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Chvrches aren’t the only ones drawing inspiration from horror movies. Today, Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine, who are releasing a collaborative album on September 24, have shared two new tracks from the project. “Cimmerian Shade” is influenced by genre classic Silence Of The Lambs, while “You Give Death A Bad Name” is inspired by Night Of The Living Dead. Spooky!

According to De Augustine, “Cimmerian Shade” is written from the perspective of Silence Of The Lambs antagonist Buffalo Bill. “Many authors have emotional attachments to the characters they create,” he said in a press release. “But in this instance, I was interested in how a character felt about being created. In my imagination I was giving consciousness to someone else’s creation. The song is essentially a dialogue between creation and creator that seeks to find understanding to some of the same questions that we ask ourselves about existence, free will, fate, purpose, guidance and if anyone or anything out there is listening or cares.”

These songs follow the previously released “Back To Oz,” “Fictional California,” “Reach Out,” and “Olympus.” The album, titled A Beginner’s Mind, started when Stevens and De Augustine decamped to a friend’s cabin in upstate New York for a “monthlong songwriting sabbatical.” At the ends of their days, they would unwind by watching movies, and the duo’s songs soon began to reflect on the films.

Listen to both “Cimmerian Shade” and “You Give Death A Bad Name” above.

A Beginner’s Mind is out 9/24 via Asthmatic Kitty. Pre-order it here.

Dan Harmon, the television writer behind hit shows like Community and Rick and Morty, has revealed the main cast for his upcoming animated series Krapopolis, and chances are, you’re gonna love it. According to a Variety report, the upcoming Fox series has cast Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso, Game of Thrones), Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd, Travel Man, Disenchantment), Matt Berry (What We Do in the Shadows, The IT Crowd, Toast of London), Pam Murphy (Mapleworth Murders, Weird City), and, last by not least, podcast host and The Midnight Gospel‘s Duncan Trussell, in its lead roles. And, if the cast alone already has you pretty stoked for the show, just wait until you hear what kinds of characters each of these comedy stars are playing.

In Krapoplis, a comedy series centered around “a flawed family of humans, gods, and monsters that tries to run one of the world’s first cities without killing each other,” Ayoade will be voicing main character Tyrannis, the mortal son of a goddess and the well-intentioned King of Krapopolis who’s simply trying “to make do in a city that lives up to its name.” Waddingham will be bringing to life Deliria, Tyrannis’ mother and the proclaimed goddess of self-destruction and questionable choices. Berry will be playing Shlub, Tyrannis’ mantitaur (half centaur [horse + human], half manticore [lion + human + scorpion] father who is “oversexed, underemployed, claims to be an artist, and has literally never paid for anything, in any sense of that word, for his entire life.” Last but not least, both Murphy and Trussell will be playing Tyrannis’ siblings. Murphy will be voicing Stupendous, Tyrannis’ cyclops half-sister, and Trussell will be playing Hippocampus, the biological nightmare (quarter centaur [horse + human], quarter manticore [lion + human + scorpion] and half mermaid [human + fish]) that is Tyrannis’ half-brother.

Krapopolis is the first show to come out of Harmon’s exclusive animation deal with Fox, and will feature Harmon as the creator and executive producer of the series. In addition to Harmon, Jordan Young (The Simpsons, BoJack Horseman) is also attached to the project as its executive producer and showrunner. As of right now, no release date or additional information has been announced, but it feels pretty likely we’ll be hearing more about Krapopolis — including a 2022 release date — before the end of the year.

Having released a handful of singles ahead of her debut album Juno, Remi Wolf has already drummed up enough excitement around her release that her tour has officially sold-out. Offering yet another preview of her upcoming LP, Wolf drops two funk-foward singles alongside equally eccentric visuals.

Wolf’s first new track “Guerrilla” expands on her psychedelic pop sound with a video to match. Directed by Nathan Castiel, the visual places Wolf in a whimsical world complete with vibrant colors, screaming fans, and lots of paint. “Sexy Villain,” on the other hand, is a more mellow track. Over a blissed-out beat, Wolf calls out some of her traits that could be perceived as toxic, like enjoying a fight and a contradictory horoscope chart.

Speaking about her album recording process in a previous statement, Wolf described creating Juno as a “fever dream”:

“Creating my debut album Juno was like a fever dream. So many changes were happening in my life while I was creating these songs and I think my album really reflects the feelings of tension and release that these changes provoked in me. Every song on this record is a vivid snapshot into what was going on in my life and mindset the day I wrote each one. I hope my Remjobs [fans] can hear my honesty and passion come through and, if not, I just hope they think each song is a banger!”

Watch Wolf’s “Guerrilla” and “Sexy Villain” videos above.

Juno is out 10/15 via Island. Pre-order it here.

In the wake of Nipsey Hussle’s death, merchandise from his store, Marathon, became such a hot commodity that it sold out all of the available stock in the weeks immediately afterward. In the years since, it’s remained popular due to the late rapper’s beloved status and elevated visibility thanks to things like his Grammy wins and massive televised memorial service in which Nipsey received praise for his community building efforts from the likes of President Obama and Jay-Z.

However, the drawback to that increased popularity is that it has allegedly attracted unscrupulous businesses looking to cash in. According to TMZ, Nipsey’s estate, led by his older brother Samiel Asghedom (aka Blacc Sam), has taken issue with a number of e-commerce sites that have begun selling knockoff merch bearing the distinctive Crenshaw logo sold at Marathon Clothing Store, as well as other trademarked properties like one reading “South Central State of Mind.” To curb the spread, Sam has filed lawsuit in the state of Illinois, where the sites appear to be doing most of their marketing, to get all the profits from the sales or $2 million per trademark violation.

The sites appear to be operating from China, and although they appear to be different sites, the lawsuit makes clear they believe that the sites could be working in concert, due to shared marketing practices, similar misspellings, and other telltale signs.

Nipsey Hussle is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

A couple of months shy of releasing their forthcoming album I Don’t Live Here Anymore, The War On Drugs stopped by The Late Show With Stephen Colbert last night to perform lead single “Living Proof.” Filmed in a studio setting, the performance offers a pleasing behind-the-scenes look at the band (gently) rocking out together.

Earlier in July, the Philly dream-rock outfit announced the follow-up to 2017’s A Deeper Understanding. I Don’t Live Here Anymore was recorded in seven different studios, including New York’s Electric Lady and Los Angeles’ Sound City, and, according to the band’s website, is an “uncommon rock album about one of our most common but daunting processes — resilience in the face of despair.”

Last year, singer Adam Granduciel opened up a bit to Stereogum about working on the much-anticipated follow-up to A Deeper Understanding. “I just remembered how fun it can be to stumble on a song,” he said regarding “Living Proof.” “I think all the songs I love are the ones that came out of nowhere. All the sudden, in that moment, when you’re really creating this thing, all these things come back and make sense in the moment.”

Check out the performance above.

I Don’t Live Here Anymore is out 10/29 via Atlantic Records. Pre-order it here.

The War On Drugs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Desperately, I want to love Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It was my first introduction to Star Trek. The movie poster hangs in my New York City apartment. The whole idea of this beloved television series getting an enormous amount of money thrown at it to make one of the prettiest movies ever made, directed by legendary director Robert Wise, on its own is fascinating. (Paramount had kept going back and forth on if it wanted to make a movie or a new television series called Star Trek: Phase II. The television series was scrapped at the last possible minute – scripts had been written and sets had been built – to, instead, do a movie.) It had been 10 years since there had been live action Star Trek. And you’d think the movie would start out on a celebratory note. The return of James T. Kirk! Again, you’d think the movie would open with a reintroduction to the characters people fell in love with: A reminder why Star Trek became so popular in the years after it was canceled. Well, that is not what they did.

Now, I do love that it exists. Over the years I’ve seen a lot of pieces “In Defense” of this movie, and then push-back on those takes with, “No, actually, it’s bad.” I don’t think it’s either, which I know doesn’t make a snappy headline. It’s a very pretty movie that I do appreciate, but also I would never in a million years recommend this movie to a non-Trek diehard. Seriously, just go ahead and skip ahead to The Wrath of Khan. Nothing in this movie is ever spoken about again. In The Voyage Home they are still talking about things that happened in The Wrath of Khan. But not once does Kirk stop and say, “Remember when Will Deckard merged his body with Voyager 6? I wonder how that worked out for him?”

And Paramount has just released the first four original movies on 4K for the first time. Of those first four, Star Trek: The Motion Picture is the one I watch the least. (I am even a big fan of Star Trek III: The Search For Spock. A truly underrated film.) So, of the four, I decided to dig into the one I have the most fraught relationship with. If there was ever a chance it could win me over, it’s on a 4K release of this gorgeous film. (Well, one caveat here. This is the original cut. The Director’s Cut is superior, which I own, but has never been released on anything but DVD, but is currently being remastered for a 2022 release. So, technically, that cut in 4K would probably have the best chance. I digress.) And it’s been a few years since I just sat down and watched this from beginning to end.

Having Kirk be a raging asshole in this movie was certainly a choice. I’m exaggerating a little, but there’s very little about this character that resembles the more fun-loving guy we saw in the series, or who we see in future films. Kirk shows up, demotes the current Enterprise captain, tells everyone he’s taking the Enterprise back for himself, and does just that but then realizes he doesn’t know how the ship works anymore – then almost gets everyone killed. Actually, one of his first actions after taking his ship back is watching two people die a terrible death in the transporter. (A scene I still can’t believe exists in this movie that is supposedly Rated G.) Leonard Nimoy always had the ability to play Spock with a sense of warmth, which he does to great effect in The Wrath of Khan, but not here. Right, Spock doesn’t show emotions, but he’s also not rude. In The Motion Picture, he’s just kind of a prick and everyone thinks he might be on V’ger’s side. (The whole V’ger plot could have been interesting. But in a movie that’s already so “cold,” a villain that’s a machine without any real emotions isn’t helping things here.) Only Deforest Kelly shows up remembering how to play his character. And half the time it’s like he’s looking around at everyone else wondering what’s going on and why everyone is being so dour.

But, good gosh is this movie gorgeous. And, now, especially in 4K. And the reason I said I’m glad it exists is that now, in retrospect, we know better stories were still to come. So, a Star Trek movie that looks like 2001: A Space Odyssey is remarkable. (Douglas Trumbull worked on the effects in both movies.) It’s funny, a lot of people make fun of the scene when Scotty and Kirk fly around the Enterprise twice, very slowly I should add. The Enterprise has never looked better and they deserved to take this victory lap. (Okay, two victory laps.) Star Trek: The Motion Picture built a truly unbelievable amount of models and, yes, this movie wants to show them off, accompanied by Jerry Goldsmith’s score. (Also, it’s pretty unusual that between the original series, The Motion Picture, and The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek had three fairly iconic, all different, theme songs.)

Here’s the scene that best encapsulates Star Trek: The Motion Picture: Spock wants to investigate V’ger. He steals a spacesuit with a rocket booster. Now, instead of just flying off into V’ger, the suit, using some sort of audio instruction manual, explains how the booster rockets work. Then, after that ends, Spock narrates what he’s trying to do, before, finally flying off into V’ger. We needed absolutely none of that. Then we are given many, many minutes of visual candy as Spock flies through V’ger, narrating all the wondrous things he’s seeing. Rewatching now, okay, yes, the rocket booster instructions are not necessary, and maybe we can pick up the pace a little. (Wise agreed and his Director’s Cut tightens a lot of scenes.) But also there’s something that’s pretty appealing about a movie that’s not in a hurry to get anywhere. It’s a movie that’s visually appealing but isn’t throwing so much at the viewer at once where we don’t even have time to process it. Star Trek: The Motion Picture is just its own thing and I’m never completely going to be on its wavelength – but every few years I really enjoy trying.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

When I was younger, I used to believe I played video games as a means of escape. I used to rationalize that, when I picked up a video game, it meant I was trading my own problems in for some that, maybe, just maybe, I could fix. However, I now realize that wasn’t quite right. You see, when you have a lovely, little neurodivergent brain, there really isn’t much of an escape or a time when you’re not extremely aware of how you’re feeling. On top of that, I always gravitated towards extremely emotional games that reminded me of the realities and hardships I faced. I now realize I turned to games not for escape, but for comfort.

To this day, I still believe comfort is the main reason I play much of what I play. I like to feel a bit less alone and wild inside, to feel the catharsis that follows the roll of the credits. So, when I got the opportunity to play Life is Strange: True Colors, I delighted in the thought that I was in for an extremely special experience from a studio that knows a thing or two about creating comforting games. I readied myself for tears and the bittersweet sensation of finding myself in bits and pieces of a stranger’s story, and I’m happy to say I walked away even more charmed by Dontnod’s latest entry in the Life is Strange series than I could have imagined.

Developed by Deck Nine, Life is Strange: True Colors follows Alex Chen, a brave and witty young woman fresh from the foster care system with a heart even bigger than her rap sheet. After a brief exit session with her therapist, Alex’s journey kicks off when she arrives in the small mountain town of Haven Springs, Colorado to meet up with her older brother Gabe after they were forced apart. Ever charming and kind, Gabe is quick to show Alex around town and introduce her to all his favorite people and places in an endearing attempt to assimilate her into his life as seamlessly as possible and make up for all the time they lost when they were separated.

After a few hours — and despite a rough encounter that leads to Alex telling Gabe that her extremely heightened empathy that borders on telepathy is a “superpower” — it seems as if Haven Springs is the place Alex has dreamt of being her whole life. A place where she can belong, be part of a family, and start a proper life away from prescriptions, prospective parents, and all the pain she still isn’t quite sure how to process. However, just as quickly as her life seemed to be improving, Alex’s dreams are shattered when Gabe is killed in a mining accident that seems anything but accidental. It then becomes Alex’s mission to figure out what really happened to her brother, as well as figure out what to live for now that he’s gone. While that already doesn’t seem like a particularly simple or straight-forward task, rest assured things only get more difficult and twisted for Alex with each passing day.

Much like in previous Life is Strange games, True Colors is an adventure game in which you interact with your environment and the characters who inhabit it to learn more about the story and progress. The game’s core mechanic comes in the shape of Alex’s enhanced empathy, which allows her to more closely examine characters or emotionally-imbued artifacts to better understand what they’re feeling. By doing this, you can unlock more dialog options, help nurture your relationships, and essentially solve light puzzles that grant you more insight into certain characters and the town of Haven Springs. While arguably not as complex as the abilities explored in the previous Life is Strange games, it does allow Alex to more deeply examine the game’s story, which is one of the series’ best and most emotional.

Like its predecessors, there’s no denying how lovely, endearing, and artsy True Colors is. Every inch of the wildflower-covered wilderness glows and every building you wander through feels as if stories have been etched on to its walls. The indie-alt soundtrack compliments nearly every moment you spend with the game, and all of these qualities mixed with the game’s heartfelt story and overarching sense of poignancy create a sweet, somber, and sun-soaked world you’ll enjoy spending time in. However, while all of what I’ve said thus far may have you thinking “okay, so it’s a Life is Strange game,” it’s also worth noting True Colors sets itself apart from the others by establishing some incredibly impressive new highs for the series, particularly with its characters and shift scope.

While the games are predominantly driven by the intensity of your closest relationships and larger-than-life stakes in previous Life is Strange entries, True Colors does away with these extremes and embraces a middle ground that is somehow both more comfortable and more compelling. Alex is not primarily defined by a singular romantic interest, nor an intense familial bond. While her relationships with Gabe, Steph, and Ryan are all thoughtful, moving, and tear-invoking at several points, they’re not an end-all-be-all for her. The story she finds herself wrapped up in doesn’t result in the apocalypse, or include religious cults and a showdown with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Instead, everything is contained within a community you actively watch grow, making things simultaneously more intimate as well as more meaningful.

In True Colors, Alex comes to define herself through her involvement with the town of Haven Springs and her interactions with all of its dazzling and dynamic residents, from the lonesome romantic Duckie to creative wunderkind Ethan. The entire town is aglow with characters you not only are implored to get to know if you want to be embraced by the community, but ultimately want to know. They inhabit low-lit bars, dance under string lights in the Spring, sh*tpost on MyBlock, sculpt their grieving hearts into clay, and carefully trim the stems of sunflowers your brother would deliver to his former love. They graciously allow you insight into their lives, thoughts, and feelings, which are more raw and gripping than you might expect and, outside of the contents of chapter five, are the most compelling part of the game.

Beyond that, they also graciously offer you their friendship, which you can watch grow through the cute and clever text messages you exchange with them as the days pass and the seasons change. They are the tender hearts who make up a town that you both long to rescue and protect, making the game’s local stakes still significant. Without these characters and the game’s overall greater emphasis on community, both Alex and True Colors as a whole would be sorely lacking.

It’s worth mentioning that Life is Strange: True Colors also took a pretty major technological step that assisted in making these characters as resonant and charming as they are: full-body motion capture. Prior to True Colors, the series’ characters had a tendency to look a bit uncanny and vacant. However, thanks to True Colors‘ emphasis on correctly capturing expressions, the power of motion capture, and absolutely incredible casting and performances. Each character feels more alive than ever, with expressions that feel a lot less awkward, even when they’re delivering one of Dontnod’s signature awkward lines.

Oh yes, the awkward, hipster, and oh-so-slightly-try-hard lines are still there, ever-present in the Life is Strange series as they are in an episode of Gilmore Girls. If you’re the type who is endeared by them, you’ll be delighted to find them tucked around every other corner and might not cringe quite as much as I did when Alex broke out into a rendition of Radiohead’s “Creep.” However, they do seem a bit lessened in True Colors and I, for one, am not mad about it. Furthermore, when it comes to gameplay, Alex’s empathy powers are decidedly less exciting to play around with than telekinesis and time travel, making for a lot less puzzle-solving and “aha!” moments and more wandering around.

For better and for worse, the game is incredibly idealized. While the rose-tinted glasses are pleasant when you’re engaged in one of the game’s “zen” moments — say, an acoustic guitar plucking away as the river bubbles lens flares dance across your screen — it leads me to have some minor frustrations with how often game shied away from fully addressing larger issues. One example: The goal of your character quickly becomes to take down Typhon at any cost, but very little is actually said about how this will impact the mining town in which many of its residents work for Typhon. This is a situation we’ve seen unravel in real life with devastating consequences for one-industry towns, and it not being addressed in a meaningful way is troubling.

Despite the game’s focus on emotions and mental health, it often feels like trauma is laid bare only for us to understand a character rather than help them or address their feelings in a more significant way. Without diving into spoiler territory, when the game comes to an end, several traumatized characters seemingly adopt the mentality of “guess we’ll see if I’m okay” when the events we’ve seen play out should ideally lead to better discussions than that.

Despite any and all shortcomings, though, Life is Strange: True Colors is a game I suspect nearly all Life is Strange fans will adore, and even those who are hesitant towards the series might find a bit more to their liking. It feels absolutely no lesser than the titles that came before it, and makes meaningful changes to the series that elevate it to new heights, such as a cast of characters you actively want to be around and understand, a lovable protagonist, and a story will smaller stakes that pulls you in in only the way a small-town murder-mystery can. It offered me the catharsis I needed this year, and has quickly risen to take the place of the best game I’ve played in 2021. I have a hunch that if you give True Colors a try, you walk away a bit more comforted as well.

Today saw Netflix share the first teaser of the upcoming movie Don’t Look Up, which has a stacked cast and follows two astronomers trying to warn the world of impending doom. Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardi DiCaprio play the lead roles, and also getting some screen time are Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi, whose appearances are previewed in the teaser.

Both of their appearances in the clip are super brief: A photo of Cudi’s character is displayed on screen during a broadcast of an in-movie show called The Daily Rip, while we get just a quick shot of Grande shifting her focus from one thing to another. There’s not much to go on there, but we can determine that Cudi and Grande’s characters appear to have some level of familiarity with each other: EW shared some photos from the film today, and in one of them, Cudi and Grande snuggle up together, smiling with drinks in hand.

It’s not too surprising to see Grande and Cudi here, as they’re two of music’s most experienced actors: Grande’s first brush with fame was her role in the Nickelodeon show Victorious and its spin-off series Sam & Cat, while Cudi had starring roles in How to Make It In America and Comedy Bang! Bang!.

Aside from the aforementioned, the movie also stars Jonah Hill, Meryl Streep, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Matthew Perry, Timothée Chalamet, Ron Perlman, and Cate Blanchett.

Watch the Don’t Look Up trailer above.

Lorde officially returned to drop her anticipated fourth studio album Solar Power last month. Before kicking off her 2022 global tour, the singer continues to share performances of her new tracks to appease fans. Following her appearances on The Late Late Show and Good Morning America, Lorde now leaves the studio and heads for the woods to share a few songs amid a picturesque backdrop.

Performing two tracks for Vogue in an Alfred Marroquin-directed concert film, Lorde opted to take on a stripped-down cover of Britney Spears’ 2007 track “Break The Ice” on the grounds of the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. Transforming the bubblegum pop track into a sultry anthem, the singer gave a rendition of “Break The Ice” with her signature lilting voice. Lorde then transitioned into a performance of her Solar Power track “Fallen Fruit,” which comments on the climate change crisis.

Along with performing the songs for Vogue, Lorde sat down with the magazine for a new cover story to discuss Solar Power. In the interview, Lorde praised her producer Jack Antonoff. “Jack listens really well. He’s in therapy,” she said. “He’s good to talk to about the kinds of things that people writing deep sh*t into a song want to talk about. I think there’s an understanding with us that we’re going to do this for a really long time, and it’s going to be one of the great relationships of both of our lives.”

Watch Lorde cover Spears’ “Break The Ice” and singe her Solar Power track “Fallen Fruit” above.

Solar Power is out now via Republic. Get it here.

Over the past few weeks, there’s been a growing trend of conservative radio hosts being hospitalized with the COVID-19 and recanting their anti-vaxxer views on their deathbeds. It’s a tragedy of their own making, and Howard Stern has zero sympathy for them. In fact, he thinks it’s hilarious.

While discussing the recent death of “Mr. Anti-Vax” Marc Bernier, Stern started cracking up at the thought of radio hosts catching COVID after spending months telling their listeners not to get the vaccine. Via Mediaite:

“It’s really funny when these radio, the radio guys are the best, they’re like four of them died, four of them were like ranting on the air. They will not get vaccinated. They were they were on fire, these guys, it was like day after day, they were all dying and then their dying words are ‘I wish I had been more into the vaccine. I wish I had taken it.’” Stern said, laughing several times.

Stern’s amusement quickly turned to anger as he unloaded anti-vaxxer conservatives for prolonging the pandemic. After bringing up how mandatory vaccines have been a thing for decades (“When I went to school, you had to get a measles vaccine, you had to get a mumps vaccine, you had to get, it was a ton of them.) the shock jock blasted anyone who says not getting the COVID vaccine is a matter of freedom.

“When are we going to stop putting up with the idiots in this country and just say, you know, it’s mandatory to get vaccinated?” Stern said. “F*ck them, f*ck their freedom. I want my freedom to live. I want to get out of the house already. I want to go next door and play chess. I want to go take some pictures.”

(Via Mediaite)