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So, a couple of things about Syd’s endearing, upbeat new song “Right Track“: First and foremost, it has been way too long since we heard from The Internet‘s frontwoman on the solo tip, so this and her other 2021 singles like “Missing Out” and “Fast Car” are more than welcome. I hope that it means she’s going to put out another solo album soon (you all slept on Fin and you ought to be ashamed of yourselves). Secondly, it’s always fun to hear her on more energetic, bouncy fare like this, especially as it so closely evokes the sound and feel of The Nepturnes’ prime-era R&B work. More of this, please.

But finally, and perhaps most importantly, the representation Syd offers in the song’s simple but effective video is so needed. Rather than shoot for salaciousness as previous depictions of same-sex female relationships have, which indulges the male gaze far too much to really be considered true representation, Syd offers a more evocative angle that works way better at suggesting the type of romance she sings about on “Right Track.” The masc-femme dynamic also offers a nice counterpoint to much of the hypersexualized depictions of queer love, while the cinematography itself is clean and gorgeous to look at.

Oh, and I guess, fourth: Add Smino to more things. All the things. Smino is so much fun, even when he’s just popping up to deliver a smooth verse like the one he offers here.

Watch Syd’s “Right Track” video above.

After spending the back half of the summer railing against anti-vaxxers and the politicians who encourage them, comedian Bill Burr is setting his sights on his biggest target yet: the NFL. During the latest episode of his Monday Morning podcast, Burr took the league to task for promoting Black Lives Matter while refusing to listen to players’ concerns over playing unnecessary games.

While calling the NFL “hypocrites” for commissioner Roger Goodell’s “bizarre” decision to extend the regular season after players asked to remove at least one exhibition game for safety concerns. The whole thing didn’t sit well with Burr, and he let the league know it. Via Mediaite:

“Dude how funny is it that the NFL has Black Lives Matter written on the back of their helmets as they also make the predominately black league play an extra football game every year after all the shit they know about CTE,” Burr ranted on his Monday Morning podcast.

Of course, the NFL can ignore Burr’s warning at its own risk, but it should probably be aware that the comedian accurately predicted a COVID breakout in Milwaukee following the Bucks’ NBA playoff run. Back in July, Burr blasted Bucks’ fans “who probably created a new variant of the f*cking coronavirus” during their “no masks no condoms” celebration.

“Jesus Christ, they [may as well] have put f*cking COVID in liquid form and just put it into a crop duster and just f*cking flown right over that goddamn crowd,” Burr ranted at the time. Two weeks later, 491 cases were traced back to the Bucks event. So again, we’re not saying Burr is Nostradamus or anything, but the NFL might want to hear him out. He’s on a hot streak.

(Via Bill Burr’s Monday Morning Podcast)

Todd Rundgren didn’t hold back on detailing his frustrations working with Kanye West on the rapper’s new album Donda. In a new interview with Ultimate Classic Rock ahead of his induction in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Rundgren revealed what he felt was the driving force behind the album’s chaotic rollout and constant changes: Kanye’s rivalry with Drake.

“My involvement went on for a year, and in the end I realized why they hurriedly wrapped the whole thing up and put out what is obviously really raw, unprocessed stuff,” he said. “It’s because Drake was running the whole process. He was too afraid that Drake would one-up him, so he hurried up and released the album the weekend before Drake could get his out. And in the end, Drake ate his lunch anyway.”

Rundgren also echoed a concern expressed by another former Kanye collaborator, Soulja Boy, who ripped the producer for leaving him off the final tracklist and “wasting his time.” Rundgren called Kanye a “dilettante” who only dabbled in producing while designing shoes and wasting the rocker’s efforts. “I’m still a producer, and I don’t just want to be like driftwood in the process,” he said. He also criticized Kanye’s adherence to spectacle over craftsmanship, insisting, “Nobody would regularly make records like that unless they had stupid money to throw around. Nobody rents a stadium to make a record in. Nobody flies in the entire world of hip-hop just to croak one syllable, just so you can say that everybody was on it.”

However, he said he has no idea if he’s even on the project. “I have three albums worth of Kanye stems on my computer,” he revealed. “Because I kept getting called by Kanye to add vocals onto the record. When it got into the homestretch in July, I just said, ‘That’s enough for me. I have no idea whether any of this is being used.’ You don’t get much feedback from him regarding what it is.” The lack of communication has left him in the dark, unable to discern if he even has a role in all the clutter. “If I can contribute something, fine,” he conceded. “If I can’t, just let me know. I’m out of here […] There is a possibility that I’m actually in there somewhere. There’s so much junk in that record!”

Edgar Wright loves making playlists, some for public consumption, others for himself. During the early stages of his then-untitled new film that became Last Night in Soho, he “started amassing this playlist called ‘Soho’ that was 300 songs from the ’60s. I hadn’t thought what the film was going to be called,” the director told Total Film. He originally wanted Red Light Area as the title, but there’s already a movie called Red Light Area. Same with The Night Has a Thousand Eyes (it stars Edward G. Robinson as the “Mental Wizard”). Then he remembered a conversation he had with Quentin Tarantino.

“In Death Proof, Quentin uses a Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick, & Tich song, ‘Hold Tight.’ I was talking to him about that song, and that band, and he said, ‘Have you ever heard ‘Last Night in Soho’?’ He played it for me, and he goes, ‘This is the best title music for a film that’s never been made’ … It was staring me in the face, because I’d heard this song, and I thought it was great: Last Night in Soho,” Wright said. He continued:

“I said, ‘Hey, did you hear what my movie’s called?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I read it.’ I said, ‘Are you annoyed with me?’ He goes, ‘You know what? Only you could make that movie.’ I said, ‘Well, I’m going to thank you on the end credits for giving me the song.’ He goes, ‘OK, but I’ve got to fess up now. What I said about it being the best end-credits song for a movie that doesn’t exist, is something that Allison Anders used to say. So if you credit me, you’ve also got to credit her.’ So on the thanks list, A to T, Allison Anders and Quentin Tarantino are the first and last people thanked.”

When Wright reached out to Anders (Gas Food Lodging) to tell her thanks for the inspiration, she “was thrilled & sent me a 7 inch of the song in question,” he tweeted. “Which is so lovely of her. It’s on my mantel piece.” Thank you, Allison and Quentin; thank you, Edgar; but most of all, thank you, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick, & Tich.

(Via Total Film)

The 2021 Met Gala took place Monday night, offering celebrities a chance to both flex their immense wealth and show just how avant-garde they’re willing to get with their style. But when it comes to futuristic looks, Grimes is always ahead of the game both on and off the red carpet. Her Met Gala look was no different, as her outfit was completed by an eye-catching accessory: a giant metal sword made out of an AR-15.

The singer showed up to the event in a flowing white gown with silver detail, a metal mask, and a massive sword. The sword was designed by the art collective MSCHF and was forged by melting down the metal of a Colt AR-15 A3 gun. Seeing as this year’s Met Gala theme was “American Independence,” Grimes definitely understood the assignment.

Though Grimes’ look definitely turned some heads, it’s not apparently the only gun MSCHF has turned into a sword. In fact, it’s part of a MSCHF’s latest Guns2Swords project, which, as the title suggests, melts down guns and reforges them to a different kind of weapon.

In their Guns2Swords manifesto, MSCHF explained the project’s mission:

“We propose that guns are a symbol that can be replaced by a different symbol without loss of satisfaction and at reduced threat to others. Guns2Swords substitutes the symbol for the real and neuters reality while salving the psyche. […] Non-mandatory gun buyback efficacy is mixed at best. Still, removing guns from circulation is never a bad thing, merely more or less effective. Chekhov’s Gun holds as true in fact as in fiction: a gun, once introduced, WILL be fired.”

Check out Grimes’ 2021 Met Gala look above.

Back in August, My Morning Jacket announced plans to release their ninth studio album, following last year’s The Waterfall II. The new album is self-titled, drops October 22 via ATO, and features the expansive single, “Regularly Scheduled Programming.” Now, the band has shared another entry from My Morning Jacket: an upbeat, lushly harmonized song simply called “Love Love Love.” There’s also a video, which features vibrant animations and MMJ rocking out as strobing, neon lights flash across the screen.

“‘Love Love Love’ is trying to steer the ship away from everything I’m talking about in ‘Regularly Scheduled Programming’ and speak toward positivity and pure love, finding truth within yourself and in the world around you,” My Morning Jacket leader Jim James said in a release.

“I hope this album brings people a lot of joy and relief, especially since we’ve all been cooped up for so long,” James said in a statement last month when the album was announced. “I know that feeling you get from driving around blasting music you love, or even lying in bed and crying to the music you love. The fact that we’re able to be a part of people’s lives in that way is so magical to us, and it feels really good that we’re still around to keep doing that.”

Watch the “Love Love Love” video above.

My Morning Jacket is out 10/22 via ATO Records. Pre-order it here.

Mike Richards’ tenure at Jeopardy! is now officially over, although the show’s still eeking through the handful of episodes that he hosted. This continuing awkwardness arrives after Richards’ dismissal in the wake of an exhaustive report from Claire McNear (of The Ringer) that detailed Richards’ history of troubling (often sexist and bigoted) comments. Richards is out as executive producer, too, and meanwhile, current champ Matt Amodio must push forth and attempt to keep winning, even with the whole annoying-answer issue under his belt.

Amodio sat down with the Washington Post following his accrual of at least $574,000 in winnings, which he’s largely racked up during the strangest time in the long-lived game show’s history. Naturally, Amodio needed to address how he’s coping with the pressure during unusual circumstances, and his answer was a telling one. In order to stay focused on winning, he’s not thinking about the hosting issue at all:

“Frankly, the last thing I’m thinking about when I’m in the middle of a game is who’s hosting. I’ve had people say, ‘Oh man, you’ve moved on to your fourth host, that has to be difficult.’ And I would say, ‘Well, you’re right, but I didn’t even realize that, necessarily.’ Cause I’m trying to pull these really obscure facts out of my brain, and that takes all the mental energy I can afford at the moment.”

In other words, he’s keeping his “game face” on, which is about all that anyone can do to push through competition with outside forces threatening to distract. To a lesser degree, Amodio has also prevailed by getting that blue checkmark that he desired on Twitter. In other words, everything is coming up Amodio, and nothing is coming up Mike Richards. And the search for a host must go on.

(Via Washington Post)

Indie-pop spark plug Hatchie (Australia’s Harriette Pilbeam) has a couple of announcements to make this morning: Not only has she signed to Secretly Canadian, Hatchie has also shared an eye-catching new video for the song “This Enchanted.” During the clip, Pilbeam performs a strobe-lit set with her band while also walking around at night in some Claire Danes-in-Romeo-And-Juliet angel wings.

Of the new song, Pilbeam says, “‘This Enchanted’ encapsulates everything I wanted to do moving forward from my first album. I started writing it with Jorge and Joe in February 2020 and completed it from afar in lockdown later in the year. We had been talking about making something dancey but shoegaze.”

She adds, “It’s one of the more lighthearted, lyrically vague songs of my new recordings about falling in love; it’s not a perfect relationship, but you’re enthralled by one another and it’s an easy love. It’s one of the most fun songs I’ve written, so it was a no-brainer to pick it as my first solo release in almost two years. It feels so right to be working with a label as exciting as Secretly as I step into new territory with Hatchie. I’ve been counting down the days until its release for a long time.”

“This Enchanted,” of course, follows the singer’s 2019 album Keepsake and its preceding EP, 2018’s Sugar & Spice. Watch “This Enchanted” above.

Though it feels like a lifetime ago, it was December 2017 that Al Franken resigned from the U.S. Senate after multiple women came forward to accuse Franken of inappropriate touching and/or kissing. While he’s managed to stay mostly out of the spotlight since then, Franken hasn’t abandoned his passion for politics. In addition to a weekly podcast in which he discusses political matters, Franken is currently on tour in what he has dubbed “The Only Former U.S. Senator Currently on Tour Tour.” While he’s got more than enough to keep him busy, Franken hasn’t ruled out making another run for public office.

As The Wrap reports, Franken sat down with an interview for the Massachusetts-based The Republican newspaper. When asked about whether he would consider a return to politics, the former SNL star admitted that, “I’m keeping my options open.” While he said that the tour and his other obligations were keeping him pretty busy at the moment, he seemed to indicate that he’s got some unfinished business in D.C. and might like a better sense of closure.

While he denied some of the allegations made against him, Franken—unlike the Matt Gaetzes in today’s political realm—decided to put the people and his party first in stepping down as senator of Minnesota, declaring at the time:

“I of all people am aware that there is some irony in the fact that I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office, and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate with the full support of his party. But this decision is not about me. It’s about the people of Minnesota, and it has become clear that I can’t both pursue the Ethics Committee process and at the same time remain an effective senator for them.”

In speaking to The Republican, Franken admitted that a big part of his decision was due to the dozens of his Democratic colleagues who were urging him to go away. “I wanted due process, but I had 36 colleagues and a majority leader who wouldn’t give it to me, so it was impossible,” Franken said. “It was a very weird, tough situation at that moment… I love the Senate. I love the work that I did.”

For now, Franken is looking forward to making a difference via his new stand-up tour, “Because I believe comedy and satire is a very valid way—and sometimes almost a more productive way—of affecting public opinion.”

(Via The Wrap)

Wheel of Fortune kicked off its 39th season on Monday, and right away, fans of the show were not feeling the show’s big changes. On top of unveiling a super bright-and-colorful set, the classic game show also debuted its new theme music, which did not go over well. Shortly after the season premiere, Wheel Watchers flocked to Twitter where they voiced their opinions. As you’ll see, most of the comments were centered around the new music, but a few were not feeling the new set design either.

Of course, the biggest question is how many of these changes were done at the behest of Mike Richards who was recently fired as the executive producer of both Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune following his disastrous attempt to install himself as Alex Trebek’s successor. While it’s not known how much input Richards had on the Wheel changes, some fans aren’t afraid to lay the bad music at his feet:

However, not all of the changes were rejected by fans. This season, Pat Sajak will no longer perform the Final Spin. Instead, whoever has control of the wheel will do the honors, which is a change Sajak has been wanting for a while.

“If you think about it, by doing the ‘final spin’ I, as host, had an impact on the outcome of the game, and that has always bothered me because it just didn’t feel right,” Sajak told Deadline earlier in the month. “With this change, only the contestants determine the outcome of the game and the host does not impose themself in any way.”

The Final Spin change elicited at least one positive response, which is more than can be said about the music:

(Via TVInsider)