Considering most of Hollywood is shut down to the point where even late-night talk shows are still being shot from the hosts’ houses, nobody would be blown away if awards season took a breather for 2020. But as far as the Emmys are concerned, apparently the show must go on.

ABC revealed today that Jimmy Kimmel will host the 72nd Emmy Awards, which is currently set to air on September 20. Considering California is experiencing an uptick in COVID-19 cases, holding the ceremony in anything resembling its standard fashion seems unlikely, and even Kimmel himself has no idea how any of this is going to work.

“I don’t know where we will do this or how we will do this or even why we are doing this, but we are doing it and I am hosting it,” he said in a statement to CNN.

You can read ABC’s full statement below:

“We know Jimmy Kimmel will deliver a uniquely entertaining, funny and moving Primetime Emmys show,” said Karey Burke, president of ABC Entertainment. “He’s a true master of ceremonies who reveres this industry and its people; and just as Jimmy has done with his own show over the past few months, he will tackle this momentous event with heart and humor, and bring some much-needed joy and optimism to our television colleagues and viewers at home.”

The Emmy announcement arrives just one day after the Oscars were delayed three months and its eligibility window was extended into 2021. To be fair, the Oscars have a much larger issue with movie theaters being shut down for an extensive length of time and release dates continuing to be scuttled as a cloud of uncertainty hangs over reopening cinemas. On the opposite end of that spectrum, audiences have been watching more TV than ever thanks to nationwide lockdowns, but that still doesn’t alleviate the logistical concerns of putting together an Emmys award show for September. Let’s see how this works out!

(Via CNN)

Following 2018’s Joy As An Act Of Resistance, Idles are ready for a quick return: The group has announced that their next album is called Ultra Mono, and it’s coming out on September 25. Along with the announcement, they’ve also shared a video for “Grounds,” a confident and swaggering punk single. Frontperson Joe Talbot says of the song:

“We wanted to write a song that embodied self-belief, and gave us self-belief — a counter-punch to all the doubt we build up from all the noise we so easily let in. We wanted to make the sound of our own hearts’ marching band, armed with a jack hammer and a smile. We wanted to make the sound of our engine starting. So we did. Thank you.”

The band has also laid out a roadmap of their planned activities for the next few months. They’ll be releasing videos for new songs “A Hymn,” “Model Village,” “Reigns,” and “War” on July 14, August 11, September 8, and September 25, respectively. They will also be hosting livestream performances on August 29 and 30.

Watch the “Grounds” video above, and find the Ultra Mono art (which is positively superlative) and tracklist below.

1. “War”
2. “Grounds”
3. “Mr. Motivator”
4. “Anxiety”
5. “Kill Them With Kindness”
6. “Model Village”
7. “Ne Touche Pas Moi” Feat. Jehnny Beth
8. “Carcinogenic”
9. “Reigns”
10. “The Lover”
11. “A Hymn”
12. “Danke”

Ultra Mono is out 9/25 via Partisan Records. Pre-order it here.

Phil Elverum, the musician behind the acclaimed early ’00s project The Microphones, has announced he is revamping the project. It’s been seventeen years since The Microphones’ last release, the 2003 record Mount Eerie. Following the record’s release, Elverum assumed the moniker Mount Eerie and began releasing music under that name. But now, Elverum plans to bring The Microphones out of hibernation with an unconventional album.

Titled Microphones In 2020, the upcoming album will consist entirely of one 44-minute song. Alongside the effort, Elverum will share an album-length short film that will be released a day prior to the album’s debut.

In a statement parallel with his album’s announcement, Elverum said he was inspired to reignite his old project after seeing a positive response from fans:

“In the summer of 2019 I played a little local concert under the old name for no big reason. The little flurry of weird attention around this announcement got me thinking about what it even means to step back into an old mode. Self commemoration would be embarrassing. I don’t want to go backwards ever. There is nothing to reunite. So I nudged into the future with these ideas and came up with this large song. It took almost a year to write and record, working constantly at home, digging through the archives, playing the same two chords forever on the same $5 first guitar. In it I have tried to get at the heart of what defined that time in my life, my late teens and early twenties, but even more importantly, I tried to break the spell of nostalgia and make something perennial and enduring. All past selves existing at once in this inferno present moment. The song doesn’t seem to end. That’s the point.

We all crash through life prodded and diverted by our memories. There is a way through to disentanglement. Burn your old notebooks and jump through the smoke. Use the ashes to make a new thing.”

Watch The Microphones’ album teaser above.

Microphones In 2020 is out 8/7 via P. W. Elverum & Sun. Pre-order it here.

FX’s historical drama Snowfall has been widely praised for its authenticity in portraying the events that led up to Los Angeles’ late-80s/early-90s crack cocaine epidemic and was to begin airing its fourth season later this year. However, due to the outbreak of COVID-19, production was suspended, forcing FX to push the show’s next season to 2021. For most of us, this represents a loss in viewing options come Fall TV season. However, for one native of Los Angeles County, it presents an opportunity.

Like the million or so average viewers of the program, it turns out Vince Staples is an avid fan who admires the show’s realism in presenting the crack era through its intersecting narratives of young drug dealers and CIA operatives. But it seems Vince sees something the show is missing: Himself. The wisecracking Long Beach rapper tweeted out a request to be included in the next season of the show and he even threw in a sweetener to highlight his fit for the role. “Man can I be a extra in Snowfall?” he wrote. “Stop playin I’ll bring my own blower & all that.”

The show’s casting director wouldn’t go amiss taking a look at Vince’s growing resume. After appearing in the 2015 coming-of-age comedy Dope, Vince has since been cast in leading roles on Adult Swim’s Lazor Wulf, in the animated action movie MFKZ, and in the upcoming indie road trip move, Punk. He also had a hilarious cameo in Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” video and a pair of episodes of his endlessly entertaining own Vince Staples Show, fighting off assailants and dodging heated exes.

So, Snowfall crew, please take this man up on his request. You’ve got little to lose and a whole lot to gain. Plus, he’ll even bring his own blower, saving the props department some money too.

Hulu and NEON landed the rights to the Andy Samberg- and Cristin Milioti-starring comedy Palm Springs for $17,500,000.69, a Sundance Film Festival record, beating the previous title-holder by 69 cents. Nice. Also nice: the reviews for the movie. Our own Mike Ryan called it “absolutely fantastic,” while Roger Ebert‘s Brian Tallerico added, “A wildly entertaining entry in a genre that is on life support lately, the romantic comedy.”

Directed by Max Barbakow and produced by the Lonely Island, Palm Springs finds Nyles and Sarah, played by the utterly charming Brooklyn Nine-Nine and How I Met Your Mother stars, stuck in a loop on their friends’ wedding day. It’s the “spiritual cousin” of Groundhog Day mixed with the irreverent, silly humor of Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, and unlike most high-concept comedies, it actually looks funny.

Here’s the official plot synopsis.

When carefree Nyles (Andy Samberg) and reluctant maid of honor Sarah (Cristin Milioti) have a chance encounter at a Palm Springs wedding, things get complicated when they find themselves unable to escape the venue, themselves, or each other.

Palm Springs, which also stars J.K. Simmons, Meredith Hagner, Camila Mendes, Tyler Hoechlin, and Peter Gallagher, premieres on Hulu and in select drive-ins on July 10.

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Making the planet just a little cleaner one biodegradable dog poop bag at a time. 🌎

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You know you’ve been doing a lot of online shopping…

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We’re asking the hard questions, and you can only choose ONE answer for each.

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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 the new album from Jehnny Beth, another sampling of a forthcoming project from R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, and a new track from Fontaines DC. Check out the rest of the best new indie music below.

Jehnny Beth — To Love Is To Live

The debut solo album from Savages’ Jehnny Beth was inspired by David Bowie’s Blackstar, with Beth telling the New York Times that she worked on the project “as if I was going to die.” Brooding and intense, To Live Is To Love is an earnest reconciliation with life and the constant advancement toward death, a formidable solo entry for Beth and some of the best new indie music this week.

Coriky — Coriky

Understated but powerful, Coriky is Ian Mackaye’s new band, featuring fellow Fugazi member Joe Lally on bass and The Warmers’ Amy Farina on drums. With all three members singing, the band’s self-titled debut sounds like an amalgam of the best of DC punk with modern alternative rock vibes.

Michael Stipe + Big Red Machine — “No Time For Love Like Now”

Two months after its live debut on The Late Show, Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon’s Big Red Machine have shared the studio version of their collaboration with R.E.M. leader Michael Stipe. It’s what what Derrick Rossignol calls for Uproxx a “contemplative track,” and comes alongside a video of Stipe and Dessner playing the song in their respective homes.

Fontaines DC — “I Don’t Belong”

The opening track of Fontaines DC’s forthcoming sophomore album A Hero’s Death is a droning ode to independence. According to Carolyn Droke for Uproxx, it “hones the band’s sound while staying true to their post-punk roots with droning guitars and cerebral lyrics.”

Lionel Boy — “Lately”

With his debut EP Who Is Dovey just around the corner, Lionel Boy has been steadily rolling out new music to continue building momentum. “Lately” is a groovy track, featuring saxophone lines and Lionel Boy’s reverb-soaked vocals over-saturated percussion.

Shamir — “On My Own”

Shamir just released an album earlier this year, but he isn’t done just yet, with another as-yet-untitled LP in the works for later this summer. “On My Own” is the first taste of that forthcoming project, what Carolyn Droke calls for Uproxx a “fuzzy, grunge-inspired guitar riff that’s juxtaposed by Shamir’s lilting vocals.”

Bully — “Where To Start”

After Bully vocalist Alicia Bognanno underwent some massive life changes during while writing, the band’s new album Sugaregg was born out of the flames. You can hear the intensity in the album’s “noisy and earnest” lead single, according to Carolyn Droke for Uproxx.

Woodkid — “Pale Yellow”

Seven years after releasing his debut album, Woodkid is finally prepping its follow up. “Pale Yellow” is the latest sampling from the new effort, evoking James Blake’s crooning over orchestral instrumentation before intricate industrial beats enter the picture. It’s a promising taste of what’s to come from the long-awaited new album.

De’Wayne — “National Anthem”

Mixing energetic alternative rock and hip-hop, De’Wayne reflects his American experience in the new track “National Anthem.” “I had planned on releasing this at a future date,” he said in a statement, “but I’m taking the most recent (and recurring) event as a sign that the world needs this right f*cking now.” It’s De’Wayne’s first standalone single with Hopeless Records, leaving us excited for what’s to come from the LA-based artist.

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