The New Orleans Pelicans will be without a member of their young core for an indefinite period of time, with one report indicating that we won’t see him again this season. The team announced that second-year guard Kira Lewis Jr. suffered a torn ACL and a Grad 2 MCL sprain in his right knee, which will require surgery sometime in the future.
Injury Update: Kira Lewis Jr. will be out indefinitely after suffering a torn ACL and a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his right knee during the second quarter of last night’s game against the Denver Nuggets pic.twitter.com/w7RMMwSfwO
Lewis suffered the injury on Wednesday evening during the second quarter of the Pelicans’ 120-114 overtime loss to the Denver Nuggets. At the time, the team announced that their 20-year-old guard suffered a knee sprain.
The No. 13 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft out of the University of Alabama, Lewis carved out a role as a bench contributor on this Pelicans squad. Lewis averaged 5.9 points, two assists, 1.6 rebounds, and 0.5 steals in 14.2 minutes per game, all of which came off the bench.
The Pelicans possess the worst record in the Western Conference, as the team sits 7-20 on the year and finds itself five games back of the Sacramento Kings for the 10-seed and the final spot in the conference’s play-in tournament. All of this has happened without the services of Zion Williamson, who is working his way back from offseason foot surgery.
Avatar came out in 2009, the year after Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe. By the time Avatar 2 finally — hopefully — comes out next December, there will have been 28 Marvel movies (it’s an apt comparison considering Disney owns both Captain America and the Na’vi). Why such a lengthy delay?
“The scripts are the blueprint from which we work,” producer told Jon Landau told Total Film magazine. “So a large portion of our time was writing… with the challenge that each of those four scripts had to individually resolve itself in a story that concludes with a big emotional resolution – but when you look at them as a whole, the connected story arc of all four movies creates an even larger epic saga.” In other words, the decade-long wait between Avatar and Avatar 2 is because James Cameron & Co. weren’t working on one film at a time — they were working on four sequels at once. If anyone can pull this off, it’s the guy who’s made two of the three highest-grossing movies of all-time.
Landau also teased some plot details about Avatar 2.
The Sullys’ idyllic life is disrupted when the RDA mining operation returns to Pandora, forcing Jake to take the family to “what is perceived as a safe harbor” at the reef. “And when you get to the reef, there’s a clan we call the Metkayina,” continues Landau. “The Sullys are no longer in the environment that they know, the rainforest. They become the fish out of water. They become the fish out of water both culturally and just environmentally.”
When Khalid announced his new project Scenic Drive, and distinctly noted that it was a “tape” he was excited to deliver to fans, one thing came to mind. A little over three months ago, the Texas native offloaded a series of tweets that amounted to an honest admission of writer’s block and struggles with the “overwhelming” balance to meet expectations, remain authentic, and grow into something new and different as an artist. It’s truthfully something most, if not all artists, are forced to grapple with around their second and third albums. Sophomore slumps are already pressure-inducing enough, but even when they’re overcome, the pressure to do it a third time is just as high, if not even higher.
Khalid is a star in his own right. Both of his albums, 2017’s American Teen and 2019’s Free Spirit, are multi-platinum bodies of work with the latter serving as his first No. 1 album. Plenty of awards feature Khalid’s name and his work, and it all contributes to the pressures he feels going into his third album, which he already revealed is titled Everything Is Changing. As a musician, there are practically three options when a mental roadblock is hit while crafting art: trudge through it, wait for it to go away, or divert onto a new and hopefully uninterrupted path. Khalid’s Scenic Drive is the result of his decision to do the last option.
On Scenic Drive, Khalid seeks to overcome his self-doubts by just letting things be. The intention behind this project is to seemingly just do it, to just release music, get back into the swing of things, and even self-supply a boost in confidence. The music on Scenic Drive is simple and appetizing at most as Khalid plays things safely while remaining in a comfortable pocket. It’s the kind of easygoing bass-heavy R&B music that’s romantic, lovelorn, and everything in the middle. It falls on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from what he said Everything Is Changing will present. He previously noted that the songs on the album center “around trying to find a purpose and a sense of self in a world where everything is digitally connected but emotionally disconnected.” All in all, a sharp contrast from what we hear on Scenic Drive.
For what it’s worth, Khalid’s latest project is simply an observant journey through one’s love life, whether it be his own or someone else. It touches on all areas, including the shy moments in the early stages where the respective parties are scared to admit their feelings as “Brand New” and “Open” detail. On the flip side, Khalid keeps things honest and straight to the point about a woman who fails to hold her end of the bargain in a relationship on “Retrograde” and “All Is Bad.” There’s also the hesitance to acknowledge that love is fading away on “Voicemail.” However, if there are tracks that are no doubt made from Khalid’s first-person point of view, it’s “Backseat” and “Scenic Drive.” These see the singer relishing in the natural beauty and existence of what surrounds him while appreciating the fact that he’s able to enjoy it all together.
Scenic Drive unwinds a tense mind through effortless music. It’s something that’s apparent from the moment that Alicia Keys’ free-floating harmonies fall from our speakers. Only Khalid himself knows what he sought through creating this project. Maybe it’s a creative dump in the name of clarity or a moment to refine his skills and return to form. Whatever it is, a sigh of relief as Scenic Drive concludes can be felt as Khalid lets go and allows things to be in their most natural sense. Aligning himself with talented artists like Lucky Daye, 6lack, Kiana Lede, JID, Majid Jordan, and more only add to the appeal of the whole project which is filled with good and enjoyable music. Hopefully, this makes things easier and less weighted for Khalid as he returns to working on Everything Is Changing.
Scenic Drive is out now via Right Hand Music/RCA. Get it here.
Majid Jordan is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Few teams in NBA history have captivated basketball fans quite as much as the Showtime Lakers. The nickname bestowed on the Los Angeles Lakers teams from 1979-91 under the direction of owner Jerry Buss, the teams were famous for winning a whole bunch of games, playing a high-flying brand of ball, and possessing gobs of star power, from head coach Pat Riley to players like Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
That era of Lakers basketball will be the focus of Adam McKay’s new HBO Max series, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, which is set to come to the streaming service in March of 2022. On Thursday, HBO dropped its first trailer for the series, which features John C. Reilly as Buss, Dr. Solomon Hughes as Abdul-Jabbar, Adrien Brody as Riley, Quincy Isaiah as Johnson, and more.
The series was originally titled Showtime, based on the book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s, but recently had its name changed due to the fact that Showtime is a direct competitor to HBO. It has also made headlines in recent days over its role in McKay’s friendship ending with Will Ferrell, as the latter — a well-documented Lakers fan — was originally cast to play Buss before McKay opted to give the role to Reilly.
As one of the top-selling artists globally, Ed Sheeran takes his job seriously, but his music isn’t his only priority. After his wife gave birth to their first child, Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran, the singer says he completely transformed the way he thought about his career and allowed him to find a new purpose.
The singer sat down to talk about what he’s been up to lately in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. The conversation eventually turned to his daughter and Sheeran began talking about how having Lyra changed his perspective on his work and music:
“I really love being a dad. I started off my job being my hobby, and therefore I did it every day, and then one day I got paid for it and then it became my job. Then I did my hobby every day, but it was also my job, and then when I had time off, I would still do it. I’d stop tour and go into the studio. And then I stopped studio and go back on tour because I love tour, and I just found I didn’t have any purpose outside of that, because when I was giving myself fixed time off of no work, I wasn’t doing anything I enjoyed because I love music. But this has actually given me purpose and something in life that is actually more important than my job.”
Watch Sheeran on Ellen above.
Ed Sheeran is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
If there’s one thing creator Jay-Ann Lopez wants you to know about Black Girl Gamers, it’s that the organization is far too all-encompassing to dilute down to a single thing and too great in scope to be reduced. For example, you could say BGG is an agency and enterprise — a way for Black women to find opportunities and employment in the games industry — and you wouldn’t be wrong.
You can just as easily call the organization a business, focused on creating meaningful content, entertaining the world through its Twitch streams, and turning a profit. It’s also a place for learning, with workshops focused on instilling confidence and kind mentors aplenty.
The truth is, BGG is many things to many people. The best place to start when trying to define BGG, though, is with how it began: as a community.
When Lopez founded Black Girl Gamers in 2015, it primarily existed on a trio of community-driven platforms: Facebook, Discord, and Twitch. Over on Facebook and Discord, the BGG community established themselves as protected places where Black women could have conversations about gaming without fear of harassment and among people with similar lived experiences. The group’s Twitch channel, on the other hand, gave BGG a platform to looked outward and share their talents with the world.
Right from the start, Lopez was adamant BGG would be a group effort. Just as the Facebook and Discord groups could simply not operate with her as a sole member, Lopez knew the vision she had for BGG wouldn’t work if she were the only Black woman streaming under the Black Girl Gamers banner. Instead, she decided the channel would be utilized to uplift and foster a community of Black women who love gaming but did not love how gaming spaces sometimes made them feel.
“If you think about gaming now, it’s still bad, but it was even worse back then. There was less awareness and even less willingness to do anything,” Lopez tells Uproxx. “It started off with myself and three other black women, two of whom I’m still friends with now, just working and just looking after the community, essentially. And then it grew to have a Discord, grew to have a Twitch channel, and then from then on, it’s kind of turned into a community powered business as opposed to just a Facebook group … [but] the first thing is community and keeping the 7,000 to 8,000 Black women safe in the space. Then on top of that, it’s also providing opportunities.”
The list of opportunities at Black Girl Gamers grows nearly as quickly as the organization itself. It hosts external events, like a recent online summit that Lopez says went so well that the team is working to put together another. There are educational programs like a three-month mentorship course with Facebook Reality Labs designed to help Black women get involved in AR/VR spaces, workshops with various voice actors, and a workshop with Buildbox, a game development program that enables people to create games without coding. They’re upping the amount of consultation work they’re doing, which gives members the chance to work with AAA game publishers and build relationships with studios.
All these workshops and events are just the beginning. According to Lopez, Black Girl Gamers has also been hard at work creating their own “one-of-a-kind” internal talent agency that focuses on “specifically catering to the needs of Black women” and finding work for them that offers fair payment and doesn’t make them feel “tokenized.” While still fresh, Lopez says this arm of the organization is already thriving, with members landing paid opportunities with Anastasia Beverly Hills, Google, Netflix, Adidas, H&M, and more.
It’s part of Lopez’s larger effort to get more brands working with Black women and becoming leaders on the journey to create a more inclusive media landscape.
“I want [brands] to know they can be a part of that journey. They can work with us,” Lopez says. “You know, everyone needs to work and to improve, change, and progress. So, we are here to help. And I think that’s one of the main things to let go of, is the kind of hesitancy of thinking that you’ve done something wrong or have issues. Everyone has issues and everyone needs to work on them. So, why not consult with us or work with us in order to improve?”
Lopez knows there’s another hurdle to clear: Encouraging talented Black women to pursue their dreams and gaming career ambitions, something that has been historically difficult. Despite there being plenty of women and Black folks in the gaming community, both of those demographics have struggled with harassment, exclusion, and underrepresentation within the industry. As the intersection of these two identities, there’s no denying that Black women have faced even greater challenges when navigating gaming spaces, as well as a lot of fear.
Lopez, however, urges Black women not to deny this fear’s existence, but rather to acknowledge it and “do it anyway.”
“One thing I would say is that there’s a book — and it’s a really great book — called Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway,” Lopez says. “Even though fear exists, sometimes you have to push past it. And I’ve had to do it myself. Like, I’ve had times where I’ve literally been scared potentially for the business and the community because of racism and targeting, and just even myself. But you know, you just have to feel the fear and do it anyway. Because moving forward is the only option if I really want to make it. So I would say just feel the fear, and do it anyway.”
When I asked Lopez if she had a mantra or mission statement she kept near-and-dear to her to help aid her through all the challenges and fears she’s encountered since creating Black Girl Gamers, she replied no without so much as a moment of hesitation. Instead, Lopez is driven by “a need” to ensure Black women are never excluded or erased from gaming history.
“It’s a need that is driving me. I know where there is an imbalance, I need to try and do something to help balance that out,” Lopez says. “I wanna guarantee that we’re not forgotten, that we’re never excluded. And that gaming is never the same … I want it to be cemented that we drove a lot of this change and we are legacy makers in this space.”
All of these successes — and the bonds formed between the women making it all happen — have already begun to shape Black Girl Gamers. It is a legacy built on instilling confidence in Black women, on giving them the resources and strength to “shoot their shot,” and making a difference in what they “can do, what they’re taking home, and how they can spend their money and their lives.”
So, what is Black Girl Gamers? Simply put, Black Girl Gamers is a legacy in the making — an ever-expanding movement that is directly contributing to a bigger, brighter, and more inclusive games industry — and their story has only just begun.
In a week, Metallica is playing a pair of 40th anniversary concerts, two hometown shows at Chase Center in San Francisco on December 17 and 19. There will be two ways to watch that show as it happens: If you’re a member of the band’s Fifth Member fan club, you can buy tickets to be there in person. Otherwise, Metallica is teaming up with The Coda Collection to broadcast the events as a free global livestream via Amazon Music and Prime Video Channels.
The concerts will stream on Amazon Music, Amazon Music’s Twitch channel, and Prime Video at midnight ET each night. After that, the shows will be available for on-demand viewing via The Coda Collection/Prime Video Channel.
On top of that, as part of the SF Takeover Film Fest, fans will be able to watch a pair of Metallica films via The Coda Collection/Prime Video Channel, over that weekend: the 1998 concert film Cunning Stunts and the 2009 concert film Orgullo, Pasión, y Gloria: Tres Noches en la Ciudad de México, the latter of which was initially only released in Latin America.
Additionally, all of that is apparently just the beginning of Metallica and Coda’s relationship, as their partnership is set to “include a full slate of concert films, documentaries, and additional content spanning the band’s career arriving on the channel exclusively throughout 2022, alongside popular music films from the likes of Foo Fighters, Jimi Hendrix, Grateful Dead, and many more.”
Booksmart director Olivia Wilde covers the January 2022 issue of Vogue with a lot of the accompanying interview surrounding the future release of Don’t Worry Darling. That’s her followup effort, of course, which means the pressure is on after one critically acclaimed cinematic entry. In the piece, Wilde does admit that she hit up Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us) for advice on how to handle the resulting “anxiety,” and he confirmed that the sophomore process is “Oh, so terrifying, so much scarier than the first.”
With that ammunition firmly in place, Wilde went for it. She cast Florence Pugh as her lead and Harry Styles (who she does not mention by name as her current partner, although she makes it clear that she’s very happy) in (what she very pointedly describes as) a supporting role. She also makes a fair point about onscreen female pleasure in mainstream movies. One only need to remember how Blue Valentine had to lobby to overturn an NC-17 rating because Ryan Gosling’s character goes down on the character played by Michelle Williams. Wilde refers to “the thrillers of Adrian Lyne, like Fatal Attraction and Indecent Proposal,” which she looks at as inspiration (at least in the sex department). Here’s what Wilde had to offer to Vogue on the movie’s passionate scenes:
“I kept saying, ‘Why isn’t there any good sex in film anymore?’ I realize how rarely we see female hunger on film, and specifically this type of female pleasure.”
And here’s how Vogue‘s Alexandra Schwartz described how a relevant Don’t Worry Darling scene turned out:
About those scenes I watched. Let’s just say that one, featuring a hardworking Styles and a most gratified Pugh, is going to generate some serious attention — and, if the devotion of Styles’s fan base is any indication, hysteria — when Don’t Worry Darling is released. When I work up the blushing courage to ask Wilde about it, she gets technical, talking about overhead angles and wraparound shots, though she readily volunteers that she intends for her audience to “realize how rarely they see female hunger, and specifically this type of female pleasure.”
From the looks of the teaser that Wilde recently posted on Instagram, there’s delivery:
Another note about Styles: as with Chloé Zhao with The Eternals, Wilde was inspired to cast Styles after seeing him in Dunkirk, and she explained how his schedule initially led to Shia LaBeouf being cast (and that fell apart). Then Harry circled back around, and Wilde explained, “I cannot tell you how many men read the script and said, ‘Unless it’s a two-hander, unless I’m in as much — or more — of the script than she is, it’s not worth it.’” Harry didn’t play that game.
Don’t Worry Darling arrives on… September 23, 2022. That’s a long wait!
To say that we write about whisk(e)y a lot is a bit of an understatement. We do. But it wasn’t that long ago that the best-selling alcohol in the world was a clear spirit. Vodka dominated alcohol sales for decades until the most recent whiskey revival took hold and pushed the un-aged spirit to the background.
That’s a shame because as we’ve said, again and again, vodka is an incredibly nuanced spirit and worth your time, even as a sipper. The spirit is massively varied thanks to very different corners of the world making it and the recipe for its mash bill ranging from grains to root vegetables to fruits. There is a lot out there is what we’re saying and there’s a lot that is very sippable with a rock or even on its own.
To find these surprising sippers from small and large distilleries, we asked a handful of well-known bartenders to tell us the vodkas they’d actually drink straight or on the rocks. Check out all of their answers below.
WÓDKA [Vodka]
WÓDKA Vodka
Kimberly Schow, bar director at Hotel Dryce in Fort Worth, Texas
WÓDKA [Vodka] is great to drink on its own. It’s a well-made Polish rye vodka that isn’t distilled from pure GNS (grain neutral spirit), making it a clean vodka to sip and savor.
This Japanese vodka is distilled from 100 percent rice and is bamboo charcoal filtered. It’s a subtly sweet vodka with amazing smoothness and roundness and a peppery finish. Try this on the rocks with a twist of lemon or lime.
Absolut Vodka
Absolut
Josh Curtis, bar director at the Malibu Beach Inn in Malibu, California
Absolut vodka is one of the best on the market. Its Swedish roots from 1879 have a quality distillation process that makes for less of a hangover than other brands. Its light licorice and cream soda notes aim for ease of drinkability.
Stateside Urbancraft Vodka
Stateside
Jamie Shaw, beverage manager at Stella of New Hope in New Hope, Pennsylvania
I’d go for something super crisp and clean and put it on the rocks with a squeeze of lemon or lime. Stateside makes a really great clean, highly sippable vodka, and I love supporting local companies as well.
I really love Konik’s Tail. This is a premium Polish vodka that just arrived in the U.S. It’s made from a number of different grains — ancient spelt, golden rye, and early winter wheat. It has a creamy mouthfeel with caramel and raspberry on the palate.
Absolut Elyx
Absolut
Christopher Rodriguez, lead bartender at Lucy Restaurant & Bar in Yountville, California
One vodka I can drink straight or on the rocks is Absolut Elyx. It is made with single estate winter wheat and is distilled in copper. With a slightly higher proof than most vodkas, it has a nice body with light heat.
Ketel One Vodka is a delicious vodka. The wheat is pronounced and the citrus notes just make it so refreshing. The fact that they do a combination of pot still and Coffey still balances it out to be a crisp vodka and one that is oily with texture.
I started bartending in the late ’90s when vodka martinis were probably the top-selling drink at most bars, and Belvedere was the best of the best. Back then a slightly dirty martini with Belvedere and blue cheese olives was my favorite thing to drink, it’s still the first drink I order when I’m dining in a steakhouse. I love Belvedere even on its own for its creamy mouthfeel and touch of black pepper, it almost comes across as savory.
I don’t drink vodka but if I did, I’d probably defer to Chopin. I think vodkas distilled from potatoes are among the best. It’s crisp, clean, and surprisingly easy to drink neat or on the rocks.
The best albums of the year lists are definitely making the rounds on the interwebs. Maybe you saw Uproxx’s Best Albums Of The 2021 already? Or our genre-focused year end round-ups in hip-hop, indie, etc… They’re filled with killer releases from across the spectrum. Same goes for lists from other outlets that all highlight the prevalent music that marked this past year.
But damnit if there wasn’t some incredible music put out in 2021 that didn’t get the same shine as Olivia Rodrigo, Jazmine Sullivan or The War On Drugs. Below, you’ll find our picks for the best albums of the year that were slightly off the radar. Or maybe you’re just that in tune with things that you didn’t miss these at all? Regardless, these are positively ten of the best albums of the year and they deserve your attention.
Charlotte Day Wilson — Alpha
The Toronto-based singer and producer had put out two EPs in the past that yielded singles like “Work” and “Doubt” that effectively put her on the map. But Alpha is her proper full-length debut and it’s a stunning fully-formed collection of songs that sounds like nothing else. On “Take Care Of You” featuring Syd, Day Wilson morphs her voice on the hook to lay the groundwork for her and Syd to show why they’re two of the pre-eminent Queer vocalists today. “Lovesick Utopia” is one of the most intriguing productions of the year that flashes Day Wilson’s chops as more than just a singer. There are also appearances from fellow Canadians Daniel Caesar and Badbadnotgood, and Drake even picked up a sample of “Mountains” for his track,”Fair Trade,” off of Certified Lover Boy.
ALLBLACK — TY4FWM
Packing slick sports references in his bars at every turn, Allblack is a certified play runner who’s been killing the Bay Area street rap game. On “Ego,” he spits over Kenny Beats’ production: “Big bread, hero / Pressin n*****s, Deebo / At the bank more than Harden at the free throw / All this cash that I’m gettin’ f***in’ up my ego.” He raps about his past life as a pimp on “Life Of A P,” a hyped-up old-school G-Funk beat with Kossisko on a deft hook. TY4FWM is an album about gratitude though (heck, it’s in the title) and Allblack spends time shouting out the cats who’ve been there with him through thick and thin, and the ones who came up with him along the way. He’s on a French Montana level with the sheer volume of features, but they all pop off, like the 2Pac-inspired “War Stories” with Mozzy and Peezy, and the rough and tumble “We Straight” with Vince Staples over a sick beat by Cal-A.
Aaron Frazer –Introducing…
Easy Eye Sound, the label helmed by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, had an incredible year, with standout releases from Yola, Shannon Shaw, Robert Finely, and more. But none felt as true to its retro-minded aesthetic than the debut album by soul singer Aaron Frazer. For the uninitiated, Frazer is the drummer and high-pitched vocal yin to Durand Jones’ yang in The Indications. On Introducing…, Frazer more than holds his own as the singular focus on the classic soul vibes of “You Don’t Wanna Be My Baby” and the groovy R&B of the flute-inflected “Bad News.” Auerbach produced the album himself and it’s the little details he employs — the way the horns hit on “Can’t Leave It Alone” or the deliberate way Frazer’s voice is mic’d on “Bad News” and “Lover Girl” — that paint the perfect canvas for his label’s new star to sound like a reincarnated 1950’s heartthrob.
Alfa Mist — Bring Backs
The rise of London’s modern jazz movement cannot be understated and pianist, producer, and rapper Alfa Mist is among its most prolific products. This is jazz music for hip-hop heads that’s tailor made to both groove to, or burn to. On “Mind The Gap,” Alfa opens singing over an arrangement of his masterful keys, a shrewd drum beat, and hypnotic horns. “I take my time, so they only see me in the right state of mind… we all rise and decline,” he sings, before giving way to Lex Amor coming in like a young Martina Topley-Bird. There’s a lot to like on Bring Backs, from trip-hop soundscapes to jazz drum breaks, in a welcome journey of the mind all around.
Sam Evian – Time To Melt
Recorded at Evian’s Flying Cloud Studios in the Catskills, Time To Melt is a gorgeous expression of psychedelic pop music. It’s gentle enough to soothe, but built intricately to stimulate. Evian, who has produced albums for similarly trippy folk artists like Cass McCombs, Blonde Redhead, and Okkervil River, is dashing on his third solo release. The combo of sweeping strings, Rhodes keys, and unpredictable horns on “Knock, Knock,” make the existential jam flow like a pristine stream. “Dream Free” features vocals from his partner Hannah Cohen and is a celestial electric number that like the album, is built for those who want to ponder the intricacies of the cosmos and the constructs around us.
Glbl Wrmng — glbl wrmng vol. 1
Presented by rapper Pell as a compilation that showcases the strength of the New Orleans hip-hop community, glbl wrmng vol. 1 was all that and then some. It represents the diverse sound of New Orleans rap, from the syrupy “Well Sh*t” featuring Paasky, to the shimmering and hopeful “Technicolor” with LeTrainiump and Dominic Scott to the twisty, sticky production of “N95” by Malik Ninety Five and Bryant Keith Malonson. Pell appears on every track and is a confident and stoic facilitator throughout all of it, for a veritable discovery trove of collaborators. There’s 16 tracks on the album that each seem to scratch a different sonic itch, as the collective searches for hope and peace amid tumultuous times. None are more affecting than “Take Time” with Pell and Kr3wcial finding harmony in hip-hop, in more memorable fashion than just about any cut I spun this year.
Ross From Friends — Tread
The Brainfeeder-signed producer courses through the electronic music spectrum jumping from techno, to vaporwave, to drum and bass and more. Don’t let the name fool you, this is serious stuff fronted by British producer Felix Cleary Weatherall that understands both the nuances of big room bass and chill out. Samples under beats often call back to Detroit disco and techno, like the well-enacted tear down and build-up of “Life In A Mind.” It’s almost as if you’re witnessing the bones of a track’s construction as it’s being laid down.
LUMP – Animal
While Laura Marling is one of the best modern folk singers on the planet, her electronically-minded side-project with producer Mike Lindsay (of Tunng) is proof that her penchant for exploration sees no bounds. The second LUMP album represents the continuity of the vessel Marling has found for material that doesn’t necessarily fit into the tightly-wrapped warmth of her acoustic guitar. But she’s a dynamite lyricist no less and on “Bloom At Night,” she sings:
“I predict that this affliction lasts for life
I suspect that you’ll regret your lust for light
I suggest that you address your appetite
For to be seen to cast your beam across the night”
Animal is an album about escape and embracing your inner beast in the process, and Marling places another mighty feather in her cap over Lindsay’s entrancing production.
Larry June — Orange Print
Yes, it’s another Bay Area hip-hop album, because if there’s any scene that consistently falls beneath the surface, it’s Bay Area rap. June is from San Francisco and Orange Print illustrates the culmination of his never-ending hustle. This is a dude who consistently puts out multiple records each year and he’s finally made it, but is somehow only now getting on the same scope nationally as rappers from more prominent enclaves. On “Intercepted,” he relishes on finally starting to get his flowers “Hard times, we prevailed, spent years manifestin’ / ‘Nother day, another lesson, took it all as a blessin’.” There’s an aura about June on Orange Print that emanates comfort for where he’s at in life. He’s not concerned with what people are doing outside of his sphere anymore, and it lets him spit about success, wisdom, and his signature health conscious calling card with poise and couth.
Alice Phoebe Lou — Glow
The South African indie singer-songwriter put down one of the most beautiful and spacey releases of the year. Her staccato is unwavering on “Only When I,” her jazzy coo is reminiscent of Billie Holiday on “Dusk,” and she channels her inner-Angel Olsen on “How To Get Out Of Love.” When Lou sings, it always feels as if the stars are her audience and her voice just grows into infinite spaces. Her sweet delivery over a clarinet on “Lonely Crowd” will send you right into the night sky. Yet, Glow is a perfect companion piece for sleeping in, having breakfast at noon, and just spending your whole day at home in your sweatpants.
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