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Nolan Gould made god-knows how much money for playing Luke on ABC’s mega-hit sitcom Modern Family for 11 seasons. But that’s not the most interesting thing about him. The 22-year-old graduated from high school when he was 13 years old; he has an IQ of 150, placing him in the “highly gifted” class; and oh yeah, my man got ripped.

In the latest issue of People, Gould showed off his abs and revealed how he got in shape. “I’ve been working out an hour and a half everyday with my friend Michael who is a personal trainer. We have a really cool socially-distant setup that has allowed me to get fit while also being safe,” he said. “It’s been nice. Especially being unemployed in quarantine, having a reason to get up and stay motivated. It’s been something that’s been very healthy and positive for me in quarantine. It’s really changed my outlook.”

Gould, who played Phil and Claire’s youngest child Luke, does an hour of strength training and 30 minutes of cardio and core every day and went on a “pretty crazy diet” that no longer involves “four pizzas at once.” Eh, not worth it. But the biggest change for him was “cutting out alcohol, for me that’s actually been very nice. I feel more clear-headed and have been doing as much writing as possible, being in acting class, taking all the steps I can so when the pandemic’s over, hopefully I’ll be ready to go to work.”

Now it’s time for Manny to get absolutely shredded.

(Via People)

One of the interesting new quirks of being able to watch movies from home is that I always do so with the subtitles on. In so doing, I’ve learned all kinds of things that would otherwise slip by unnoticed. Like the time I found out that the lyric to Nirvana’s “All Apologies” was “choking on the ashes of her enemy,” and not the (far superior, imo) lyric I’d always assumed, “choking on the ashes of a renegade.” (Ashes, because they’d burned her at the stake! For being a renegade! Come on!).

This week, while watching Judas And The Black Messiah, director Shaka King’s film about the killing of Fred Hampton, I noticed that one of the off-screen police officers involved in the raid on Hampton’s headquarters was credited as “Blart.” No one in the film ever refers to this character by name, and it would be impossible to identify him as Blart otherwise, but I checked the IMDB credits, and sure enough, there he was:

That’s right: it is now canon that Paul Blart killed Fred Hampton. Maybe that’s why he got busted down to mall cop.

I’ve been researching the Hampton raid and don’t believe I’ve ever come across a real police officer named Blart who was involved. But perhaps the filmmakers discovered such and included it. Or, they simply stuck it in there where most people wouldn’t notice. It was co-written by comedians after all — specifically Keith and Kenny Lucas, who are also identical twins. And there’s your free idea for The Deuce season four.

Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.

We’re at the point now where you really have to respect Snot’s commitment to the aesthetic. He’s been wearing his tightly drawn hoodie in every video and photoshoot for just about a year now — and doing so in situations where it’d ordinarily be ridiculous to do so. Just take the long-awaited video for his 2020 single “Sangria” featuring Denzel Curry. Shot in the Lana River in Tirana, Albania not only does Snot remain hoodied up, but he also double-layers with a matching puffer jacket.

Fortunately for him, so are the bars and the beat for “Sangria,” which the duo initially dropped back in October in the run-up to the release of Snot’s album Beautiful Havoc. Meanwhile, Denzel also adopts the Pink Panther look, albeit with a few more concessions made for the Albanian sunshine. He sports a polo shirt (buttoned all the way up) with matching track pants and a bucket hat. The two share relaxed chemistry as they blaze through their hi-speed verses and director Omar Jones throws trippy filters over the straightforward visuals.

Jones also directed the Iann Dior-featuring video for Snot’s last single, “Like Me,” in which Snot and Dior hit the roadway. With his endlessly malleable flow and deadpan vocals, Snot’s rapidly showing a skill for perfectly pairing with any and every collaborator, no matter how unlikely they may seem.

Watch Snot’s “Sangria” video featuring Denzel Curry above.

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

A few months ago, The Antlers returned with “Wheels Roll Home,” which was then their first new song in six years. Since then, the group has announced a new album, Green To Gold, and shared some more previews of it. Now they’re back with another one: A video for “Just One Sec.” The song continues in the gentle direction of the singles that preceded it and the video features a couple having fun dancing together in a verdant landscape.

Peter Silberman says of the track:

“This song’s about the difficulty of escaping your reputation with someone you’ve closely known for a long time. The sentiment of ‘Just One Sec’ is an experiment with temporarily dropping the story between the two of you, offering and receiving momentary forgiveness, and experiencing that freedom. The idea was born out of a meditation retreat we attended a couple years ago, and the instructions of one meditation that I found particularly powerful.”

He previously said of the album, “I set out to make Sunday morning music. […] Most of the songs on Green To Gold are culled from conversations with my friends and my partner. It’s less ambiguous about who’s speaking and who’s listening. I think the shift in tone is the result of getting older. It doesn’t make sense for me to try to tap into the same energy that I did ten or fifteen years ago, because I continue to grow as a person, as I’m sure our audience does too. Green To Gold is about this idea of gradual change. People changing over time, struggling to accept change in those they love, and struggling to change themselves. And yet despite all our difficulty with this, nature somehow makes it look easy.”

Watch the “Just One Sec” video above.

Green To Gold is out 3/26 via Anti-. Pre-order it here.

Julien Baker is gearing up for the release of her third studio album, Little Oblivions, which arrives next week. With her first two albums, Baker has earned a reputation of being heartfelt and open throughout her lyrics. While the singer is still bringing the same vulnerability to her upcoming release, she found it difficult to let go of cynicism.

The singer recently sat down to talk about Little Oblivions in an interview with The Line Of Best Fit. Along with talking about her faith and political views, Baker described how the album differs from her previous two:

“I’ve been thinking a lot about how this record isn’t as positive, or that I didn’t try so hard to have a thesis statement at the end of it that was about something good and meaningful and redemptive. And I’m afraid that the attitude that’s become more prevalent, especially over 2020, is that people are relating and bonding over cynicism. Like what we just did, I feel like that’s the conversation that makes people immediately accessible to each other.

When I go into a coffee shop and they’re like, ‘How are you,’ and I’m like, ‘Good, except for…’ You know, and that’s how people bond about things being sh*t. I don’t know if that’s good or bad; I think it’s good, to be honest about it in my own life, but I don’t want to be cynical. I don’t want the record to seem like that, but… what else can you be? Denial doesn’t serve anybody right, so you have to allow yourself to be hurt and be sad in order to find the mitigating factors of hope — wherever they are.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Baker explained all the positive lessons she learned from recording her album. “I learned to be a little bit more merciful with myself and to be realistic about not just my shortcomings, but just my capabilities as a human being,” she said.

Check out the full interview here.

Little Oblivions is out 2/26 via Matador. Pre-order it here.

On Push Back, Kelc Galluzzo’s debut full-length album under the name Jetty Bones, there is a unique mixture of pop sensibilities with indie aesthetic that makes for an enveloping and exciting listen. Push Back finds its footing in the moments that exist in the space Galluzzo’s infectious optimism and her fight with depression and impostor syndrome. “I wanted to humanize myself as a person who really struggles with things, who absolutely does not have my shit together but is still trying really hard,” Galluzzo said in a statement.

To celebrate the new album, Galluzzo sat down to talk loving Ohio, saving money for therapy, and more in the latest Indie Mixtape 20 Q&A.

What are four words you would use to describe your music?

Dynamic, cathartic, contemplative, approachable.

It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?

In 2050 I will be almost 60, so if anyone is still listening to my music, I hope it evokes a sense of nostalgia for a period of growth they encountered. Or maybe that one song that got played way too much one summer and they still can’t figure out why it was on the radio in the first place.

What’s your favorite city in the world to perform?

It’s so hard to pick just one, especially following a year without shows, but I’m going to have to say that Cleveland and Chicago tie for first. You can’t beat the community we have there.

Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?

My friend Laura. She shifted the way I see the world while simultaneously giving me a reason to stick around to change it.

Where did you eat the best meal of your life?

In the green room at The Castle Theatre. I got sushi from a place behind the venue called Anju Above and… I got misty eyed. It was this incredible deep fried veggie roll that was so good, I absolutely had to share the rest with everyone in the green room. I dream of this roll, in fact, it haunts me.

What album do you know every word to?

The first one that pops to mind is Everything in Transit from Jack’s Mannequin because if that album is on, I have to listen to the whole thing and I’ll start convulsing if I can’t sing along. That was a little dramatic, but oh well.

What was the best concert you’ve ever attended?

It’s too hard to pick just one, but I will never forget stumbling upon Lung playing at Bled Fest a few years ago. I was running around the building grabbing everyone I knew to come watch them. They’re a band from Cincinnati whose live show has unparalleled energy, which is surprising because they’re both sitting.

What is the best outfit for performing and why?

Honestly? Anything that allows my legs to move and the sweat to get out. Anything at all, except for the striped pants I wore in Toronto in 2018. *shudders*

Who’s your favorite person to follow on Twitter and/or Instagram?

On Twitter, Unicorn Riot (@UR_ninja), an independent media and news outlet. On Instagram, Lucky Superstar (@luckysuperstarcat), the second most amazing cat I have ever seen.

What’s your most frequently played song in the van on tour?

Does the My Favorite Murder podcast count? If not, then it’s probably “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” by Celine Dion.

What’s the last thing you Googled?

“treehouse airbnb rental” because a girl can dream.

What album makes for the perfect gift?

Listen, it has to be Stunt by Barenaked Ladies. There is no other option.

Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?

We’ve been pretty fortunate in this regard because if we can’t find a super cheap hotel and don’t have a safe place to stay with someone we know nearby, we are all more comfortable sleeping in the van. We did stay in a mansion once, which was weird, although not in the conventional definition of the world.

What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?

The first tattoo I ever got was the outline of Ohio behind my left ear. I got this in a tattoo trailer at Cornerstone Music Festival in 2010. I thought I would be able to hide it from my mom for a while, but I was too nervous and told her as soon as I got home. I think she knew the tattoos were coming sooner or later though.

What artists keep you from flipping the channel on the radio?

I don’t actually have a functioning radio in my car, but on the rare occasion I’m listening to the radio, it’s always a classic rock or oldies station.

What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?

My mental health tricks me into thinking that I don’t deserve anything so I live in a constant state of awe when it comes to the kindness of others, and I think this makes positive gestures feel amplified to me. In 2018 I was going through a severely depressive period and one of my friends came to stay with me for a few days to keep me company while I cleaned my house, essentially just existing in my world and helping where they could in an attempt to pull my head from a really dark place. I don’t think they really understand how important it was that I wasn’t left alone at that time and I think about that a lot.

What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?

Save. Your. Money. You’re going to want it for therapy in a few years.

What’s the last show you went to?

I was on tour when the pandemic hit and had to come home. The last show before that was Snowed In, which we also played… in 2019. Wow this hurts my heart. The last show I went to that I didn’t play was Boston Manor / Heart Attack Man / Microwave at Bottom Lounge in Chicago on December 15th, 2019.

What movie can you not resist watching when it’s on TV?

A Christmas Story, obviously.

What would you cook if Obama were coming to your house for dinner?

I just googled it, and apparently he really loves chili, which is convenient for me because I just perfected my vegan rendition of my mom’s chili recipe. So, if you want to invite him over for me, you can let him know that’s on the menu.

Push Back is out February 26 via Rise Records. Pre-order it here.

Rush Limbaugh, the radio talk show host who helped shape the modern Republican party, has died.

The 70-year-old radio personality and diehard Trump supporter revealed he was battling a terminal case of lung cancer in 2020 — he was a cigar aficionado who infamously denied the link between smoking and lung cancer years before his death — and before the start of his most recent show, his wife Kathryn confirmed he had succumbed to the disease.

“I know that I am most certainly not the Limbaugh that you tuned in to listen to today,” Kathryn Limbaugh said before announcing her husband’s death on his show this morning.

Limbaugh was a polarizing, controversial figure, to say the least, probably equally adored as he was reviled. After starting his career firmly in the traditional conservative Republican mold Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, he recently used his platform to spew conspiracy theories and voter fraud accusations on behalf of Trump. He also failed to condemn the Jan. 6th insurrection on Capitol Hill, telling this to his listeners the day after the violent mob stormed Congress and aided in the death of five people, including a police officer:

“We’re supposed to be horrified by the protesters. There’s a lot of people out there calling for the end of violence…lot of conservatives, social media, who say that any violence or aggression at all is unacceptable regardless of the circumstances…I am glad Sam Adams, Thomas Paine, the actual tea party guys, the men at Lexington and Concord, didn’t feel that way.”

Obviously, people are airing out all its thoughts over Limbaugh’s passing, with GOP figures and fans mourning the loss of a key figure in their movement while others take the opportunity to remind people of the damage many feel Limbaugh did to the country. We’ve rounded up some of the most, errr, passionate reactions to the man’s death.

So, yeah, lots of feelings being shared today but we’ll just end with this: May Rush Limbaugh enjoy whatever afterlife he earned.

YouTube star/boxer Logan Paul has announced that he’s moving to Puerto Rico after he “fell in love” with the island while scouting it out to start the “next chapter” of his life. Oh, and also, the tax rate is way lower than California’s, which really sealed the deal. (Paul has previously stated that California’s taxes are “f*cking insane.”) Paul shared the news of his pending on the latest episode of his “Impaulsive” podcast, and it’s already stirred up controversy on social media where he’s being dragged for exploiting the U.S. island territory that’s still reeling from the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in late 2017. President Trump famously visited Puerto Rico to survey the damage, and instead of coordinating relief efforts, he threw paper towels at the crowd and essentially left the island to fend for itself. Now, Puerto Ricans get to deal with Paul moving in, and folks are not happy.

Much like his brother, Jake Paul, Logan has been a lightning rod of controversy that reached a boiling point when he posted a YouTube video that showed a suicide victim in Japan and cracked jokes like, “What, you never stand next to a dead guy?” when one of his crew voice their objections. Due to Paul’s popularity, YouTube was slow to react and initially did little in the way of punishment for the wildly insensitive video. However, after public backlash, YouTube yanked Paul from a lucrative ad deal with the video platform.

While Paul apologized several times for the callous suicide video, just a few weeks later, he was in hot water again after posting a video of himself tasering dead rats. That controversy led to YouTube to temporarily suspend all advertisements on his channel, but it notably refused to ban Paul completely. “What you think is tasteless is not necessarily what someone else would think is tasteless,” YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki told The Verge. “We need to have consistent laws, so that in our policies, so we can apply it consistently to millions of videos, millions of creators.”

(Via Impaulsive)

Compton native Problem recently became the latest rapper-turned-entrepreneur to swap his street hustle for the legal weed game. In the video for his new single “4 The Low,” he’s joined by fellow purple purveyor Wiz Khalifa as the two cannabis entrepreneurs tout their wares. Along the bottom of the screen, a cable-news-style scroll displays fictional weed stocks rising and lets Problem detail the journey from hood hustler to legitimate businessman, as told by Bay Area skunk salesman Berner.

Problem’s Coffee & Kush initiative cross-branded his three favorite things to expand his brand with multiple mixtapes bearing the title and his own lines of both java and Mary Jane. Meanwhile, Wiz’s Khalifa Kush is one of the more recognizable rapper-fronted brands and he’s expanded into a delivery-only restaurant called HotBox By Wiz, displaying a bit of savvy synergy in capitalizing on smoke-inspired munchies with a convenient snack brand.

While both rappers are past their Billboard chart-topping heydays, they’ve eased into a more relaxed schedule of sharing singles and features with their like-minded peers that seems to suit their chosen lifestyle. Wiz recently appeared on 03 Greedo’s new single “Substance” and Tyla Yaweh’s “All The Smoke” with Gunna. Meanwhile, Problem recently featured on Lou Phelps’ “Nike Shoe Box” remix.

Watch Problem and Wiz Khalifa’s “4 The Low” video above.

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

Sometimes, there is value in taking time to sit with a finished product and pick apart each piece. After the pandemic pushed the planned release date by several months, Another Michael had nearly a full year to spend with their debut album, New Music And Big Pop, between submitting the final master and releasing the first track. “I’m actually more connected to the record now than I would have been, maybe, had we released it sooner,” Michael Doherty tells me over the phone as the rest of his bandmates — bassist Nick Sebastiano and guitarist/keyboardist Alenni Davis — listen intently.

As I’m sure is the case with many writers, the last twelve months have made it increasingly difficult for new music to break through the constant noise and find space to nestle in my brain and make itself at home. “New Music,” the opening track of New Music And Big Pop, took a mere 31 seconds capture my full attention when a streaming link popped into my inbox about a year ago. It’s at this point in the song that Doherty’s voice first hits a falsetto note that is impossible to ignore, setting the stage for a spectacular debut effort that sounds familiar in its composition, but completely original in its execution.

The track itself an exercise in self-examination, with Doherty’s lyrics detailing, from a bird’s eye view, a beautiful process that many of us undergo daily: musical discovery (something you are hopefully experiencing right now). It’s a simple story, centered around getting a link to new song via text from a trusted friend. But it’s a narrative that often goes untold in songwriting — how often do you hear music about listening to music? As it turns out, the activity of really listening to music and diving into new sounds is an integral part of the glue that holds Another Michael together.

“It wouldn’t be possible to bond over music and bond playing music together if it wasn’t for listening to music,” Sebastiano notes. “I think it’s like a big part of our friendship and what our music ultimately ends up being.”

“If it weren’t for our friendship and hanging out and listening to music, I wouldn’t listen to what has become my favorite music of all-time,” adds Davis.

Without pressure or any label expectations to live up to, the process of writing their debut album was freewheeling and improvisational, with the trio feeling the freedom to explore the furthest reaches of their musical imagination. With two EPs under their belt, the band’s approach to writing their debut full-length album became a much more collaborative affair. The process begins with an idea from Doherty, before it’s presented to Sebastiano and Davis, and the trio jams to develop the idea.

This writing process gives each member an opportunity to access their shared lexicon of different influences from their vastly divergent musical upbringings: Sebastiano came of age in a household filled with disco music, while Davis obsesses over video game music, and Doherty continues to find inspiration in whatever genre is popular at the moment, from boy bands to modern pop. “I think the difference in where we’re all coming from, then coming together and appreciating what each person likes is a defining part of our sound,” Davis summarizes. “We’ll kind of explore a bunch of different options and play off of each other’s strengths in that way, and sometimes it’ll be workshopped in a studio setting, or a home-recorded setting, and we’re trying to figure out how it’s gonna be inside the box in that way,” adds Sebastiano.

Despite the loose and cooperative writing sessions, once a song was completed, the band made a point to capture their inspiration on tape, quickly making the move to rehearse and record the track. During the writing and recording process, the trio was processing the album in real time, without much time to let the music gestate and evolve in their heads. “I look back upon it as one work that’s like a big pizza,” Sebastiano explains. “One song was like the cheese, another song was like the bread. And then we only saw it as that for a while.”

With the equipment and technical prowess to engineer their own recording sessions at their own house or a house they rented in Ferndale, New York, the band was truly able to give themselves the space to take full advantage of the studio technology and built out the world of each song. “We had the opportunity to work as late as we wanted or as long as we wanted,” notes Sebastiano. “Not having a time crunch for studio time definitely helped to bring in those more experimental arrangements.”

In their finished form, tracks like “I Know You’re Wrong” and “What Gives?” recall specific moments in Doherty’s life from the perspective of an objective narrator, taking care not to contextualize the stories with a specific emotion, and allowing the listener to come to their own conclusions about the instance. Nowhere on the album will you find lyrics meant to be inked onto your skin. Rather, the lush textures and layers of the music will encourage you to put on a pair of noise-canceling headphones to immerse yourself in the product of a group of friends that takes music more seriously, than they take themselves.

Without the burden of an emotional weight and its palpable feeling of inspiration, New Music And Big Pop delivers ten tracks that are imbued with a sense of liberation and raw talent that feels rare in 2021, a breath of fresh air that creates a unique lane and a promising future for a new band like Another Michael. Luckily, one of the silver linings of being unable to tour is an abundance of time to continue writing. “Extremely excited to say that we’ve been working on a lot of music here,” Sebastiano reports, with a discernible enthusiasm in his voice for what’s next.

New Music And Big Pop is out February 19 via Run For Cover Records. Pre-order it here.