One of the biggest stars in the world right now is Billie Eilish. Fresh off her appearance at the Met Gala, there are few people in music as big as Eilish. It’s not a surprise why. She creates great music, has a personality that’s easy to cheer for, and has an extremely interesting backstory.
Among the details of her backstory is she has a really interesting relationship with video games. Eilish grew up playing the puzzle game ilomilo, and even named one of her songs after it. Not only that, her mother Maggie Baird is the voice actress for Samara in the Mass Effect series. Now, Eilish will be forming her own relationship with gaming by having 10 of her songs appear in the VR rhythm game Beat Saber. These songs include:
all the good girls go to hell
bad guy
bellyache
bury a friend
Happier Than Ever
I Didn’t Change My Number
NDA
Oxytocin
Therefore I Am
you should see me in a crown
Beat Saber
This is a strong list of songs that all will complement the energetic and sometimes exhausting gameplay of Beat Saber. Anyone who’s played it knows how addictive Beat Saber can be. Spend a few hours jamming out to some great music and before you know it you’ve been at it for two hours and can’t lift up your arms anymore. Adding Eilish’s songs to the game is only going to enhance that feeling of “Just one more song?” that every Beat Saber playthrough has.
Beat Saber is one of the best games on VR right now and a must-get purchase for anyone that owns a headset. Adding Eilish to its already vast discography is another example of that. The pack for her complete list of songs will be available to players at a price of $12.99 while individual songs will cost $1.99. If you’re still not sure we suggest giving “Happier Than Ever” a try first try and seeing how it goes.
A few days out from releasing their upcoming album, Let Me Do One More, DIY punk outfit Illuminati Hotties have shared a run of 2022 tour dates with co-headliners Fenne Lily and supporting slots from Katy Kirby and Pom Pom Squad.
Prior to those dates, the Hotties (aka the project of Sarah Tudzin) have a couple of upcoming fall shows, the first one being on October 23 opening for Death Cab For Cutie in Napa, California. Before that, they’ll headline Zebulon in Los Angeles on October 2, one day after the album release.
So far, Illuminati Hotties have shared a run of singles: “Pool Hopping,” “Mmmoooaaaaayaya,” “Uvvp” featuring Big Thief’s Buck Meek, and “Threatening Each Other Re: Capitalism.”
02/08/2022 — Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s (Illuminati Hotties only)
02/09/2022 — Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room (Illuminati Hotties only)
02/11/2022 — San Francisco @ The Chapel *
02/12/2022 — Los Angeles, CA @ Highland Park Ebell *
02/13/2022 — Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon *
02/14/2022 — Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole *
02/16/2022 — Austin, TX @ Antone’s *
02/17/2022 — Fort Worth, TX @ Tulips *
02/18/2022 — Fayetteville, AR @ George’s Majestic Lounge *
02/19/2022 — Nashville, TN @ The Blue Room at Third Man Records *
02/20/2022 — Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade – Purgatory *
02/21/2022 — Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall *
02/22/2022 — Washington, DC @ Black Cat *
02/24/2022 — New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom *
02/25/2022 — Boston, MA @ The Sinclair ^
02/26/2022 — Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church ^
02/27/2022 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit ^
02/28/2022 — Columbus, OH @ A&R Music Bar ^
03/02/2022 — Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern ^
03/03/2022 — Ferndale, MI @ The Loving Touch ^
03/04/2022 — Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall ^
03/05/2022 — Milwaukee, WI @ The Back Room at Colectivo ^
03/06/2022 — Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry ^
03/10/2022 — Vancouver, BC @ The Biltmore Cabaret ^
03/11/2022 — Seattle, WA @ Neumos ^
03/12/2022 — Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios ^
* with Katy Kirby
^ with Pom Pom Squad
Let Me Do One More is out 10/1 via Snack Shack Tracks/Hopeless Records. Pre-order it here.
The first reviews for The Many Saints of Newark are in, and the prequel film seems to fit nicely into The Sopranos world in at least one way: The critical discourse it’s spawning.
Set before the events of the television show, which has become a modern classic, The Many Saints of Newark pulls some surprising punches by not exactly being the Tony Soprano origin story it appears to be. While the late James Gandolfini’s son Michael is pitch-perfect casting as a young Tony, the film is instead more focused on the heyday of the wider Sopranos crime family during the ’60s and ’70s. It’s a creative choice that has critics torn over what the film adds to The Sopranos legacy with some praising its additions to the canon and others asking what the point was here. Although, that point appears to be the possibility of a sequel, which does fit the crime drama’s theme of always taking more.
You can read excerpts from the early reviews below:
Let it be known to anyone reading this: The Many Saints of Newark is not a Tony Soprano origin story. Though, it’s not completely disingenuous to label it that way because there are many events that happen in this movie that no doubt influence the future Tony. But, here, mostly, Tony is an observer. My point is I’d hate for anyone to dismiss this movie for that reason alone. Because there’s a lot going on in The Many Saints of Newark – a movie I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since I saw it a few weeks ago.
If you’re a “Sopranos” fanatic (and who isn’t?), there are a few key things you want from “The Many Saints of Newark,” starting with a movie that’s compulsively authentic and watchable the way that the show was. As co-written by Chase and Lawrence Konner, and directed by the series regular Alan Taylor, “The Many Saints” more or less fills that bill. It’s a sharp, lively, and engrossing movie, one that provides a fascinating running commentary on how the world of “The Sopranos” came into being.
Great character actors like Corey Stoll and Billy Magnussen come and go, sometimes with a bang (or a drill, or a weaponized steering wheel) and the women are mostly left to pick up the pieces. Michael Gandolfini’s tender, awkward Tony, too, is largely there to bear witness; a lost boy in a grownup’s world. Saints can’t be what Sopranos was — without the time or the ones who’ve been lost to tell it, fuggedaboutit. But for a hundred-something minutes, it feels close enough to coming home again.
If you approach the film simply through the eyes of young Tony Soprano, you’ll likely be disappointed, because that’s not the film that creator and co-writer David Chase set out to make here. Instead, he has crafted a film that gets to the heart of American myth and the sins we allow ourselves to perpetuate out of greed, lust, envy, and pride, but all under the cover that somehow these can be justified whether it’s through good deeds or simple restitution. Like The Sopranos, we see boys playing at being men with horrific consequences. The Many Saints of Newark is much bigger than a Tony Soprano origin story, and it’s all the richer for it.
The Many Saints of Newark is more of a diverting footnote than an invaluable extension of the show’s colossal legacy. It’s telling that one of the movie’s most electrifying moments is when the churning synth bassline of “Woke Up This Morning” blasts out over the end credits.
Young Tony is portrayed with goosebump-inducing deja vu by Michael Gandolfini, son of the late James Gandolfini, who played the role on TV. Tony’s sleepy-eyed sensitivity, his melancholy, his glowering resentment and dangerous hurt feelings are there in embryo. His father, Johnny, is played by Jon Bernthal, and his terrifying mother Livia by Vera Farmiga who gives a superb rendering of Livia’s own haughty mannerisms. But you could spend this entire movie hanging on for the first sign of those all-important petit mal fainting fits that the TV show said originated in Tony’s dad. Is history being rewritten, or misrememberings corrected?
Directed with unfussy confidence by “Sopranos” veteran Alan Taylor, it wants to give people more of a show they love because of how forcefully it argues that more is never enough. The result, almost by design, is equal parts gratuitous fan service and gripping mob drama; a clumsy devil’s handshake of a film that’s asphyxiated to death by the same mythology it also leverages into a masterful origin story about cyclical violence and the sins of the father.
It’s not all that necessary to be acquainted with The Sopranos to enjoy its feature-length prequel, The Many Saints of Newark. What it demands from its audience is only this: an understanding that there is no innocence among the powerful, and that men too often carry on the burdens of their forefathers. Such fatalistic ideas were already the lifeblood of David Chase’s celebrated mob drama, which aired on HBO from 1999 to 2007 and is still widely regarded to be a peerless work of television. But here they’re delivered with that quiet ache that can only come with the passing of time.
The Many Saints of Newark premieres in theaters and HBO Max on October 1.
It’s September 21! Happy birthday and congrats to everyone who made it to today — it’s been a rough year, huh? Fortunately for us, comedian Demi Adejuyigbe, better known as Electrolemon, is back with his latest video celebrating the occasion, set as always to the funky tune of Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September.”
This time around, he goes for absolute broke, weaving in a goofy storyline about the musical Grease, performing a gravity-defying dance on the ceiling with a glittering disco ball, and having a blowout party in the front yard before hopping into a hot rod and soaring off into the sky. And even after all that, he saves the best for last, filling the credits sequence with video shout-outs from the band themselves, who congratulate him on his biggest and final “September” video.
… Wait, WHAT?!?!
Yup, that’s right. This is the last one — as he jokingly alludes to at the beginning of this year’s clip, he’s done this for a long time (to the point of feeling obligated to top himself every year) and he’s probably run of inspiration on this particular gag. We wish him well and thank him for his service, because these things have really brought a lot of hope and love into the world — especially as each one is accompanied by a charity drive for worthwhile causes.
This one is no exception. This time around, Demi is raffling off a painting of the Sept. 21 jersey he displays in the video, with proceeds going to Imagine Waterworks, West Fund, and Sunrise Movement. You can find out more at each respective website.
Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels, but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.
While we’re at it, sign up for our newsletter to get the best new indie music delivered directly to your inbox, every Monday.
Mini Trees – Always In Motion
On her debut full-length album under the name Mini Trees, Lexi Vega delivers a collection of impressive indie-rock tracks that revels in the liminal space between knowing and not knowing, and finding beauty in that ignorance. Always In Motion sets the bar high for Mini Trees, a band to watch as they hit the road alongside Julien Baker this year.
Soul Blind – Third Chain EP
The opening notes of Soul Blind’s new EP Third Chain make me want to put on a backwards flat-brim hat and a t-shirt that’s three sizes too big, because the ’90s never died. Channeling the epic riffs of Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins and the snarling vocals of Oasis, the Hudson Valley, the three songs that make up Third Chain are proof that the New York trio are ready to make their mark on the alternative rock scene.
Alexa Rose – Headwaters
Alexa Rose’s sophomore album Headwaters was written entirely during the pandemic, and the final product reflects the liminality of the lockdown period, when time was technically passing, but all the days were melding into one. That being said, Rose is able to distill the confusion of the period into beautiful folk songs that are easy to digest and appreciate — and maybe help you come to terms with what we’ve just gone through (and continue to go through).
The War On Drugs – “I Don’t Live Here Anymore”
With their new album I Don’t Live Here Anymore due in just a few weeks, The War On Drugs have shared the title track. The song features backing vocals from Lucius singers Holly Laessig and Jess Wolf, and is described by Rachel Brodsky for Uproxx as “a glittering, full-bodied track that drives forward with echoing drums and gorgeous synth-lines.” Count us among the excited for the full record.
My Morning Jacket – “Love Love Love”
My Morning Jacket’s self-titled album is coming soon, just almost exactly a year after they dropped The Waterfall II. The second preview of My Morning Jacket comes in the form of “Love Love Love,” which Rachel Brodsky calls for Uproxx “an upbeat, lushly harmonized song,” and Jim James describes as a song seeking for “positivity and pure love, finding truth within yourself and in the world around you.”
Snail Mail – “Valentine”
Three years after solidifying herself as an artist to watch with 2018’s Lush, Lindsey Jordan is back with new Snail Mail music. Her sophomore album Valentine is due later this fall, prefaced by its title track, which Derrick Rossignol described for Uproxx as “a song that starts out guided by mellow, atmospheric guitars before bursting into a kinetic chorus.”
Makthaverskan – “This Time”
Four years ago, Swedish outfit Makthaverskan grabbed our attention with their impressive LP III. Now the band is back with new music, starting with the atmospheric offering “This Time,” which previews their forthcoming fourth album För Allting. The band took a different writing approach for their new album, resulting in a wider scope of opportunity for different inspiration and sonic elements to make their way into the songs.
Hand Habits – “Graves”
Meg Duffy is one of the best songwriters out there right now, and “Graves,” the latest offering from Hand Habits’ forthcoming effort Fun House, is a perfect example why. With a gentle acoustic guitar and layered alto vocal, Duffy explains that the track is “a conversation with grief and remembrance… A questioning of my own memory and its proximity to understanding closure.”
Hatchie – “This Enchanted”
Hatchie’s debut album Keepsake was far and away one of the best albums of 2019, and the Australian songwriter has leveraged its success into a new label deal with Secretly Canadian. Now with a new label home, Harriette Pilbeam is starting to roll out some new music. In a statement, Pilbeam describes the new track “This Enchanted” as “”encapsulat[ing] everything I wanted to do moving forward from my first album… something dancey but shoegaze.”
Michelle – “Syncopate”
We’ve been hotly anticipating the proper debut album from New York outfit Michelle since the standalone singles “Sunrise” and “Unbound” last year. Now, the six-piece has officially announced After Dinner We Talk Dreams, accompanied by what Carolyn Droke calls for Uproxx a “dreamy, love-struck single” called “Syncopate.”
Dijon – “Many Times”
After dropping an impressive EP in 2020, Dijon is prepping his debut full-length album set for release later this year. Although the album doesn’t have a title or release date, Dijon has shared “Many Times,” a new track that illustrates what Aaron Williams describes for Uproxx as “a cycle of pain and confusion caused by a loved one who doesn’t understand the impact their chaotic actions are having.”
Snarls – “Fixed Gear”
Snarls’ stellar LP Burst was one of the best of 2020, and the band hasn’t let the pandemic slow them down. Now, the Ohio band is gearing up to release a brand new EP produced by Chris Walla (Death Cab For Cutie, Tegan & Sara) that takes their songwriting to new heights. “Fixed Gear” showcases the band’s knack for beautiful hooks and intricate layered vocal harmonies.
Bears In Tree – “Great Heights”
The first single from Bears In Trees’ new album was written “on a mattress on a hardwood floor at 4am after my friend’s birthday,” guitarist Nicholas Peters explains. The catchy folk-punk track “Great Heights” previews And Everybody Else Smiled Back, the forthcoming debut album from the South London group.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Back in 2011, indie-folk duo She & Him released their holiday-themed album, A Very She & Him Christmas, which featured covers of such classics as “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree,” “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” and more. Now, the duo — Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward — has announced plans to release a deluxe edition of the album in November, in honor of its 10th anniversary. The limited-edition deluxe reissue, according to a press release, will “look to the 1980s for inspiration” with two new covers: Madonna‘s “Holiday” and Wham!’s “Last Christmas.”
Rounding out the news is a handful of She & Him tour dates. The twosome will kick off their brief trek on December 2 in Santa Barbara, California, and wrap up 10 days later in San Antonio, Texas. Tickets go on sale on September 24.
Check out She & Him covering “Holiday” above and check out their tour dates below.
12/02 — Santa Barbara, CA @ Arlington Theater
12/03 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Theatre at Ace Hotel
12/04 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Theatre at Ace Hotel
12/07 — Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
12/08 — Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
12/09 — Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
12/11 — Dallas, TX @ McFarlin Memorial Auditorium
12/12 — San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theater
The deluxe reissue of A Very She & Him Christmas is out 11/12 via Merge. Pre-order it here.
Outspoken Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) really should take a Twitter vacation because she can’t stop striking out. This week, she got buried in an avalanche of scorn after a particularly hysterical tweet about the U.S.-Mexico border situation. Without even taking a breather, she’s back, following last week’s disastrous toilet joke and declaration that it’s all God’s fault that she’s a sitting member of Congress. That follows her recent praise of the Taliban and botching of a John Adams quote because maybe she was thinking of beer? Who knows.
First, it’s worth noting that Boebert did not graduate high school and has spoken about passing the GED exam. There’s no shade here against anyone who has taken the GED, but it appears that Boebert memorized what she needed to know and promptly forgot it. She’s very much a Sarah Palin-lite-styled politician, often making incendiary statements that almost feel like parody. Boebert’s latest statement runs in line with how she threw a mask at a House staffer and raged against Nancy Pelosi’s “totalitarian” Covid mandates. The execution of the latest tweet, too, drew raised eyebrows.
“There are three branches in our government,” Boebert declared. “The CDC is not one of them.”
There are three branches in our government. The CDC is not one of them.
Well, a lot of people soon stepped up to point out that the CDC is a part of the executive branch. They also challenged Boebert to name all three branches, including legislative and judicial, but that hasn’t happened yet.
Oh, honey. The CDC is part of the executive branch.
Full-time rapper and part-time goofball Tyler The Creator is notorious prankster. He even said his 2019 race for No. 1 with DJ Khaled was “fun” because it was like “watching a man die inside.” But Tyler doesn’t just save his disses for fellow musicians, he also likes to mess around with his fans. That’s why the rapper had a very NSFW message for one fan who started filming him driving on the highway.
The Grammy Award-winner was recently driving through traffic in his vintage 1992 BMW M3 when he was spotted by a fan. Tyler noticed he was being filmed and decided to flip the bird at the camera. When the fan rolled down their window, Tyler pulled out another NSFW gesture for laughs. The whole interaction went down while Tyler was alone in his car, and kept taking his eyes off the road to mess with the fan before speeding off.
Shortly ahead of the short interaction with a fan, Tyler shut down a rumor circulating about his hit 2015 Cherry Bomb album. After dropping his Call Me If You Get Lost LP earlier this year, some fans on the internet began speculating that the rapper wasn’t fond of his 2015 release. A line in the Call Me If You Get Lost track “Massa” called Cherry Bomb “shifty” and the rapper previously referred to 2015 as his “ugly phase.” But Tyler was quick to shut down the rumor, clarifying that even though he was going through an “ugly phase” at the time, it had nothing to do with the music.
Even though Lil Uzi Vert spends about half of his performance with Meek Mill on The Tonight Show lying on his back on the floor, this somehow creates more energy when the duo trades their “Blue Notes 2” verses rather than draining it away. Perhaps it’s because of the way Uzi uses his position to build anticipation for his verses, lying in wait (literally) like a big cat ready to spring on its prey before he pops up to spit his aggressive bars.
Whatever it is, it’s something perhaps only Lil Uzi Vert — someone whose weirdness the audience is well versed in by now — could pull off. Meek, meanwhile, is only proverbially laid-back, giving a relaxed, confident performance that nevertheless does not lack intensity. The effect is like a yin-and-yang universal balance that also sort of reflects the height difference between the two Philly MCs. One is a compact bundle of sizzling energy, a five-foot stick of dynamite with a two-inch fuse, while the other is placid with hidden depth like an iceberg with legs.
The dynamic duo appeared on The Tonight Show to help promote Meek’s upcoming album Expensive Pain — which, like his onetime rival Drake, drew mixed reactions for its artsy cover. Perhaps the music, led by singles like “Blue Notes 2” and “Sharing Locations,” will get more fans on his side.
Watch Meek Mill and Lil Uzi Vert perform “Blue Notes 2” above.
Expensive Pain is out 10/1 via Maybach Music/Atlantic. Pre-order it here.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The Ben Simmons situation in Philadelphia isn’t getting any better as the Sixers get set to open training camp next week. The three-time All-Star has made clear that he wants to be traded, and for weeks there’s been reporting that he will not show up to training camp.
As many have pointed out, that leaves him open to fines from the team as they can withhold his salary until he shows up, but according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Simmons is perfectly willing to accept that trade off so long as it ensures he “never plays another game” for Philly.
Simmons is clearly aware of sanctions available to organization to fine and suspend him, including withholding of salary. But so far, Simmons appears willing to carry out a plan of forcing his way to a new team. Sixers have yet to find a a trade they’re willing to make for him. https://t.co/vxSrBUWjXw
This seems, mostly, to be a more emphatic version of the report given by Marc Stein on Monday, which was that Simmons was still planning on holding out while the Sixers hoped to figure out how to get him into camp. Philadelphia still hasn’t found a trade offer they like for the star and would prefer to let this go into the season so Simmons could, possibly, recoup some value and remind everyone why he’s so good, because as of this moment, the lasting image of Ben Simmons on a basketball court is this.
It would certainly help his trade value if people were reminded that he isn’t terrified of scoring the basketball and, instead, simply had a weird series where he got into his own head a bit. However, Simmons seems to have no interest in returning to the Sixers to play for Doc Rivers or with Joel Embiid again, and it puts all parties involved in a precarious situation. The Sixers can certainly let this drag on until they get a trade offer they want, but if Simmons isn’t playing, it’s hard to see the offers getting significantly better while he stays home. On top of that, just having an All-Star sitting out for a significant period with no replacement is certainly not the formula for a team hopeful for another top 3 seed in the East. Simmons, meanwhile, doesn’t do anything to change the perception of many about him (on or off the court) and, at this point if there were any collaboration happening between Philly and Klutch to get Simmons to a preferred destination, that likely is no longer a concern of the Sixers.
All in all, it is quite the mess in Philly and it doesn’t seem to be getting cleaned up any time soon.
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