[Video] Janelle Monae: "Prime Time" (Feat. Miguel)
Janelle Monae and Miguel made a splash with their song, "Prime Time" off of Monae's latest album, Electric Lady. The pair released the visual for the album, a highly conceptual video that is a continuation on a common theme throughout her most recent release. Read the statement below along with the video itself.
"PrimeTime is a love story based on the early adventures of Cindi Mayweather (Janelle Monáe) and her first love Joey Vice (Miguel.) The Emotion Picture gives a glimpse at Cindi's humble beginnings as a "cyber-server" at the Electric Sheep nightclub, a syn bar serving high-class "show droids" to the rich and lonely in a dangerous section of Metropolis known as Slop City. Incidentally, the innovative cybersoul music played at the club directly impacted Cindi, and she began singing and performing her own innovative compositions a short time after quitting this assignment. In addition, Cindi became determined to change the public perception of what an electric lady could be, dream and aspire to after working in the dismal conditions at the club." -via Pitchfork
http://youtu.be/Oxls2xX0Clg
ProbCause: "Biting Down" (Lorde Remix)
Fresh off a successful album release with The Recipe Vol. 2 and a summer playing North Coast and going on tour across the country with Cherub, Chicago native ProbCause returns home with a little something up his sleeve, releasing his remix of young Lorde's song "Biting Down", produced by COFRESI and released by Thissongissick. The slowed down version of the chorus mixed with rapid trap drums lays the perfect setting for Prob to do his things and brings to mind EDM-fueled singles like "LSD" that Prob has been mastering as of late. With him spending so much time on the road with the likes of Cherub, could we soon see a collab? Check it out below.
[RH Interview] Borgore
To ask Borgore, nothing is too surprising anymore. Having spent a lifetime working in an aroudn music, the early prodigy (he earned a scholarship to Cal-Berkeley for music at 17) is having the time of his life making music that gets people moving. The Israel native joined Steve Aoki, Pharrell and Waka Flocka Flame for the Fall "Aokify America" tour, which started last Friday with a show at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion. Playing a set that skipped from one EDM subgenre to the next, Borgore had the young Chicago crowd fully hooked only a song into a set so full of energy one had to wonder if the packed see of neon and sparkle-clad fans would have anything left for the next three acts. At this point in his career, the 25-year-old artist is enjoying a steady climb up the music landscape and being on the road for what he calls "a field trip with friends". I had a chance to catch him backstage right after his set, read our interview below.
Jake: Alright, so at one point during your set, you chanted "girl is a nympho" and every girl in front of me went crazy and chanted it back, what's it like to have the power to dictate other's actions so easily?
Borgore: Check my Twitter. Twitter is where things get out of hand. Today I gave away six tickets to people who would go into a public place, do a headtand twerk and sing Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Close My Eyes" while twerking. We got like three or four submissions. This dude did it in McDonald's inside of a table. I have chicks doing it in Target or something but that dude took the cake.
Jake: In electronic dance music, more than any other genre, the focus is purely on one person to create a show, what is that like for you?
Borgore: It's fucking thousands of people watching you, they fucking paid a lot of money for me to give them the best time of their lives and you cannot fuck up. So half of me wants to say it is the greatest thing, the greatest pleasure and the other half of me wants to say it is the biggest stress ever. It's not easy.
Jake: I could imagine. So, first stop on the tour with one hell of a lineup, what's it been like so far.
Borgore: If this tour is going to look like this I'm so happy, dude. I came to Steve before he played his set tonight and I told him big ups on assembling such an eclectic and amazing tour. I think that if I was an 18 year old, I think it's only $30 in some markets, to come see this show, it's out of this world dude.
Jake: How excited are you to be spending time on the road with these guys?
Borgore: I worked with Steve and I worked with Waka so I know them well. You know what though man, it's a fucking field trip. I'm touring with my friends to begin with. It's a semi vacation, the whole year I'm busting my ass flying city to city by myself seeing people I don't know. I don't have a stable life at all, I haven't been in my house for longer than three days. For a month and a half, being on the bus, it's like a traveling house, dude I'm on fucking vacation right now.
Jake: So how did the collaboration with Waka come about?
Borgore: I remixed one of his songs about a year and a half ago and I did a deal with him. He offered me a bunch of money but I said keep your money and throw me like a verse or something that I can fuck with, you know? I have a lot of songs that are really big singles that I never put out because I;m too strict with myself about what I'm releasing. I didn't know whether I wanted to release this song or not and I met Waka in Spain and he came to me and said "man, this is amazing, I love it" and I was more scared than anything that Waka wouldn't like it, you know? So he loved it, so I went back to the project changed it because it was in moombahton which is not really relevant anymore, and made it house and that's where it is now.
Jake: That kind of leads me to my next question, how do you manage to stay aheado f the curve in such a fast-moving genre like dance music?
Borgore: I have been doing music all my life. All my life I was playing Jazz, Classical music, Punk, Metal, everything. I got a scholarship to Berkeley University when I was 17, I've been in music my whole life. Bring it on, bring on any genre. I'll take time but I'll learn it perfect, you know?
Jake: The last time I saw you was at Electric Daisy Carnival Chicago, how does a set like that compare to something like tonight?
Borgore: EDC Chicago was amazing for me, the crowd was great for me. The scene in Chicago is really nice to me. About a year ago my first big show here was at the Congress with Calvin Harris and the crowd wasn't really feeling me but it's never been the case since. Since then I've been here about three or four times and every time it's just amazing. There was a lot of reasons for the show with Calvin to not work. It was no one's fault but it just didn't work but I'm happy the sets since have gone good.
Jake: So what can we expect from you moving forward, what's on the horizon?
Borgore: Like I've said I've done music my whole life and I've always done it for me. I'm slowly rising, very slowly rising but it's happening the way it should. I have no secret cards about what is coming in the future, I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing so far.
Trillwave: "Turn Down For What"
Turn down for what. The catchphrase has been shouted at festivals, shows and parties everywhere and now Trap House duo Trillwave is back to beg the questions further with their latest single, released while on tour recently. Back home after a long trip, Trillwave is letting things settle after a long summer of performances. The song, "Turn Down For What" is trap through in through, with sputtering trap drums accenting a steadily building house undertone. Paired with well-timed samples, it'll be hard to turn down to Trillwave's latest. Listen below and download here.
https://soundcloud.com/trillwavemusic/trillwave-kilomash-turn-down-for-what
#100Trill: "Don't Understand (Band$)" (Feat. St. Millie)
The duo of Chicago producer MikeJaxx and artist Grade A-Plus got together with fellow Treated Crew affiliate St. Millie for "Don't Understand (Band$)." Jaxx's production has found its way onto a lot of artist's projects recently, with only more to come from the forward thinking beat crafter. Grade A-Plus and Millie do their thing as usual-certainly two acts out of the Midwest to keep an eye on if you're not already. Take some time out of the day to catch the latest from this talented trio below.
[RH First Look] Jay Dot Rain
Jay Dot Rain is on his hustle. He has to be. Coming from Alabama, Jay Dot isn't privy to the kind of immediate exposure or fanfare that artists from larger metropolitan areas enjoy on the regular. Despite this, the Alabama A&M senior has garnered attention from the likes of DJBooth and Complex in recent months in the lead up to his well put together mixtape, Memoirs of a Young Dreamer, released October 2. Southerm hip-hop, and more specifically rap music from Alabama seems to blend together quite a bit for me, aside from the Yelawolfs Gucci Manes of the world. To separate himself from his peers, Jay Dot teamed up with production team Blockbeattaz to craft a sound that is wholly his own, bringing in aspects of southern trunk music, jazz and heavy bass that complement his creative style of rhyming well. I caught up with the Alabama artist as he was preparing for a Friday set in Hunstville to talk about coming from Alabama, staying on the grind and what's next for Jay Dot Rain. Read below for more in our First Look at Jay Dot.
Jake: What's it like to be coming out of a place like Alabama?
Jay Dot Rain: Coming from Alabama, man, it's just different. We don't really get as much exposure as we should when it comes to music and shit like that. It's kind of hard for us to get in like the blogs and websites and stuff like that, to get noticed by different people. We just don't get the respect that we deserve when it comes to music. Everybody thinks of Atlanta and Miami and Florida and stuff like that when it comes to the the south and Alabama, they think we're like rich boys or something like that but it's not like that. No disrespect to rich boys but it's a war.
Jake: You mentioned it's hard to get to the blogs but you've had stuff on Complex and DJBooth, etc. What would you credit to your ability to get out of Alabama with your music?
Jay Dot Rain: It's coming out of nowhere though, man, that's the crazy part. I've been trying to get posts for years and, I guess your music starts getting better and people start noticing but I'm on the blogs daily just trying to get in contact with people and make those connections. I appreciate you and RubyHornet for messing with me, man.
Jake: Yeah man, like you said, the music kind of speaks for itself. You mentioned the music getting better though, what's the progression been like?
Jay Dot Rain: Well, I really started in high school playing around with it with some of my friends. You know, we were in high school and we had a little computer program and we would make songs and just play around and show them to our friends. It wasn't until my sophomore year in college that I really started to take it seriously, though. Just making these different projects and putting them together is a really tedious process. I don't make tracks where I just rap on them, but actually write songs.
[Album] Roman Flowrs: "#OneHellOfaPromo"
It seems like we've been getting weekly updates from Chicago product Roman Flowrs as he prepared his latest release, #OneHellOfaPromo. Well, the day has finally come and the album is here and living up to the lofty expectations that singles like "No More", "Holographic Card" and "Rock With Me" set for it when they dropped throughout the summer. The talented lyricist paired himself with some of the top production in the Windy City, employing the help of the ever talented Cam Osteen of J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, fresh off Innanetape, as well as Donnie Trumpet (Nico Segal), Sango, Dart and more. The project was recorded at Classick Studios on Chicago's west side, which is quickly becoming a hotbed of activity for up and coming hip-hop artists in the Midwest. Take some time out of your day to enjoy #OneHellOfaPromo, available for free download below.
Broken Bells Announce New Album with Video
It's been three years since Broken Bells graced the world with their self-titled debut album. The collaboration of Danger Mouse and The Shins' frontman James Mercer is a beautiful one that many listeners were unsure would manifest itself again after their critically-acclaimed album took audiences by surprise in 2010. Today, the pair dispelled any doubt, announcing a new album via a video in which a perceived new song plays in the background of a desert scene. The album, After the Disco, is set to drop in January 2014. For now, check out the release below.
http://youtu.be/LVdHKUr12Og