WHERE THERE'S A WILCO, THERE'S A WAY

Last Thursday, alt-rock vet Wilco released its 11th studio album. That wouldn't be that huge a deal except A) it came out of nowhere, B) its called Star Wars and features a cat on the cover, and C)  the album is free (if you sign up for Wilco's email newsletter). While surprise album releases for major musical acts have become something of the norm in recent years thanks to folks like Beyoncé and Drake dropping records without warning, that doesn't mean we've hardened our hearts to music that comes out of nowhere. Catch Wilco playing some of new songs from Star Wars live when the band comes to Marymoor Park on August 11.

CAT FANCY

While Run the Jewels can deliver socially-charged messages with as much passion and purpose as any rap group in the game, the group is anything but humorless. Case in point: Meow the Jewels, a remix of the hip-hop duo's latest album Run the Jewels 2 using cat sounds as the backing tracks. The project started as a joke pre-order package when Run the Jewels 2 was announced, but when a fan put up a Kickstarter page for Meow the Jewels, the group said they'd actually make it a reality if it met its goal of $45,100 (with the proceeds going to the families of Eric Garner and Mike Brown). Well, over $65,000 later, Meow the Jewels became a reality.  Last week, Run the Jewels dropped the first full track, the Boots-produced "Meowrly" (a remix of "Early"). It's darn near purrfect.

WHAT IF I TOLD YOU...

Seattle's own Joel McHale hosted last weeks ESPY Awards, and while he wasn't what everyone was talking about after the show (see: Jenner, Caitlyn), he did provide some comedic highlights to the telecast. The high-water mark came in the form of a fake 30 for 30 documentary entitled What's So Funny? The Joel McHale Monologue. The clip that aired shortly after the host's opening jokes features Conan O'Brien, Seth Meyers, Hannibal Buress, and more discussing the monologue as if it had been a trainwreck of epic proportions.

REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY LIKE THIS

Tom Hanks took a break from movie stardom earlier this year to lip-sync lyrics in the music video for Carly Rae Jepsen's hit "I Really Like You." But what happens when you strip away the music part of the music video and are left with the natural sounds of the scenes on screen? The latest edition of College Humor's Music Videos Without Music series finds Hanks wandering town while muttering the lyrics to himself sans backing, which delightfully makes every word seem like the start of a man's slow decent into madness.