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Prison isn’t exactly supposed to be a vacation but Kodak Black has alleged that his incarceration experience has been worse than the average. In September, the South Florida rapper filed a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons, claiming that guards at the Big Sandy maximum security facility had regularly mistreated and abused him since his arrival there. Now, TMZ reports Kodak has been transferred to a new facility.

Kodak was apparently moved to FTC Oklahoma City on October 5, then to his current facility, USP Thomson in Illinois. Kodak’s attorney tells TMZ that the rapper reports the guards at the new facility to be more professional, while Kodak’s Instagram recently posted his new address and inmate number for fans to send mail.

However, Kodak’s new situation is far from perfect. He’s now further from family, making it harder for them to visit and he claims to have issues with his commissary. Kodak’s attorney says he hopes to have the rapper’s privileges reinstated soon. Kodak is serving a 46-month sentence after pleading guilty to criminal possession of a weapon last year, with a release date of August 14, 2022. He still has yet to stand trial for alleged sexual battery.

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

Local Natives have a new EP called Sour Lemon on the way, and one of its highlights is “Lemon,” on which the band’s Taylor Rice duets with Sharon Van Etten. Now they have shared a video for the track, which addresses a feeling of asynchronicity with lyrics like, “You’re toweling up your wet hair / I hear your coffee grind / The credits rolling on last night’s late night / We’re always somewhere between / Leaving and arrived / I just wanna be here at the same time.”

Local Natives shared a note alongside the track, writing, “We’re always working on new music, but songs tend to come at their own pace. There’s something freeing about writing without the goal of an album in mind. It feels like waking up for class only to realize that it’s Saturday and you can sleep in as long as you want. The songs on Sour Lemon each have their own long histories but they all finally decided to arrive at the same time. Rather than waiting, we decided to share them as soon as we could.”

Van Etten also posted a message about the track, which reads:

“From the time we started writing to recording to shooting the video, I have moved to LA, Taylor had a child who is now 10 1/2 months, and Ryan is now engaged. I connected with the song at each stage: Collaborating and getting to know each other, receiving their openness and generosity, recording the song and feeling the camaraderie and accepted as a part of the band, to shooting the video and reciprocating the longing and connection. Our friendship has grown since we first met, & this is a documentation of that…I’m looking forward to seeing where we all go from here.”

Watch the “Lemon” video above.

Matt Berninger, in spite of being grounded from the road, has a body clock that still operates on a rock tour schedule. For instance, when reached by phone last month at a mid-morning hour, The National frontman confessed that he had been up since 4:30 a.m.

“Lobby calls for the airport are always 5 or 6 a.m.,” he said. “I think I did train my body to be ready always at 4:30 to get out of bed and just start packing, you know?”

In a normal year, Berninger would be gearing up to tour behind Serpentine Prison, his first proper solo album. He conceived the LP in 2018 as a covers record in the mold of Willie Nelson’s Stardust, the deathless 1978 classic in which the country singer reimagined American standards with the assistance of producer Booker T. Jones. Berninger approached Jones about producing his own collection of interpretations of indie-rock chestnuts like The Cure’s “In Between Days” and The Velvet Underground’s “European Son.” But Jones was drawn more to the originals that Berninger showed him, co-written with collaborators like Brent Knopf (the other half of Berninger’s cheeky synth-pop band EL VY) and Walter Martin of The Walkmen.

The result makes for an interesting contrast with Aaron Dessner’s recent work on Taylor Swift’s Folklore. While Berninger’s creative partner in The National essentially smuggled the band’s aesthetic into the music of the world’s biggest pop star, Berninger has deliberately leaned into the band’s most overt dad-rock tendencies. Just as Stardust is a record that numerous generations have discovered via their parents while riding in the back of minivans, Serpentine Prison is a languid, low-key record apparently designed for graying Gen Xers and millennials quietly sipping whiskey cocktails while their children tear apart the house during lockdown. Also like the Wille Nelson record, Berninger has foregrounded his voice like never before, positioning himself as a louche, middle-aged crooner in the mold of Nick Cave or I’m The Man-era Leonard Cohen.

In this interview, Berninger talked about Serpentine Prison, his anxiousness to make a “loud” rock record again, his love of U2’s Achtung Baby, and why he’s like Christopher Walken.

You’ve talked about Stardust by Willie Nelson being an inspiration for you. Why Stardust?

Well, it was one of those records that my parents had, and they didn’t have a huge record collection so pretty much my whole childhood there were 10 records that were always on. I remember Roberta Flack’s Killing Me Softly, there was Barry Manilow, Judy Collins. I remember the Grease soundtrack. But Stardust particularly was my dad’s favorite record, I think. It’s just one of those things, whenever I hear it, whenever it comes on, it’s just a comfort. It’s like putting on your old sweater that always fits.

Originally you were going to make a covers record, but this album isn’t that.

I wanted to do a bunch of covers just so I could get outside of my comfort zone. Then in that process with Booker, I sent him a few originals — there was one I wrote with Walt Martin, “Distant Axis,” that he really, really was into. And that’s when he said, “Let’s start focusing on the originals.” We ended up doing 12 originals and six covers in 14 days.

Have you heard Bartees Strange’s album of National covers?

I think it’s super cool, I love it. His original, that song “Mustang,” is really, really interesting. I’m a fan.

What was it like working with Booker T. Jones?

We moved really fast. We recorded everything in 14 days including almost all the overdubs. He would say, “Matt we got that one, let’s move on to another fish.” He’s like, “We don’t need to keep catching this tuna. Let’s go find a shark.” He moves fast.

I imagine that must have been refreshing given that National albums tend to take a long time to make.

When we’re in the studio, it’s go, go, go. It’s 24 hours, people are napping and getting up and keep working. Not because there’s a deadline, it’s just because everybody is there and into it. Getting the songs written, and getting to the part where we go into the studio with them, sometimes is a lot of emailing, a lot of tinkering, a lot of back and forth. The songs spend a lot of time in the lab, our own individual labs before we take them to the barn.

Is there anything you were able to do with this record that you haven’t been able to do with The National?

I wasn’t writing for a movie, I wasn’t writing for touring, I wasn’t writing for a character other than the character I’ve invented for myself. I wasn’t worrying about any of these songs working together dramatically or anything. I just knew that Booker would be able to make them all feel part of the same family once we got them into the studio. I knew all these songs were children of all these different partners I had written new songs with, and how do I make all of these orphans feel like we’re all part of the same family? That’s a lot of what Booker was able to do.

This really seems like a singer’s record, where the focal point is your voice.

Yeah I wanted that. If you listen to Stardust, Willie is really clear, really high in the mix. When Booker works with a vocalist, he really features it because he is sort of the vocalist in The MG’s, if you listen to all the Hammond lines. In The MG’s, he was restricted from writing lyrics because they had a good thing going with “Hip Hug-Her” and “Green Onions.” I think he resented that a lot.

How comfortable are you at this point with your voice?

I think of singing as sort of acting out the writing. When I’m on stage or when I’m in the studio, the singing of it is sort of performative every time, and it’s not really about the melody. Usually the melody is reflecting the song. Really early on, I could barely go to the microphone stand. That was how I felt. I felt really, really tight, wound up, and nervous, and so was the music. As we all have loosened up musically and gotten more comfortable performing, the music changes and melodies go out in different places. I really have tried to actively learn how to sing and discover a melody and write melody along with words. Part of covering songs is doing that, that’s how you learn. We tried to cover “Sabotage” by the Beastie Boys and it was such a disaster. I think we tried twice, and everybody was looking at each other like, “This is embarrassing.” Quickly aborted. Sometimes you’re just not going to be able to do it. You just cannot ride that dolphin. There’s no way you can ride that dolphin.

Has Willie Nelson influenced you as a singer? He also has a thing where he never really seems to be pushing his voice. It feels like he’s talking to you, but it’s also very expressive. You’ve had a similar path as a singer too, especially on this record.

Willie definitely does that, and Leonard Cohen is like that too. It almost sounds like he’s sitting across a table in a café, and leaning in, looking right at you in the eye when he sings. Willie sings, it’s all heart, you know? It’s all tender. It’s all apologetic. You don’t hear too many Willie Nelson songs that are mean and aggressive. I mean, some of them are bitter, for sure. Sometimes. You don’t hear him raging. He’s got it dialed in where he’s chill. I don’t know how he does that. I don’t know he stays so chill. Actually, I think I probably do.

What did you think about the Taylor Swift album that Aaron Dessner worked on? It interesting to see the aesthetics of The National’s music seep into her music.

Some of those songs, like “Cardigan,” the music for that I think was called “Maple.” I would never have been able to do what Taylor did with that one. There were two songs that I had been listening to but hadn’t had any lyrics.

At this point, how interested are you in making a loud rock record? Sleep Well Beast had some good shout-y rock songs, but you haven’t really gone there for a long time.

I’m really anxious to do it. Brent Knopf and I have been slowly cooking a rock record and we keep calling it Achtung Maybe. We’re trying to get Daniel Lanois to produce it.

Really?

We haven’t reached out to anyone with regards to producing it but that’s what we’ve been talking about, Achtung Maybe.

Is that an illusion to writing U2-ish songs, or is that a jokey title?

No, no. We’re both obsessed with Achtung Baby and everything about that record. “One” is on that record, right?

Oh yeah.

Fucking “Mysterious Ways” and shit. I love everything about that record and so does Brent. It’s been five years or whatever since EL VY. There’s no solid plan or anything like that.

It’s funny that you bring up U2 because I’ve been playing them a lot lately for something I’m writing. I was just thinking about the MacPhisto character that Bono made up for the Zoo TV tour.

Oh my god. That’s kind of like when Dylan did that, trying to do the “white face” stuff, right? Michael Stipe had the blue across his eyes. There’s definitely a phase where all your favorite artists go through a big makeup phase.

Would you ever consider having your own makeup phase? Or adopting a character on stage?

I consider everything, I’m a method singer, I’m a method performer, I’m a method writer. I’m always channeling my own stuff, but there is a character. It’s like Christopher Walken — he almost can’t really be anything other than Christopher Walken. I’m not saying I’m Christopher Walken, but I think that’s what I am as a singer. On stage, I have to take an hour to get ready to be that guy, to be that guy that goes out there and sings and dances for two hours, and does all these songs. I get emotionally to the middle of those songs and if I can’t, I hate it. I don’t like writing a song unless I’m really, really, really sucked into it emotionally. I really hate being on stage unless I’m really, really sucked into it emotionally.

Serpentine Prison is out now via Concord Records. Get it here.

Reggaeton star Ozuna takes a tour of an aquatic wonderland in his new video for “Del Mar,” which features guest vocalists Doja Cat and Sia. The video finds the Puerto Rican singer conducting an underwater train as he sings about a woman with whom he’s infatuated, while Doja Cat appears as a sort of nereid, cavorting in a seashell surrounded by jellyfish. Sia doesn’t appear herself, but her signature two-toned mushroom-style hairdo appears on another glowing water nymph.

In 2020, Ozuna topped the US Latin Airplay chart twice with “Caramelo” and “Mamacita” from the Black Eyed Peas’ new album Translation. “Caramelo” set the table for Ozuna’s fourth studio album Enoc, which also features “Del Mar,” and includes guest appearances from Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, Karol G, Nicky Jam, and Myke Towers. Released in September, the album topped the US Top Latin Albums chart and peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard 200.

It’s been a busy month for Doja Cat, who has had a roller coaster of a year. Earlier this week, she gave an innovative cabaret-style performance for the Billboard Music Awards and last Friday, she guested on Bebe Rexha’s “Baby I’m Jealous.” Meanwhile, Sia also performed at the BBMAs with her signature wig after once again collaborating with David Guetta for “Let’s Love.”

Watch Ozuna’s “Del Mar” video featuring Doja Cat and Sia above.

Last week, Steven Hyden tweeted a call for questions from Indiecast listeners that would inform the podcast’s new episode, the first entry in a new feature on the show. The curious responses to Hyden’s call were wide-reaching, ranging from questions the relevance of Foo Fighters in today’s musical landscape to the realistic influence of alternative streaming platforms like Bandcamp.

Most interestingly, however, one listener requested for Hyden and co-host Ian Cohen to reveal their guilty pleasures, or “bands that you’re embarrassed you like,” while another was wondering about the pandemic’s lasting impact on the music industry and whether we will ever see a live show again. These prompts lead to a discussion revolving around the current state of the music industry and what we can expect from the weeks and months to come. Of course, an episode of Indiecast wouldn’t be complete without touching upon some of today’s biggest indie stars like Phoebe Bridgers and Tame Impala.

In this week’s recommendation corner, Cohen is praising the mid-aughts post punk outfit The Stills and Hyden is praising Brian Eno and Cuttin’ Grass, the new album from Sturgill Simpson.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 12 below and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts here. Stay up to date and follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

Jeopardy! has been on the air for over five decades, and since the show tests contestants’ grasp of pop culture knowledge (among other topics), being mentioned on the show is a pretty big deal. Plenty of musicians have been name-dropped on the program over the years, and Megan The Stallion got a shout-out on a recent episode, which led to Alex Trebek saying words like “ratchet” and “bougie,” for those who have been waiting for that day to come.

The $1,000 answer in the category “On The Billboard Charts In 2020″ read, “‘Classy, bougie, ratchet’ & ‘sassy, moody, nasty’, says this No. 1 hit by Megan Thee Stallion.” Contestant Daniel Lee (an orthopedic surgeon from South Pasadena, California) buzzed in and nearly got the question wrong. He answered, “What is ‘I’m A Savage?’” Trebek gave him a prompting look before Lee revised his answer and said, “What is ‘Savage?’”

This actually isn’t Meg’s first time on Jeopardy. She was part of another answer around this time last year when Trebek asked contestants, “Oddly, female rapper Megan Pete calls herself ‘Megan Thee’ this word for a male horse.” A contestant chimed in and correctly answered, “What is ‘stallion?’”

Check out the clip of Megan’s latest Jeopardy! mention above.

Maybe there’s hope for Alison Brie yet. Last month, Deadline reported that Tatiana Maslany had been cast in the lead role of Disney+’s She-Hulk series from Rick and Morty writer Jessica Gao and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia director Kat Coiro. Notably, Marvel and Disney never confirmed the news, apparently for a good reason: the Orphan Black actress says her being in the show is “not actually a thing, unfortunately.”

Speaking to the Sudbury Star, Maslany said, “That actually isn’t a real thing and it’s like a press release that’s gotten out of hand. It’s totally not — I’ve been connected to these things in the past and press has gotten onto it, but it’s not actually a thing, unfortunately. Yeah, I don’t know how these things get — I don’t know, I don’t know. You know better; I have no idea.” It could be that some i’s still have to be dotted and t’s need to be crossed before Maslany can officially talk about it, or maybe she won’t be in the show at all.

I blame Mark Ruffalo for his too-soon congratulations.

One bit of news that has been confirmed, however, is Maslany (and Better Call Saul favorite Rhea Seehorn!) lending her voice to CBS All Access’ The Harper House, an animated series from China, IL creator Brad Neely. “I play a little oddball called Ollie, who’s the daughter of this family and her brain operates on a very different plane,” she said. “It’s for adults, for sure.” Sure beats having to wear green paint (or this) every day.

(Via the Sudbury Star)

2020 can be compared to a horror show in many ways, which has not been lost upon horror maestro Stephen King, who began the year by imploring people to please stop comparing coronavirus to The Stand. King has been riding this terrible reality out with everyone else, and now, visuals from cinematic adaptations of his other well-known works are on people’s minds. This is happening, of course, because President Trump tweeted something silly that’s reminding people of something dead serious.

“Polls numbers are looking very strong,” Trump wrote on Friday morning. “Big crowds, great enthusiasm. Massive RED WAVE coming!!!”

This seems to be his favorite term of the past 24 hours. Despite polls that show Joe Biden leading in every swing state, Trump bragged to followers in Greenville, North Carolina that this “red wave” was coming.

Trump doesn’t seem to realize that “red wave” brings a much different set of visuals to mind than its blue counterpart. As one Twitter user pointed out, “A ‘blue wave’ is a powerful and appealing metaphor. A ‘red wave’ suggests a horror movie.”

This has led to a lot of people thinking about King’s The Shining and, more specifically, the iconic, Stanley Kubrick-directed Elevator Of Blood scene that takes place in the Overlook Hotel. Very clearly, this symbolizes death, which (to say the least) is sobering, considering how many Americans have and will die during our current situation.

Trump not even realizing what visuals a “red wave” evokes speaks to his cavalier attitude about the virus, and people definitely noticed.

Of course, there’s also some Carrie references popping up as well. This Twitter user cant help but think about how “we ALL know what happened after she got angry.” She also pointed out, “[P]eople are voting in record numbers already, American’s are pissed!”

November 3 isn’t too far away.

Marvel Television is in a tricky spot right now after the Netflix run ended in 2019 with Jessica Jones (in a bloated, exhausted way) as The Defenders were put to rest. Are those shows done for good? Who knows. They could eventually pop up on Disney+, though it’ll probably be for the best if we don’t see The Punisher for awhile. Meanwhile, Helstrom was initially intended to expand Marvel Television as the first series in an Adventure Into Fear franchise, but that plan fell by the wayside. Now, there’s an upcoming crop of relatively wholesome Disney+ shows that will tie into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (which is something that the Netflix shows claimed to do but actually never did), and Helstrom‘s floating along on Hulu, almost like a solo entity with much more mature subject matter than you’ll find on Disney+.

Helstrom isn’t a superhero series, so anyone who’s expecting to scratch that itch (which could stand to be satisfied right now for jonesing theatergoers) won’t be able to do so with the adaptation of Marvel Comics’ Son of Satan. However, if the series would have arrived during “normal” TV times, it would have been noted as a fine (and welcome) departure from The Defenders, as well as Marvel’s Runaways (that ran for three seasons on Hulu). Tonewise, Helstrom is a dark thriller with plenty of supernatural touches, but it also pokes fun at supernatural stuff. There are gallows humor and sarcasm in plentiful supply, along with a strong sense of world-weariness. With that last quality, I mean that Daimon Hellstrom (Tom Austen) — who is refashioned on this series as an ethics professor who performs exorcisms on the side — damn well knows that the world has already had enough exorcism-based TV shows and movies. As he prepares to conduct his first exorcism on the series, in fact, he declares that holy water and rituals are not only overrated, “but now thanks to movies, TV, the Internet, they’re just tropes.”

In other words, Helstrom is a self-aware beast, one that it’s all fiery and brimstone-y, but it knows that much more needs to be brought to the table than mere spectacle. To that end, the show parcels out a mysterious mythology while layering on a family drama. Daimon may be your semi-friendly neighborhood exorcist, but there’s a lot more going on, including his tense relationship with his estranged sister, Ana (Sydney Lemmon, granddaughter of Jack Lemmon). They must work together because, in this show, Dad’s not Satan, he’s merely a serial killer and demon. He’s visibly out of the picture, at least in the first five episodes screened for critics, but he might be pulling strings. And Mom, who appears to be suffering from a demon infestation, has been institutionalized for quite some time. She’s portrayed by Elizabeth Marvel (yep, that’s her real name), who gives Linda Blair a run for her money on the possession front.

Together, the siblings form a suitably entertaining dynamic while they’re not wielding their powers separately, but what’s most telling is that Ana (named Santana in the comics, which sounds much cooler) could carry the show on her own. Helstrom definitely wouldn’t work without her, given that she’s got more meatier material to work with, and her sarcasm arrives with more of a flourish than her brother’s allowed to deliver. She’s also got a more interesting backstory than Daimon, and Lemmon does everything with style, whether she’s simply standing behind a desk or tossing someone off a roof. She’s armed with a towering presence and carries a vigilante edge, or she does at first, before Daimon calls her in for help with the family ruckus. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of Ana (or having a drink with her), although (given the shifting state of Marvel TV) it feels like this show is a one-off for the frightful October atmosphere.

Familiarity with comics (or with the Marvel Cinematic Universe) isn’t necessary to enjoy Helstrom, but it’s worth noting that the languid pace of the Netflix Marvel Television shows is still very much alive with this show. So, be prepared for that. It’s also not a spoiler to reveal that there’s a character (Dr. Louise Hastings, portrayed by June Carryl) who will be familiar to Ghost Rider fans, so the nerds can ride hard on that one. Hastings is a grounding presence for the series, and a much-needed voice of wisdom when the siblings must cope with their increasingly unhinged mother while attempting to solve a mystery that feels like whack-a-mole. Once one aspect is solved, a couple of mini-mysteries shoot in different directions. Helstrom will keep viewers guessing, and it’s a nicely distracting series from our current situation.

Underneath all of the mystery, though, Helstrom is simply a fun show. The aesthetics might appear gloomy (since much of it takes place in Portland, Oregon), but it’s sheer entertainment to watch this dysfunctional family joust with Hell itself. The show also goes down smoothly for those looking for a suspenseful and shadowy, but not too scary (or stressful) TV series for this Halloween season.

Hulu will stream ‘Helstrom‘s entire first season on October 16.

Kenny G has racked up a couple of big-time guest appearances over the past year. Last October, he featured alongside Clipse on Kanye West’s “Use This Gospel” from the Jesus Is King album. Now he has once again teamed up with a contemporary hit-maker, this time joining The Weeknd on a new remix of “In Your Eyes.”

The Weeknd dropped the re-worked tune today, and it opens with some saxophone from Kenny G over deep synths. During the back third of the song, Kenny G re-emerges for a couple of ripping solos that fit in well with the synth-led tune. This remix arrives a couple weeks after Kenny G joined The Weeknd for his Time100 Live performance of the track.

This isn’t the first time fans have seen Kenny G in recent times, as he performed “The Star Spangled Banner” before Game 5 of the NBA Finals earlier this month.

Meanwhile, The Weeknd teased new music recently. He suggested he could release a new album soon, saying, “I’m guilty of wanting to outdo my last album, but it’s never like, ‘I’ve got to do the same type of song.’ I’m so happy I’m not like that. My palette is so wide. […] I’m trying to find a perfect balance with the film and the music, and so far it’s going really well. I think I might have cracked the code.”

Listen to the “In Your Eyes” remix above.