself there. Trying new uniforms, trying new locations. The priest might put on the collar, but if it’s not in his heart, it’s not there. And it’s like, wherever you go, there you are. When I was in high school, I remember you’d see Michael Stipe in a photo wearing this T-shirt, and you’d be like, “I got to get that T-shirt.” And you put it on and you look in the mirror and it still does not look like Michael Stipe.

Most of the songs deal with that story, but not all of them. There are these bottle episodes within it. But in my mind, it’s in the same world.

“Luke And Leanna” seems to fall in that “bottle episode” category. It’s about this married couple where the woman is thinking about having a workplace affair. Musically, it has a synth riff that strongly evokes the hits from Born In The U.S.A., which seems like a meeting point for you and Craig. And the combination of this personal narrative and the anthemic music, generally, is very Springsteen.

CF: It’s funny: Born In The U.S.A. is one of those records where if you’re asked, “What’s your favorite Springsteen record?” you almost don’t say it just because it’s so big. But those songs are incredible. I mean, it’s not just a massive record, it’s an incredible record.

All my songs deal with capitalism, with class, with where we’re at. With “Luke And Leanna,” I kept thinking about how if you’re someone’s partner and they have a job, that’s a significant part of their life that you’re never going to understand as well as some other people. We have this term “work wife” or “work husband” because it’s very real. And I think that song is about that, that she finds some other person that understands her life more than her partner does in some way. And they’re also getting older and they’ve been together 10 years. But putting that against such upbeat music was a trick. Because you’re singing along, but it’s only disillusionment, you know?

Where songs take place is clearly important to you. I think every song on this record mentions a specific town or state where the action is taking place. Where does that creative impulse come from?

CF: I’ve always been obsessed with geography. I would look at maps when I was a kid, and before I was in a real band I would plot tours, like, “Oh, my god, you could play Cincinnati one night and Louisville the next night!” When I watch a film, I can’t relax until I figure out where they’re at. I’ll be squinting at the license plates and stuff like that. So, it’s always been a part of my storytelling. I like geography and I like knowing where I’m at when I’m on tour. And I just feel like it’s a way into stories. I like stories where people move around a lot. It suggests being unsettled to me. So, this guy goes from Venice, California to Seattle to the East Coast and Delaware and Virginia and Pennsylvania. And then “Fletcher’s” and “Shamrock” are both set in Minneapolis, which is near and dear to my heart.

You have been very open about your characters aging along with you. And I thought about it while listening to “Crumbs,” in which the protagonist’s sister’s daughter is starting to get into teenager things. And it made me think that girl would have been the main character in a Hold Steady song 20 years ago.

CF: Yeah, exactly. It’s the cyclical thing. She’s going to have to go enter into her own relationships, her own potential heartbreaks. The potential of choosing someone who’s just there, the best available, rather than the best for you, or felt like what she was supposed to do. That’s really heartbreaking to me, the idea of the pressures we put on ourselves like it’s time to grow up, grab a husband.

AG: Craig definitely had a Zevon vision for “Crumbs.” The first time I cut that track, I had a [Velvet Underground-style] guitar and drums thing happening. But Craig was like, “I actually hear it with more of a piano and vocal intro and then going full-band into the tune.” I was like, “Hell yeah, let’s do that.” So, we did and it made that song make way more sense to me than it did when it was in its first Velvets-type zone.

There’s also been an aging of sorts with your musical references. Warren Zevon is an artist that starts to make more sense after your 20s. He’s one of those people you listen to in order to learn how to be a grown-up.

CF: Right. I mean, I absolutely feel that. I knew about Warren Zevon when I was 16. That was not the music I wanted to listen to. Now it’s like, “Oh, my god, these are the records.”

Even just the shift in Springsteen eras you’re using as reference points, from Darkness On The Edge Of Town on the early Hold Steady records to Born In The U.S.A. and Tunnel Of Love on this album. And, of course, there’s the Little Criminals homage on the cover.

CF: Those middle-aged records — Tunnel Of Love, Petty, Randy Newman, Zevon — are the most interesting to me now. Those are deep records. I don’t mean to joke about this term, but I always say it sounds “divorced.” Because it’s a certain complex adult sadness that comes from something that you thought was going to work out, that didn’t work out.

Always Been is out 4/4 via Tamarac Recordings/Thirty Tigers. Find more information here.

Welcome to SNX DLX, your weekly roundup of the best sneakers to hit the internet. All of the best sneaker releases this week are coming once the weekend hits, so if this upcoming Friday is a pay day for you, kiss a chunk of that sweet check goodbye. We’re guessing the reason all the hyped releases hit on Friday and Saturday is because of April Fool’s Day. We get it, it’s hard to trust a sneaker release so close to a day known for its pranks.

Despite this being a strong week — with anticipated collaborations between Action Bronson and New Balance, Adidas and BAPE, and a few gems from Nike — it’s another short one, with just six sneakers we think absolutely need to be on your radar. It seems that if this year in sneakers is anything so far, it is prioritizing quality over quantity. So long as we keep getting dope collabs, we don’t have a problem with that.

Let’s dive into this week’s best sneakers, and where to find them.

Action Bronson x New Balance 990v6 Untitled

Price: $220

This week, Action Bronson surprised announced his latest from New Balance and it has everyone scrambling! This is the hot sneaker to get this week, and as longtime fans of Action Bronson x New Balance linkups, we couldn’t be more psyched.

The sneaker, dubbed “Untitled,” features a mesh and leather upper, a chunky twisted midsole, and seven color design that includes two shades of red, white, pink, navy blue, charcoal, and sail, with Bronson’s Baklava branding and a premium Made in USA build.

While the design sports a lot of different colors, each tone is used very tastefully so it never feels like an absolute mess. Bronson continues to quietly dish out the best sneaker-rapper collabs. Take that Travis Scott.

The Action Bronson x New Balance 990v6 Untitled is set to drop on April 4th for a retail price of $220. Pick up a pair at Specializinginlife, select retailers, or your favorite aftermarket site.

Adidas SSTR V Bape

Price: $160

BAPE is a consistent and reliable partner of Adidas, and while so many collaborations between the brands risks diluting the impact of each subsequent release, when they look this good it’s hard not to be hyped.

The SSTR V BAPE sneakers feature a design inspired by the Adidas Superstar Vintage and the OG ’00s Bapesta, sporting a leather upper with BAPE’s iconic camo pattern embossed into the leather, asymmetrical graphics, and gold metallic accents and dual branding. In place of the three stripes are BAPE’s shooting star icon, with “A Bathing Ape,” in gold foil lettering underneath.

The Adidas SSTR V BAPE is set to drop on Saturday April 5th at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $160. Pick up a pair via the Adidas CONFIRMED app or aftermarket sites like GOAT and Flight Club.

Nike Women’s Air Jordan 1 High OG Rare Air

Price: $180

The AJ-1 Rare Air is an interesting concept. The design takes cues from the imperfect and discarded AJ1 samples, including different seams, alternate logo placements, and altered label construction. Basically, it kind of resembles a AJ-1 bootleg, but in the best way possible.

The Rare Air features a leather and suede build with blue NIKE AIR woven labels, a wings logo on the inside collar, and a suede Swoosh.

The Nike Women’s Air Jordan 1 High OG Rare Air is set to drop on April 5th at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $180. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Nike SB Dunk Low x Yuto Matcha

Price: $135

Japanese pro skater Yuto Horigome is back with his second signature Dunk collaboration with Nike. The Yuto Matcha features a suede and leather build with a mix of Light Khaki, Asparagus and Legion Green colors, giving the sneaker a sort of powdery green color reminiscent of — as the name would suggest — matcha tea.

Rounding out the design is Yuto’s family crest on the lateral heel, plush skate-ready padding, and a heel equipped with. Nike’s Air Zoom unit for enhanced impact cushioning. We love to see this balance of style and function! Another winner from Horigome.

The Nike SB Dunk Low x Yuto Matcha is set to drop on April 5th at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $135. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app or aftermarket sites like GOAT and Flight Club.

Nike Air Jordan 1 High OG Rare Air

Price: $180

If you were looking at the women’s exclusive Rare Air AJ-1 and feeling left out, don’t worry, because people with big feet are getting a version too. While we like the overall design and colorway on the women’s exclusive a bit more, you still get that remixed Rare Air design here, and a more classic colorway that’ll probably have a wider appeal.

This version of the Rare-Air features a mix of white, royal blue, and sail, with black accents, and the same one-off details on the women’s exclusive, which includes blue woven labels, an inner collar Nike Air Wings logo, and a brush-off Swoosh.

The Nike Air Jordan 1 High OG Rare Air is set to drop on April 5th at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $180. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Adidas Harden Volume 9 Core Black

Price: $160

This week brings a new stealthy take on the Adidas Harden Volume 9. Featuring a Core Black colorway with Lucid Red accents, the Vol. 9 sports a lightweight synthetic and textile upper, a BOOST midsole, and Lightstrike cushioning. This is very much a sneaker designed for performance, but given James Harden’s impeccable sense of style, it also looks great at the same time.

Adidas continues to kill it with their signature basketball sneakers.

The Adidas Harden Volume 9 Core Black is set to drop on April 5th at 12:00 AM PST for a retail price of $160. Pick up a pair via the Adidas CONFIRMED app or aftermarket sites like GOAT and Flight Club.

Disclaimer: While all of the products recommended here were chosen independently by our editorial staff, Uproxx may receive payment to direct readers to certain retail vendors who are offering these products for purchase.

Sometimes the best new R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm-and-blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the best new R&B songs that fans of the genre should hear every Friday.

Since the last update of this weekly R&B column, we’ve received plenty of music and news from the genre’s artists.

Jessie Reyez released her Paid In Memories album alongside a video for “NYB” while Kali Uchis announced her Sincerely with her “Sunshine & Rain…” single. Coco Jones took another step closer to her Why Not More? debut album with “You” and Ari Lennox celebrated her birthday with the funky “Soft Girl Era.”

Here are the new music releases you need to listen to:

Kali Uchis — “Sunshine & Rain…”

At long last there’s a new Kali Uchis album on the way, that being her fifth album Sincerely, and we now have its first single. “Sunshine & Rain…” arrives as a lush record that praises the feeling of good love in her life. “This record is about embracing a life of enjoyment despite the world or your circumstances,” she said about the song, adding that it’s “an existential piece focusing on the vulnerability and romanticism of life.”

Ari Lennox — “Soft Girl Era”

Ari Lennox has been teasing her upcoming third album for some weeks now, and finally, the Dreamville singer gave us the first offering from it. “Soft Girl Era” is an anthemic and bouncy that brings back the funky production from her 2022 Age/Sex/Location album, soundtracked by Jermaine Dupri and Bryan Michael Cox who are also beyond the boards for “Soft Girl Era.”

Jessie Reyez — Paid In Memories

Jessie Reyez’s third album Paid In Memories drops as a reflection of her career, its highs and lows, and how far she’s come over the years. Its 21 songs delivers features from Lil Wayne, Miguel, 6lack, Lil Yachty, Ari Lennox, Big Sean, and more. “My relationship with success has been a little convoluted for a long time,” Reyez said in a press release for the album. “I was scared of it when I first got started in the industry.” Now, thinking more optimistically, she says, “I’ve been paid in more ways than one, and luckily, I’ve been well paid in memories.”

Coco Jones — “You”

Coco Jones’ debut album Why Not More? arrives later this month, and while the wait continues, Jones delivers another single from the album with “You.” The track is a vulnerable one as Jones gets honest about falling in love. It arrives after she revealed the dates for the European and United Kingdom leg of her Why Not More? Tour.

Mahalia — “Different Type Of Love” Feat. Masicka

With her Luvergirl era in full swing, British singer Mahalia celebrates a “Different Type Of Love” with Masicka on her latest single. “I’ve been waiting for ‘Different Type Of Love’ to come out since it was made,” Mahalia says about the song. It’s fun, sexy and the perfect “luvergirl” record. I’ve been a fan of Masicka for a long time and I’m so so excited that he’s on this!!”

Naomi Sharon — “Can We Do This Over”

A new era is here for Naomi Sharon, and it begins with her new single “Can We Do This Over.” The tracks steers toward a more acoustic sound, which gives more room for Sharon’s enchanting vocals to shine. “I remember being in a vulnerable phase,” Sharon says about the songs creative process. “Together with Justin Tranter, the co-writer, I wrote a beautiful lyric that perfectly captured how I was feeling. That was a special experience.

Dende — I Am, Because You Are…

After reaching new heights in 2023 with ’95 Civic and keeping us fed lest year with Wish You Were Here, Houston singer Dende, who recently inked a deal with Def Jam, gets into his 2025 flow with his new EP, I Am, Because You Are…. The 6-track project captures Dende’s artistic mind as he paints his feelings about romance, lust, and love onto a canvas for us to see and hear.

Isaiah Falls & Odeal — “Searching”

Florida singer Isaiah Falls announced his new project LVRS Paradise with his new single “Searching” alongside championed singer Odeal. The track is a sultry and cinematic affair that captures the duo’s longing feeling for a love that feels out of reach. “Working with Odeal was effortless,” Falls said about the collaboration. “I always appreciate when I can tell that someone puts the time and effort into their craft.”

Jozzy — “Maybe”

It’s been two years since Jozzy gave us her excellent Songs For Women, Free Game For N****s EP, and she’s finally back with a new record for what will hopefully lead to a new project soon. “Maybe” arrives with production from Bongo ByTheWay and Jozzy’s passionate and sultry pleas to a lover as she begs with them to be honest and transparent with her about their budding romance.

Genia — “Give” Feat. Monaleo

At just 23 years old, California singer Genia is making waves in the R&B lane and it continues with a new version of “Give” featuring Houston rapper Monaleo. Genia’s range is at full display here as she switches between quickfire verses and an epic bridge, while Monaleo effortlessly glides on the bouncy production.

Aqyila — Falling Into Place

Canadian singer Aqyila finally delivers her debut album Falling Into Place, and man, was it worth the wait. Through 11 songs, Aqyila showcases her heartfelt songwriting, infectious melodies, and expansive R&B palette. ““I’m just a lover girl at heart,” Aqyila says about the project. “I love love, and I love songs that make me feel like I’m right in the moment, floating in love.”

After 1923‘s second season ends, there’s fixing to be a Yellowstone-shaped hole on streaming until Taylor Sheridan’s The Madison debuts later this year. That action is also taking place on Paramount Plus, but Netflix is hoping to entertain that same audience, too.

Ransom Canyon will ride in on a similar neo-Western horse to tell tales about ranch families also aiming to preserve their way of life, this time in Texas Hill Country, not too terribly far from where some 1923 filming took place. And Netflix isn’t messing around with their desire to get in on the Western craze after their American Primeval success, so those who appreciated that odyssey will want to know when they can also see a more down-home effort.

When Does Ransom Canyon Come Out On Netflix?

This rodeo will stream on April 17, about midway through a month chock full of must-see series on streaming.

The show stars Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly and adapts Jodi Thomas’ novels about “a romance-fueled family drama and contemporary Western saga that charts the intersecting lives of three ranching families, all set against the rugged expanse of Texas Hill Country.” A mysterious cowboy will stoke some flames, and the first season will contain ten episodes. Oh and there will be plenty of steamy scenes that will be viewed from “the female gaze,” which will fit in well on the streaming service that has met whoops and hollers with the same strategy on Bridgerton.

But will there be a “Duke” who is raking his way across Ransom Canyon? You’ll have to watch to find out, but here’s Duhamel and a horse.

One of the most fun bands around is Winona Fighter. Take “You Look Like A Drunk Phoebe Bridgers,” a highlight from this year’s My Apologies To The Chef. First off, great title. Also, instead of making a music video about how life as a touring band can be monotonous, the pop-punk trio instead focused on the good stuff, like the energetic reception they get from fans every night.

“We love being able to give fans a behind the scenes look at a Winona Fighter show day with the new ‘You Look Like A Drunk Phoebe Bridgers’ music video,” singer Coco Kinnon said in a statement. “I think it really shows listeners what we are all about on and off the stage. Lots of laughs pre + post show, but during the shows it’s a ball of energy and fun. Maybe it will even inspire a few skeptics to come out and experience a show themselves. It was really cool making a video that was 100 percent in our element. No directing needed, just us doing our things and our fans showing off how they know best!”

Winona Fighter also announced new “Second Course” dates for the Yes, Chef Tour, which you can see below.

Winona Fighter’s 2025 Tour Dates: The Yes, Chef Tour

05/31 – Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues Cambridge
06/01 – Buffalo, NY @ Outer Harbor Live at Terminal B #
06/03 – New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall #
06/04 – Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere Zone 1
06/05 – Garwood, NJ @ Crossroads
06/07 – Crownsville, MD @ Let’s Go Fest
06/09 – Indianapolis, IN @ HI-FI Indy
06/10 – St. Louis, MO @ Blueberry Hill Duck Room
06/11 – Tulsa, OK @ Mercury Lounge
06/13 – Colorado Springs, CO @ The Black Sheep
06/15 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
06/16 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah
06/19 – San Francisco, CA @ Brick & Mortar
06/21 – Fresno, CA @ Strummer’s
06/28 – Oro Station, ON @ All Your Friends Fest
07/08 – Raleigh, NC @ Kings
07/09 – Washington, D.C. @ DC9
07/10 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
07/11 – Boston, MA @ Crystal Ballroom
07/12 – Philadelphia, PA @ Foundry
07/15 – Columbus, OH @ Rumba Café
07/16 – Hamtramck, MI @ Sanctuary
07/17 – Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
07/18 – Milwaukee, WI @ Vivarium
07/19 – Winona, MN @ No Name Bar
07/20 – St. Paul, MN @ Minnesota Yacht Club Festival

# with Simple Plan

MJ Lenderman and Wednesday are two of the biggest acts in indie rock, and back in 2021, they released an EP together. Guttering, which features lo-fi songs like “Big Money” and “Phish Pepsi,” is now being re-released on vinyl by community-minded, Philadelphia-based label Julia’s War Recordings. It will also be available on tape and digitally.

“It’s funny to think how much Guttering changed my life,” Julia’s War Recordings label head Douglas Dulagrian reflected. “It’s a blessing that, for the past ten years, all my favorite bands have just been my friends, and even more of a blessing that, in the past four or five, they’re willing to work with me. I’m proud that this record was the first Julia’s War release four or five years ago. Crazy to think about that. And these days, all these years later, records like Guttering and many more have allowed the thing to grow into what it is today: a label of all my favorite bands, and it’s still just all my f*cking friends.”

You can watch the previously released “Big Money” music video above, and check out Guttering‘s tracklist below.

MJ Lenderman & Wednesday’s Guttering Tracklist

1. “Big Money”
2. “Terminex”
3. “Phish Pepsi” (with Advance Base)
4. “My Voice Is A Little Horse”
5. “Sacrifice (For Love)”
6. “Christiane F”

Guttering is out 6/20 via Julia’s War Recordings. Find more information here.

Last week, Sound Check host Jeremy Hecht put G-Eazy through his paces to determine the best Bay Area anthem. This week, Sound Check crosses coasts to find out Rico Nasty’s favorite DMV Area classic, making her choose between GoldLink’s 2017 hit “Crew” and Wale’s 2011 staple “Lotus Flower Bomb.”

The diabolical Hecht also puts up two Nicki Minaj classics for Rico to choose from (“Did It On ‘Em’” and “Super Bass”), Rihanna fan favorites (“Love On The Brain” and “B*tch Better Have My Money”), and of course, plenty of influential rockers from the likes of Avril Lavigne and Paramore, two of Rico’s biggest influences. There are also iconic rock cuts from Joan Jett and David Bowie, selections from Eminem, and a tough choice between Sahbabii and Tyler The Creator. Of course, the true test is for Jeremy himself, who has to use her picks to guess her “life anthem” from between the song Rico wrote down and the decoy our producers put in to throw him off. See if he gets it right up top!c

The first-ever Uproxx cover star is in the midst of the rollout for her new album Lethal, which combines plenty of the above sounds in the same vein as her angsty debut Nightmare Vacation. She kicked off the rollout with “Teethsucker” and followed up this week with the video for “On The Low.”

Watch Rico Nasty take the Sound Check taste test above.

British-Nigerian musician Obongjayar has been rising in popularity stateside ever since his show-stealing feature on Little Simz’s Sometimes I Might Be Introvert standout “Point And Kill” back in 2021. Since then, he’s been tabbed as an artist to watch, making further standout appearances on collaborations with the likes of Fred Again.. and Kamasi Washington.

Today, he announced the release date for his new album, Paradise Now, which drops May 30 on September Recordings. The album’s press release promises production from Kwes Darko, Yeti Beats, and Beach Noise, while the tracklist holds another collaboration with Little Simz.
At the same time, he has shared the video for the album’s latest single, “Sweet Danger,” an ode to the bad boys — which he proudly declares himself to be. In the video, a series of larger-than-life characters flexes, mugs, dances, and rides a mechanical bull in a run-down hotel.

Watch Obongjayar’s “Sweet Danger” video above.

Paradise Now is due on 5/30 via September Recordings. You can find more info here.

Paradise Now Cover Art

Paradise Now Tracklist

01. “It’s Time”
02. “Life Ahead”
03. “Peace in Your Heart”
04. “Holy Mountain”
05. “Jellyfish”
06. “Talk Olympics” (feat. Little Simz)
07. “Prayer”
08. “Moon Eyes”
09. “Sweet Danger”
10. “Not in Surrender”
11. “Instant Animal”
12. “Strong Bone”
13. “Born in This Body”
14. “Just My Luck”
15. “Happy Head”

Wednesday will return this year after a three-year hiatus. Plenty of rightful fuss has been made about the wait, but if Severance can keep those fires burning, then Jenna Ortega’s goth girl can dance her way into our little black hearts again. It surely doesn’t hurt matters that Lady Gaga joined the show, and Mother Monster’s presence ensures that the return will be no less macabre. Let’s get down to gloomy business on what to expect from the second season.

Plot

After such a long wait for Tim Burton’s latest brainchild to reemerge, it should come as welcome news to learn that the Beetlejuice director will have Wednesday rolling in horror homages. Ortega previously revealed that there will be references to Edgar Allan Poe‘s “The Masque of the Red Death,” and the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice actress recently told Collider that there will be serious “slasher” movie vibes, too:

“It’s crazy to talk about one frame like this, but there is a frame of Pugsley rolling his eyes back with this contraption around his head-that’s all I can say- and it reminds me so much of Full Metal Jacket. It’s insane. So bizarre. I just feel like there are a lot of scenes and frames, and there’s a whole episode based off of slashers, and we make a lot of horror references… I feel like we kind of had a little bit more trust, and therefore, we felt like we could do bigger, more elaborate sequences, which is nice.”

And as for the secrecy revolving around Gaga’s role? Ortega hinted at an unexpected character (who won’t occupy a ton of screen time) and also told Stephen Colbert how the production rolled out the stops: “[T]hey replaced my dirty tent with like brand-new tents… they gave me fancy water, everything… we really wanted to impress her.” What hasn’t changed? Ortega has promised that Wednesday remains true to herself: “[S]he’s not out to please anybody” And surely, Gomez hasn’t stopped dropping his favorite nicknames, (“Little Storm Cloud,” “Little Tormenta,” etc.) for his daughter.

Familiar quirks aside, plot specifics (other than the need to unmask Wednesday’s stalker who was teased in the last season finale) have been kept in the crypt by showrunners Al Gough and Miles Millar other than these hints: “Wednesday’s journey is darker and more complex as she navigates family, friends, new mysteries, and old adversaries, propelling her headlong into another year at Nevermore.” They added, “Season 2 will be delightfully dark, kooky, and mysterious. If we told you why, Wednesday would kill us.” Fair.

Also, the premiere episode is called “Here We Woe Again,” and Burton is in the director’s seat. Steve Buscemi, who is onboard as the new Nevermore Academy principal, was thrilled to work with the Goth King again:

“It had been over 20 years since we did Big Fish together. I’m such a huge fan of his and the way he works, his energy, the way he sees the world. I also got to work with the rest of the cast, too, because I have some scenes with all of the Addams family and my character. I’ve been a big fan of The Addams Family since I was a kid so it was surreal and very exciting.”

Cast

The unholy trio of Jenna Ortega, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Luis Guzman will be back as Wednesday, Morticia, and Gomez Addams. Netflix hasn’t yet revealed whether Fred Armisen will return as Uncle Fester (the only person who can draw out a broad smile from Wednesday), nor have we heard much about his reported spin off, but it seems likely that this second season could act as a bridge to another spin off announcement.

Emma Meyers will return as Wednesday’s eternally patient roomie, Enid. Hunter Doohan is back as the unfortunate Tyler/Hyde (as a clip shows in the trailer section below), and new cast members include Steve Buscemi as new Nevermore Academy principal Barry Dort.

Gaga’s role remains a mystery, but characters have been specified for multiple other newcomers, including Joanna Lumley (as Grandmama), Thandiwe Newton (as Dr. Fairburn), and Billie Piper (as Capri). Evie Templeton, Owen Painter, and Noah Taylor will also fill unspecified shoes.

Leaving the building: Percy Hynes White will not be back as Xavier Thorpe. Jamie McShane and Naomi J. Ogawa will also no longer be regulars. At present, we don’t know whether Gwendoline Christie’s Principal Weems has evaded demise as she hilariously suggested or whether Christina Ricci could pop in as outed villain Marilyn Thornhill.

Release Date

Netflix continues to be hush hush on a release date other than including Wednesday on their 2025 slate.

Trailer

Surely a teaser trailer will arrive by summer, but for now, Ortega has been previewed while paying a stony-faced visit to Tyler. Her poker-faced disposition doesn’t usually make clear whether she’s feeling friendly or not, but Tyler is obviously not having a grand time while chained up at Willow Hill Psychiatric Hospital following his Hyde reveal.