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Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels, but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.

Every week, Uproxx is rounding up the best new indie music from the past seven days. This week we got a full-band track from Julien Baker, the two(!) new solo efforts from Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker, and a reflective new Bruce Springsteen album featuring the return of the E Street Band. Check out the rest of the best new indie music below.

Bruce Springsteen – Letter To You

On his twentieth album, Bruce Springsteen finally comes to term with his own myth. Recorded live in the studio with the legendary E Street Band over the course of just a few days and comprised of songs that look back on a historic life and career, Letter To You is “the most immediate and best-sounding album Springsteen has made since the ’80s,” according to Steven Hyden for Uproxx.

Gorillaz – Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez

Gorillaz have been rolling out the first installment of their Song Machine series for the better part of 2020, dropping singles here and here featuring the likes of Elton John, Slowthai, and The Cure’s Robert Smith. It all culminates in the hourlong Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez, which, despite the fragmented release schedule, feels like Gorillaz’ most cohesive release in years.

Adrianne Lenker – Songs and Instrumentals

Within a year of Big Thief’s dual album release in 2019, Adrianne Lenker can’t seem to be stopped, as she has now released two new solo albums that were born out of quarantine. Songs is a more proper folk-rock album, while Instrumentals is comprised of two twenty-minute soundscapes. As the leaves turn and the days grow shorter, I can’t think of a more fitting pair of albums to soundtrack autumnal living.

Jeff Tweedy – Love Is The King

Jeff Tweedy’s two new 2020 projects — a new book and a new album — are both now out in the world. Love is The King is a collection of country songs that find Tweedy counting his blessings, while never shying away from the constant barrage of fear that we experience in everyday life.

The Mountain Goats – Getting Into Knives

Getting Into Knives is the second Mountain Goats album of 2020, and their third overall since 2019. There are few songwriters that able to dig into the human condition as succinctly and cuttingly as John Darnielle, who can “always delivers quality along with quantity,” writes Steven Hyden in the October 19 Indie Mixtape newsletter

Jean Dawson – Pixel Bath

In press materials, Jean Dawson is described as an “experimental pop polymath,” and his new album Pixel Bath certainly lives up to the term. Seamlessly integrating hip-hop beats and rock drums, Pixel Bath toes the line at the intersection of genre, leaving something for everyone.

Pup – This Place Sucks Ass EP

Perpetual pessimist Canadians Pup are back with a new EP, fittingly titled This Place Sucks Ass. Although the songs about getting stung by a bee and other unfortunate circumstances, Pup, as always, are able to funnel the existential dread and anxiety of their lyrics into an onslaught of punk magic that sounds and feels like an uplifting rallying cry.

The Big Easy – A Long Year

The Big Easy caught our attention with the music short film for their recent singles “Alone” and “Fake It Till I Make It,” which found both tracks working in tandem to tell a story about trying to fit in by also being yourself. The tracks and more are all included in A Long Year, an album that is emo, pop-punk, and indie rock all at the same time. It’s hard to pin down The Big Easy, which is what makes them so exciting.

Julien Baker – “Faith Healer”

On her first single since teaming up with Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus for Boygenius in 2018, “Faith Healer” came with the announcement of Julien Baker’s third solo album Little Oblivions. The track signals a bit of a sonic shift for Baker, employing a more full-band approach wherein almost all of the instruments — including bass, drums, synthesizers, banjo, and mandolin — were played by Baker herself.

The Wonder Years – “Brakeless”

To celebrate ten years of their breakthrough album The Upsides, The Wonder Years’ vocalist Dan Campbell found himself digging through hard drives of old demos and voice notes. “Brakeless” started an idea that Campbell never brought to the band while they were writing the album originally, and was fleshed out in the studio with the new songwriting experience the band brings to the process. The result is one of the band’s biggest and most infectious choruses to date, and evidence that these Philadelphia punks still have what it takes to make magic.

Tigers Jaw – “Cat’s Cradle”

Tigers Jaw’s spin was one of the most underrated indie albums of 2017, and now the band is back with I Won’t Care How You Remember Me, which is due in March. “Cat’s Cradle” is the first preview from the album, a synth-forward track with Brianna Collins taking the lead vocal role for an infectious and gorgeous indie-pop track featuring backing vocals from Manchester Orchestra’s Andy Hull.

Strange Ranger – “Needing You”

It’s been a little more than a year since we interviewed Strange Ranger about their album Remembering The Rockets. “Needing You” is the band’s first new music since their adventurous lo-fi 2019 LP, and it takes on a bit more production, with clear inspiration in equal parts from ’90s Brit-pop, while also incorporating some more modern vocal elements like autotune.

Glass Beach – “1015”

Released last year, The First Glass Beach Album was one of the most exciting releases of 2019. “1015” doesn’t leave behind the band’s penchant for synth arrangements, but also brings in a more robust production and an epic guitar solo that makes the track feel like a soundtrack for a futuristic steampunk Blade Runner city. (This is a good thing.)

The Sonder Bombs – “Crying Is Cool”

For their sophomore album Clothbound, Cleveland’s The Sonder Bombs teamed up with Hop Along guitarist Joe Reinhart (Modern Baseball, Joyce Manor) as a producer, and the result is a more polished and refined version of Sonder Bombs than we heard on their debut album Modern Female Rockstar. “Crying Is Cool” features doo-wop vocals in the verses and a massive indie-pop hook in the chorus, making it an instantly exciting listen.

Miloe – “Change Your Mind”

With a new EP called Greenhouse right around the corner, 19-year-old Minneapolis songwriter Miloe delivers the goods with “Change Your Mind.” With light percussion and layered vocals, “Change Your Mind” takes on a ’90s R&B influence that gives Miloe an impressive appeal and makes Greenhouse and EP to keep your eyes and ears out for when it drops later this week.

Sydney Sprague – “Steve”

Sydney Sprague’s new album is called Maybe I Will See You At The End Of The World, and if that doesn’t resonate in 2020, I don’t know what will. “Steve” is a taste of pop-punk goodness with heavy instrumentals and Sprague’s alt-rock drawl, telling the story of losing touch with someone she once loved.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

South Florida rapper Snot may have an unappetizing nom de plume, but fans can’t get enough of the caustic, punk-influenced rap music the 22-year-old has been putting out over the past year or so. Today, he premiered the latest single from his upcoming debut Beautiful Havoc, “Sangria” featuring fellow Floridian rabble-rouser Denzel Curry. Curry, who happens to be one of the closest stylistic forebears of Snot’s chaotic mode, joins the rising rapper on an uptempo, flute-driven beat produced by Pro Era’s Powers Pleasant to show they can have laid-back fun as easily as starting a mosh pit.

With Beautiful Havoc dropping this Friday, October 30, Snot’s previous singles have prepped the project for a powerful takeoff. First, he released the Cole Bennett-directed video for “Revenge” at the end of September, setting the stage for his misfit approach. Then, he followed up a few weeks later with “Mean” featuring Flo Milli, building his buzz and continuing the storyline of “Revenge.” Beautiful Havoc follows Tragedy, his debut tape that released in March of this year.

Meanwhile, Denzel Curry’s been on fire himself lately, dropping “Live From The Abyss” earlier this month after appearing on IDK’s IDK & Friends 2 and Guapdad 4000’s “Lil Scammer That Could.”

Listen to “Sangria” above.

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

After Mahershala Ali was cast in Marvel‘s Blade reboot, Wesley Snipes, the original Blade, congratulated the actor on social media. “Congratulations and Salaam to Mahershala Ali, a beautiful and talented artist whose expressions I look forward to experiencing for many years to come. Inshallah, we will someday work together,” he wrote. That must have been a thrill for the Emmy and two-time Academy Award winner, who’s felt a connection with Snipes since he was in high school.

Ali was recently on host Cornel West and Tricia Rose’s The Tight Rope podcast, where he was asked about his history with Blade. “Since [Marvel was] were conversations about bringing it back into being, I just wanted to be considered for it because I had definitely a connection, at least in my mind, to Wesley Snipes going back to high school,” he replied. “People used to joke and say that we looked alike and all this stuff. I just brought it up as someone who really wanted to take on that [Blade] role and tackle that.”

The Ramy star and sleep-whisperer also revealed that the tone of Blade will be darker than your average Marvel Cinematic Universe movie. “I love that [Blade is] darker. That’s all in terms of tone. He’s a little bit darker than some of the other ones and so that element was attractive to me,” he said. You can listen to the podcast episode below.

(Via The Tight Rope)

Jim-E Stack’s most notable work in recent years has been as a producer for various artists, but now he’s getting ready to set into the spotlight on his new album, Ephemera. That drops on Friday, but before that, he shared another preview of it, “Can We.” Like most other songs on the album, this one has a featured vocalist, and this time it’s Kacy Hill. The soulful track has a light and subtly funky vibe to underscore Hill’s airy vocals.

This is far from Stack and Hill’s first collaboration, as Stack had his hands in pretty much every song on Hill’s new album Is It Selfish If We Talk About Me Again as a producer and/or songwriter.

Stack said of his upcoming album in a recent interview, “The album is purely a product of making a bunch of music for other people’s projects over the past couple years and never once thinking about my own. Every stretch of studio days yielded song ideas or beats that didn’t quite make sense for that artist, but there was always magic in those leftovers and I couldn’t help but go back and keep working on them. Eventually, I found myself with all these songs collaged together and I realized I had an album. Even though different people contributed to it, the songs don’t sound like anyone but me.”

Listen to “Can We” above.

Ephemera is out 10/30 via AWAL. Pre-order it here.

With election day just around the corner, Cass McCombs wants to use music as an outlet to encourage fans to vote. The singer tapped Angel Olsen, Bob Weir, and even Noam Chomsky for a folksy tune that emphasizes the importance of looking at bigger issues beyond the ballot.

Over an echoing guitar, McCombs and Olsen trade off verses about not just voting for a presidential candidate, but voting for the environment, wildlife, Black lives, and the future. “I was compelled to write something for the election and I thought of no better way than to troll myself, laying waste to a much-misunderstood song of mine from over a decade ago, ‘Don’t Vote’,” McCombs said about the song. “Most people never made it much further than the title, anyway. For this new song, ‘Don’t (Just) Vote,’ the message is clear: Vote, yes, but when you do, imagine the world you would like to see, beyond what appears on your ballot. Harness your imagination and justice becomes inevitable.”

Along with Olsen and Bob Weir, McCombs was able to secure a feature from acclaimed political thinker Noam Chomsky. Arriving at the song’s close, Chomsky states: “We have to excise a malignant cancer from the body politic. But that’s just the beginning. Real politics is what you do before and after you push the lever. You have to keep your shoulder to the wheel: engagement, activism, organizing — that’s what will make the difference.”

Listen to “Don’t (Just) Vote” above.

It’s been a little under a year since Juice WRLD‘s untimely death but the Chicago rapper continues to have an impact on the hip-hop landscape. His posthumous album Legends Never Die was certified platinum by the RIAA in August while Billboard confirmed that Juice has more songs in the Hot 100 top ten than any other artist in 2020. More recently, the Live Free 999 Project his mother created in his honor donated musical instruments to Juice’s old school while advocating for Mental World Health Day.

Today Juice’s mom Carmela Wallace appeared on Chicago’s ABC 7 to tell reporters she hoped that his death could become an example for others. She says she tried to get him to properly medicate for his anxiety because “my biggest fear was him overdosing on the stuff. That’s why I made the decision I have to talk about it with other people. I can’t keep that as a secret.” She says that was her goal in starting the Live Free 999 foundation. “That’s our objective with our foundation. Normalize the conversation, so it has to start with me. I hope it’s what he wanted, was a legacy of healing. To let people know that you don’t have to suffer alone.”

You can watch the full report above.

Two weeks before Borat Subsequent Moviefilm premiered on Amazon, the surprise sequel was already the target of lawsuit by the estate of Holocaust survivor Judith Dim Evans, who appears in the movie during what could safely be described as a controversial scene involving anti-Semitism. However, unlike other participants, Evans was treated as a sweet and caring voice of reason as she taught Borat to let go of his prejudices towards Jews and not fall victim to rampant social media theories denying the Holocaust. The sequel was even dedicated to Evans, who died shortly after filming.

In another unprecedented move, Sacha Baron Cohen also took the extra step of having a representative inform Dim that Baron Cohen is Jewish and explain to her the film’s intent of battling anti-Semitism and bigotry. This interaction was reportedly filmed, and Evans’ story of surviving the Holocaust was included as a special feature with Borat Subsequent Film. Unfortnately, Evans’ daughter felt her mother was “tricked” into participating in the film, and her attorney filed an injunction demanding Evans’ scene be removed. However, Amazon produced a release from signed by Evans, which prompted a judge to deny the injunction, which ended the case. Via Variety, here’s what Amazon’s attorney, Russell Smith, had to say:

“The lawsuit was dismissed, unconditionally,” Smith said in a statement. “The lawsuit is over. Sacha Baron Cohen was deeply grateful for the opportunity to work with Judith Dim Evans, whose compassion and courage as a Holocaust survivor has touched the hearts of millions of people who have seen the film. Judith’s life is a powerful rebuke to those who deny the Holocaust, and with this film and his activism, Sacha Baron Cohen will continue his advocacy to combat Holocaust denial around the world.”

Of course, the big question is whether this decision will prevent other future lawsuits as Borat Subsequent Moviefilm continues to dominate pop culture discourse at the expense of its other (less sympathetic) participants. Like a certain former mayor who got caught with his hand down his pants, for example.

(Via Variety)

One of the most anticipated game releases of 2020 has been pushed back again, but will still make it out before the end of the year (barely).

Cyberpunk 2077 has had a myriad of issues in getting itself ready to release, as the game developers, like so many others, struggle with how to produce, test, and debug a video game in a work from home, mid-pandemic world. This summer, they announced that their September release date was to be pushed back to November 19, citing a need to test the game more thoroughly to find and fix bugs that may exist in the massive world of Night City.

On Tuesday, they announced that testing process still was ongoing, noting that they have nine editions of the game to test with current and next-gen consoles and systems, and as such they were once again pushing the release back three weeks to December 10.

It’s clear that they are prepared for yet another wave of backlash and skepticism about the game, and one can expect a pretty massive day one patch to be coming for those that purchase physical copies of the game given the continued push back to test and fix it. That said, given the response to games that are crazy buggy and how quickly gamers will jump off the ship of even a highly anticipated game if it’s a dud on launch — even if it gets improved and fixed continually — it’s probably wise to deal with the blowback of delaying the game and trying to make it right once it gets in the hands of gamers rather than asking for patience once it’s already out in the world.

This week in the best new pop music saw some big releases. Ariana Grande returned with a highly-anticipated single, Karol G stunned in her latest single, and Finneas offered a poignant reflection on the state of the world.

Each week, Uproxx rounds up the best new pop music. Listen up.

Ariana Grande — “Positions”

After teasing her upcoming era of music for several weeks, Ariana Grande finally shared her lead single “Positions.” The song sees the singer ready to open up to love as she flexes her soaring vocals to sing of wanting to take things further with a new love interest.

Finneas — “Can’t Wait To Be Dead”

Following his heartfelt single “What They’ll Say About Us,” Finneas returns to make a statement with “Can’t Wait To Be Dead.” “I’m happy for this song to mean anything to anyone who listens to it, but, to me, it’s a song about my relationship with the internet,” he said about the track. “Especially in an election year. Especially during a pandemic. Sometimes, the internet makes me laugh, sometimes it makes me cry, sometimes it makes me hopeful. But sometimes, it really makes me wanna be dead.”

Karol G — “Bichota”

Colombian reggaeton singer Karol G continued her prolific year with the rhythmic single “Bichota.” In a statement about the song, Karol said: “‘Bichota’ is a celebration for all women and men who choose to be fearless and fabulous. We are all Bichotas in our own special way and I hope this song provides the strength to anyone who needs it to be YOU and be a boss!”

HER — “Damage”

This week, HER released her slow-burning track “Damage” before giving a silky-smooth performance of the song for her SNL debut. According to press materials, the song arrives on her upcoming album, which has yet to be announced.

Major Lazer — “Hell And High Water” Feat. Alessia Cara

This week, Major Lazer released their fourth studio album, Music Is The Weapon. The trio previewed the record with dual reggaeton singles, but their “Hell And High Water” song with Alessia Cara takes a more subdued approach to the genre. Cara lends her far-reaching vocals over a watery beat, singing of the importance of perseverance.

Phora — “Cupid’s Curse” Feat. Kehlani

Phora has shared a handful of singles this year, including the Jhené Aiko collaboration “Stars In The Sky.” Now offering another fresh track, Phora taps Kehlani to lend her soothing vocals on the single “Cupid’s Curse.” The two harmonize over a simmering beat, singing of the pitfalls of leaving a relationship.

Little Mix — Sweet Melody

Pop group Little Mix formed in 2011 on the X-Factor and now, nine years later, they are just a few weeks away from their sixth studio album, Confetti. The four-piece have shared several maxed-out previews of their record, most recently with their saccharine single “Not A Pop Song.” They’re now offering a more toned-down effort with their empowering anthem “Sweet Melody.”

Babygirl — “Easy”

Duo Babygirl have ushered in a new era with their lovelorn single “Easy.” “’Easy’ is written from the perspective of a person on the wrong side of an unrequited crush,” Babygirl said about the single. “It’s about how attractive unavailability can be. Especially if it’s kind of what we think we deserve.”

Slayyyter — “Self Destruct” Feat. Wuki

Boundary-pushing pop artist Slayyyter served up the raucous single “Self Destruct” this week. “[Wuki] started making this crazy icy sounding trap beat and I just started writing nonsense to it,” Slayyyter said about the songwriting process. “I felt kind of angsty that day which is why the chorus is so aggressive, probably wrote it in about 20 or 30 minutes.”

Ela Minus — “Dominique”

This week, Ela Minus shared her highly-anticipated debut album Acts Of Rebellion and with it arrived the stand-out track “Dominique.” Over a euphoric beat, Ela Minus sings an account of the state of her mental health in one of her most diaristic tracks to date.

Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

New Zealand singer Benee experienced her global breakout earlier this year. Her Gus Dapperton collaboration “Supalonely” went viral on TikTok, caught the attention of Elton John, and earned her several slots as musical guests on US talk shows like Ellen and Late Night With Seth Meyers. As the singer prepares for the release of her debut album, Hey U, X, Benee offers another preview with the self-assured track “Plain.”

For the single, Benee tapped artists Lily Allen and Flo Milli to offer verses on the track. Over a dreamy guitar hook and thumping beat, Benee takes shots at her ex still being hung up on their relationship. “You and your friends watching me / Knowing I’m better than you’ll ever be,” she sings.

Speaking about the collaboration, Benee said: “I wanted to make it a song someone could listen to when they find out their ex is with someone new. The feeling sucks, so I wanted ‘Plain’ to make ya feel like you have the upper hand. Lily and Flo Milli both have such cool sass, and both their verses really elevated the track!”

Listen to “Plain” featurign Lily Allen and Flo Milli above.

Hey U, X is out 11/13 via Republic. Pre-order it here.

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