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Every month, Uproxx cultural critic Steven Hyden makes an unranked list of his favorite music-related items released during this period — songs, albums, books, films, you name it.

1. Yo La Tengo, This Stupid World

There is a tortoise and hare element to this band in comparison to other legacy ’90s indie acts. Pavement probably is the most beloved from that time, but they’re not nearly as prolific. Built To Spill has higher highs, but they’re less consistent. Ditto Flaming Lips. Sonic Youth, of course, famously imploded. I don’t think there has ever been a time when Yo La Tengo were considered the band. But then you look at their catalog and it’s all … pretty incredible? There are literally no misses! (That’s right, I like Summer Sun.) When you compare them to their contemporaries, it’s hard to argue that anyone did it better. And they just keep going! This Stupid World is their 17th record, and I think it’s my favorite since at least 2006’s I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass. Whereas their recent work leans more on the spacier side, This Stupid World brings back the “song-y” elements of classics like Painful and I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One. If you’re new to Yo La Tengo, this record might actually be a perfect introduction.

2. Liv.e, Girl In The Half Pearl

On my podcast I joked about how we ended up talking about the ’90s alt-rock band Live more this month than the newer, hipper Liv.e, whose second album ranks among early 2023’s most acclaimed releases. So I would be very remiss if I didn’t talk here about Girl In The Half Pearl, as this really is one of the most sonically adventurous and, at times, mind-blowing releases I’ve heard recently. Broadly described as “avant R&B,” Liv.e’s music is actually next to impossible to categorize without creating a word salad of references. It’s Sade as produced by Trent Reznor! It’s Brian Eno remaking Joni Mitchell’s Blue! A song cycle about a failed romantic relationship, Girl In The Half Pearl is really good at evoking a mix of desire, despair, wonder, and anger musically as it is unpacking those feelings lyrically. Each time I put it on, I pick up something new.

3. Andy Shauf, Norm

The part of me that loves it when artists are great at world-building responds the most to Girl In The Half Pearl. It’s also the part of me that really digs the work of this Canadian singer-songwriter. On bravura albums like 2020’s The Neon Skyline, his songs fold like scenes in a movie directed by Robert Altman or Richard Linklater, in which a cast of characters tell their stories and gradually reveal how they’re lives are interconnected. On his latest effort, Norm, Shauf also spotlights his excellent production work. If you are a sucker, as I am, for vintage guitar, drum, and keyboard sounds that sound lifted from albums by Paul Simon and Randy Newman, you can’t do much better.

4. Philip Selway, Strange Dance

Strange Dance is the latest example of a Radiohead band member making music outside of Radiohead. Ed O’Brien produced his first solo effort (under the moniker EOB), Earth, in 2020. Last year, Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood teamed up in the well-regarded side project The Smile, forming a power trio with jazz drummer Tom Skinner. Also in 2022, Colin Greenwood started playing with Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. During the promotional campaign for Strange Dance, Selway has hinted that Radiohead might reassemble this year, sparking hopes for their first new album since 2016’s A Moon Shaped Pool. But when I spoke with him, he seemed less committal, suggesting that the band is now a collective of sorts in which solo projects fall under “the umbrella of Radiohead.”

5. Lana Del Rey, “A&W”

This epic single from the forthcoming Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. has me officially excited after a few down albums. It feels like a return to the anthemic form of Norman Fucking Rockwell, though on “A&W” LDR takes a left turn after a mesmerizing piano fanfare, in which she slips into a variation on the bubblegum classic “Shimmy Shimmy Cocoa-Puff” over a trap beat. That dream-like coda cinches “A&W’ as one of her best songs.

6. The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Future Is Your Past

This month I was inspired to put on Tepid Peppermint Wonderland, one of the best greatest hits albums ever, in which the notoriously off-kilter BJM are presented in their best possible light as purveyors of catchy, garage-y psych-rock jams. That’s what the best greatest hits albums do — take an unruly catalog and pare it down to the essentials, creating a definitive album in the process. But what about their proper records anyway? A few readers insisted that I spend time with The Future Is Your Past, calling it a return to form. I don’t know if that’s quite true, but this is a really pleasurable album if you buy this band’s brand of retro tunefulness. When it comes to catchy, garage-y psych-rock jams, BJM is basically AC/DC — they have a formula and it’s best that they stick to it.

Not all of Donald Trump nicknames are winners. For every Meatball Ron (which he claims he didn’t come up with, but he should because it’s very funny), there’s a handful of lackluster efforts like Crooked Hillary for Hillary Clinton and Al Frankenstein for Al Franken. Trump isn’t better than much, but he’s better than that. The former president sunk to a new low when it comes to nicknames, however, when he debuted his latest insult alias for Pete Buttigieg.

“Wow, is The Washington Post becoming legit,” Trump wrote on Truth Social at 1:41 a.m. EST. “They just reported that the weak and totally ineffective Secretary of Transportation, Pete ‘BUTTedgeedge,’ LIED when he said that the Trump Administrations great and effective reduction in regulations, a giant job producer, had NOTHING to do with the East Palestine Train Derailment. It was just more Dem DISINFORMATION in order to deflect from their gross incompetence. Really good investigative journalism by The Washington Post.”

BUTTedgeedge hasn’t made the “list of nicknames used by Donald Trump” Wikipedia page yet, nor should it. It’s a childish insult (and arguably “homophobic”), but it’s also just lazy. And confusing, a first draft pitch if I’ve ever heard one. At least Alfred E. Neuman required some effort.

Latto proudly sings about being every man’s fantasy, but in her latest TikTok video, she makes it clear her heart only belongs to one man. As the Grammy Award nominee enjoys some downtime before returning to the road on tour this spring, the “Big Energy” rapper put her cooking skills on full display. While preparing a soul food Sunday spread for her mystery man, fans flooded the comment section to inquire about her boo.

Some users even took it a step further to congratulate fellow rapper 21 Savage for locking down a partner that could prepare such lavish dishes. However, Latto chimed in to deny that she was dating 21 Savage, let alone cooking for him.

Latto isn’t the only party denying the claims, on a Clubhouse session back in December, Savage also denied he and the “Another Nasty Song” rapper were a thing, saying, “I’ve been hot for a long time. I don’t do all the antics and sh*t. I don’t got a celebrity girlfriend.”

The pair have maintained that they only have a professional relationship seen in their collaboration on Latto’s song “Wheelie.” However, fans aren’t buying it after Latto tattooed the word “Sheyaa” behind her ear earlier this month, which is 21’s legal first name (Sheyaa Bin Abarham-Joseph).

Following a Rolling Stone report that Donald Trump tried to censor Jimmy Kimmel, the late night host went to town on the former president for using the Oval House to protect his sensitive feelings by going over Kimmel and ABC’s heads and yelling at Disney.

“In other words, President Karen demanded to speak to my manager,” Kimmel joked during his Monday monologue. “And you’d think the guy who fathered Eric and Don Jr. would know how to handle jokes, but I guess not.”

The late night host played all the greatest hits by working in a solid reference to Trump’s alleged affair with Stormy Daniels. “Usually when he wants somebody to stop talking about him, he pays them $130,000, but he wanted me to do it for free!”

Kimmel then roasted Trump for being quick to dish out insulting nicknames, but immediately crumbling whenever he’s on the receiving end. Via The Daily Beast:

“Wow, what a fragile little snowflake,” Kimmel added. “He’s a blowhard and a snowflake. He’s a blow-flake is what he is! He should change the hats to say ‘Make America Whine Again.’” Later, he speculated that Donald and Melania “sleep in separate bedrooms because she was laughing too hard at my monologue every night” and wondered if Fox News would come to his defense as a comedian whose jokes are under fire: “I doubt it!”

The late night host wrapped things up by praising the First Amendment, which Trump clearly has no respect for despite his claims to the contrary.

“We have a First Amendment right that Americans a hell of a lot braver than Donald Trump died for,” Kimmel said. “And it’s especially hypocritical coming from someone who claims to be the biggliest anti-censorship defender of free speech.”

(Via The Daily Beast)

Marjorie Taylor Greene is lamenting the loss of days when people were nice to each other, and her selective memory is too much. That last detail isn’t too surprising, considering that Greene was also unaware of how Chris Stapleton’s mutual “wokeness” was key to his participation in the Super Bowl’s Black National Anthem showcase. Greene has also yet to acknowledge a recent statistical error that felt like more than a typo to many people, but at least she’s consistent with her hyperbolic, reality-ignoring ways.

Yep, you can always count on Greene to forget what she’s done in the relatively recent past. The congresswoman from Georgia posted a late-night tweet, in which she claimed to have been “attacked in a restaurant tonight by an insane women and screamed at by her adult son.” Greene declared that these people “turned into demons” and were “completely out of control.” Further, Greene is very sad that “[p]eople used to respect others even if they had different views,” yet she’s found that this isn’t the case “anymore.” This means, according to Greene, that the U.S. has gone down the tubes.

As TMZ notes, no police involvement appears to have occurred as a result of this alleged altercation, and no one seems to be speaking up about what they saw or heard in this restaurant. Until that happens, people are remaining skeptical, but more than that, they’re remembering how Greene used to harass and scream at school shooting survivors, including David Hogg. She also made a fast habit of heckling Biden during the SOTU and called for a “national divorce” only a week ago.

And inside of that whole mess, Greene appears to have forgotten that political civility hasn’t existed in many years, and I think most people noticed the uptick in combativeness around, oh, 2015 or so.

The much anticipated Blink-182 reunion tour is set to kick off next month. Ahead of the tour, it appears drummer Travis Barker is set to undergo surgery to repair his broken finger, which he had broken twice this month.

Yesterday (February 27), Barker took to Instagram and shared a photo dump of himself holding up his broken finger. “Surgery tomorrow,” read the post’s caption, which was accompanied by a crossed fingers emoji.

In a video included in the photo carousel, a medical professional is seen trying to snap Barker’s finger back into place. In the other photos, he is seen showing off his swollen knuckle.

In addition to being one of the members of Blink-182’s classic line-up, Barker has been one of the most in-demand drummers in the music industry. But despite his prolific nature, he admitted in an interview for GQ that he feels relatively neutral about appearing on camera, particularly on Hulu’s The Kardashians, where he sometimes appears with his wife, Kourtney Kardashian.

“The only time I really film with Kourt is when she asks me to, and I’m only around for some of it,” he said. “She’ll be like, ‘Hey, by the way, we’re filming today,’ and I’m like, ‘Okay, cool’ — it doesn’t change how I act or what I dress like, you know what I mean?”

Blink-182 is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

As you probably know, The Mandalorian returns for its third season this Wednesday. It may not seem like it, but the end of the second season was way back in 2020 when Luke Skywalker showed up and took off with Grogu to train him as a Jedi. Well, if you didn’t watch The Book of Boba Fett … surprise! That whole “training with Luke” thing didn’t work out as planned and Grogu has signed up for more adventures with Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal).

Rick Famuyiwa (Talk to Me, Dope) serves as an executive producer and has directed three episodes of The Mandalorian over the first two seasons – “The Child,” “The Prisoner,” and “The Believer” – and is the director of three episodes this upcoming season, including the opening episode this week and the last two episodes of the season. Little is known about what adventures The Mandalorian and Grogu will face this season, but we tried to find out as much as we could.

Are you at all worried about the people who only watch The Mandalorian and missed some key character developments on The Book of Boba Fett?

[Laughs] Oh my goodness. I mean, look, I’m excited for it to be out there and there are always so many expectations. Man, speculations. Those who’ve seen everything. Those who haven’t. So you’ll get caught up soon enough, I guess. You’ll figure it out!

Wrapping up Luke and Grogu on a different show, but was that done to clear the way for what the arc of this third season is?

I think so much of what our show’s been about is that central relationship between Grogu and Mando, Din Djarin. And how it began as this bounty. And, obviously, Din Djarin, the things that he had to do in terms of taking off his helmet and revealing his face and in the course of having this child under his care. And then Grogu making a choice, too, to come back and choose to be back with Mando. I think puts us in a very good place. It’s a place that’s familiar. It’s one that the show has centrally been about. And so, yeah, I won’t necessarily speak for Jon [Favreau] in that regard, but I always saw it as how we begin this season as getting us back to where we were, but now there’s a permanence about it that makes it more relevant.

So all I’ve seen is the trailer for this season. What would you say are the overarching themes of the season? Because it does seem there’s some sort of civil war coming between some Mandalorian factions.

I think that the Mandalorian and the definition of that has expanded from our initial main character being a Mandalorian. And that was all we knew about him. And now how that’s expanded as he’s expanded, both as a character and the journey he’s been on. We’ve seen that definition change as he met other Mandalorians who had a different point of view and a different set of beliefs and values around what being Mandalorian is. So I think season three really is the culmination of that definition. And I think what’s hinted in the trailer, in terms of that we’re going to see more Mandalorians and that Mandalore is going to be a central part of that story. But I think the overarching narrative and themes around this season is around the definition of the Mandalorian, the identity of it, the culture of it. What that means, what it means to have different viewpoints within that. And then, ultimately, how those viewpoints come together and clash as the season moves on.

I always enjoy the episodes you direct. What is your approach to Star Wars? When you come in, what are you thinking? In terms of, all right, here’s what I want to bring to this.

It’s funny because yeah, the first film I saw in a theater was Star Wars.

Yeah, mine was The Empire Strikes Back.

Yeah, so we grew up with this. But there are a lot of people who’ve checked in with Star Wars at different points along the way. And whether that was the Prequel era, whether it’s through the animated series, whether it’s through gaming or the books, I think people have found the world in their own ways. And obviously the show The Mandalorian was an entry point for a lot of folks. So I’ve always felt like telling stories in Star Wars was limitless. And what was exciting about what we did with this show was tell stories about new characters that were within a timeline in the world that people who, like us, have been watching and following for 40-plus years. And those who had never seen anything or really experienced Star Wars can get into it. So there was a way, both multi-generationally, and also just in terms of the diversity of storytelling within Star Wars that this show has been able to bring together.

So I don’t necessarily have… Even though we’re making Star Wars and telling these stories, there’s not a Star Wars way that I’m thinking about it. I think, ultimately, I’m thinking about the central characters and how we can grow and relate them. But then every decision you make, everything you do big and small, also has ripples to that history. That sense of world and community that we all know from Star Wars. So that adds a different layer of complexity to it. But I think at the heart of it, for me, the storytelling is the same. And I think the storytelling of this relationship with Mando and Grogu would hold up, whether it was in this world or somewhere else.

This might be an example of something small, but in the first episode that you directed, “The Child,” when the Trandoshans show up to fight Mando… In The Empire Strikes Back, we see Bossk and he’s just kind of standing there and growls. But everyone had the action figure and had limitless adventures. I feel like this show does that really well, these characters we all knew from the toys that didn’t do much in the movies finally seeing some action.

Yeah, exactly! And that’s what I loved about the show. One, it was new characters, but then there were also ways to honor some of these old characters that have been around for a while. They’re in the background, be it Jawas or be it the Trandoshans, and the Ice Cream Maker.

Oh yeah, from Cloud City.

It’s fun to have those elements become expanded. And even the relationship between Din Djarin and Kuiil, the Ugnaught. And now the Ugnaught was another character and in Empire, they were just in the background. But that you can add complexity and dimensionality to some of these characters was exciting, too, about what we do.

Is there another background character from the Original Trilogy you’d like to see put into the show?

Oh my goodness … man. I feel like they just somehow pop up and end up in them without even thinking. But no, I don’t know if there’s any one that I’ve really been like, “Oh my God, let’s figure out a way.”

Remember Prune Face? The action figure? We need to get that guy in something.

[Laughs] Yeah, let’s talk to Jon and Dave Filoni, see what they’re cooking up.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

During Sunday’s “Take on Me”-soundtracked episode of The Last of Us, Ellie went on one of the best first dates ever — until it became one of the worst. But not everyone got to see one of the most memorable moments from “Left Behind.”

Kotaku reports that OSN+, the streaming service that airs The Last of Us in the Middle East and North Africa, “quietly and smoothly cut out the kiss between Ellie and Riley. One viewer shared a video of the cut kiss compared directly to the way the episode plays out on HBO Max.”

Viewers also voiced frustration that this isn’t the first time OSN has removed LGBTQ content from movies or TV shows. In 2016, the network and streamer were heavily criticized by many online for cutting a gay kiss from an episode of How to Get Away With Murder. Some on social media also pointed out that the streamer had allegedly and recently cut a kiss from an episode of Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon.

You can see the edited kiss below.

Flawless!

When asked about the homophobic critics of The Last of Us, actress Storm Reid, who plays Riley, said, “I think Bella [Ramsey] put it perfectly a couple of weeks ago: ‘If you don’t like it, don’t watch.’ There’s so many other things to worry about in the world. I think being concerned about who people love is just absurd to me. I just don’t — I will never understand it. I don’t get it.”

Focus on more important issues, like getting the high score on Mortal Kombat II.

(Via Kotaku)

Last week, Sabrina Carpenter stopped by BBC Radio 1 to perform two songs: a cover of Harry Styles’ “Late Night Talking” and her own “Nonsense.” On the latter song, she switched up the lyrics a bit to fit the environment, ending the song with, “I’m American, I am not British / So BBC, it stands for something different.”

BBC, in terms of the media company, stands for British Broadcasting Corporation. Of course, BBC also has a different, more NSFW definition (as Urban Dictionary will tell you) and that’s the one Carpenter referenced. It appears that BBC Radio 1 didn’t love Carpenter’s lyrics, so much so that they’ve taken them offline.

As Exclaim notes, BBC Radio 1 initially uploaded a video of the performance, BBC lyric included, onto YouTube on February 24, but removed it shortly after. Yesterday (February 27), the video returned to YouTube, this time with the BBC lyric edited out.

Even before the BBC performance, “Nonsense” was meant to have a sense of humor, as Carpenter previously said of the track, “Genuinely, [I] just could not stop writing fake versions of the chorus. […] Basically, we were, like, we know the song is nonsense, we know the chorus, so we took a few of those lyrics that we love, that we were dying over, and we put them in the outro of the song. It’s cool that that kinda song was able to make it in the record, because I really think that also it shows my stupid sense of humor.”

Watch Carpenter’s (edited) BBC Radio 1 performance of “Nonsense” above.

In case you missed it, the Los Angeles area has been dealing with some uncommonly intense weather recently; Last week, there was a blizzard warning in LA, which is believed to be only the second one on record ever. While that was going on, Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl decided to make use of his barbecue skills and help out.

As TMZ reports, Grohl rolled up to LA’s Hope Of The Valley Rescue Mission on February 22 with a big meat smoker, and after 16 hours of preparation, he had enough food to feed around 500 people “ribs, pork butt, brisket, cabbage, coleslaw, and beans.”

Hope Of The Valley also shared an Instagram Story yesterday from CEO Rowan Vansleve, who posted a photo of Grohl preparing food in the rain and wrote, “In the middle of the storms this week. This is Dave Grohl cooking over 500 servings of the best barbecue for those living in our shelters. That’s class.”

In a 2018 interview with Uproxx, Grohl compared the barbecuing process to music, saying, “You know, you work all day long and then you present it to someone and it’s almost like making a song. You have your specific recipe or your specific rub. And, you know, the best feeling is when you have those big barbecues and I’m doling out food for everyone and then they start coming back for seconds, it’s almost like performance in a way.”