[Album] Yasiin Gaye: "The Departure" (Side One)
If you've been keeping up with our 'Songs of the Day' posts over the past few weeks you probably noticed the clever mash-ups of Mos Def aka Yasiin Bey and the late Marvin Gaye produced by Amerigo Gazaway. The tracks have been a tasteful, foot-moving experience throughout, without a slip-up in the series thus far. Well, Amerigo doesn't want you to have to wait on the weekly single releases, instead dropping the entire project earlier today. Gazaway has constructed the pair of artists under the guise of 'Yasiin Gaye', playing on both artist's names and creating a subtly powerful project in the process. Pharrell and Robin Thicke were chastised recently by Gaye's family for their use of certain sound on Thicke's song "Blurred Lines". In lawsuit filings, the family was most upset at the use og Gaye's work for personal gain. With this project, available for free download, Gazaway matches two generations careful poets extremely well. Do your hump day a favor and download this album asap!
[Video] Kanye West Appears on 'Late Night with Seth Myers'
Kanye West, with his Yeezus tour finally over and some time on his hands, decided to stop by Seth Myers' new show and help him continue to break into the late night circuit by stopping by to chat about the extravagant tour, get some baby news out of the way and clear the stage for the real show, which came after the brief back and forth between the husband of Kim Kardashian and the former 'Saturday Night Live' cast member who took over for Jimmy Fallon in the late night spot after the Jay Leno domino finally fell, opening the lines of succession. Kanye performed what became a career-spanning set that touched on his hits from the entirety of his catalogue, begininning with "Jesus Walks", "Touch The Sky" and "Stronger" before making his way through the dark 808s & Heartbreaks days, even live auto-tuning "Heartless" and continuing on to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and beyond, wrapping things up with a rousing rendition of "Black Skinhead" to wrap things up. Check out the full video, streaming below.
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[RH First Look] Sidewalk Chalk
Sidewalk Chalk embodies Chicago. As much as the recent Vice "Chiraq" documentaries have done the opposite as of late, the eclectic eight piece band from the Second City pulls from both their hometown's past and present while focusing on writing it's future. The immediately soulful feelings of their latest project, Leaves, released February 24, is the result of an penchant for a sound that came off less polished and more gritty, capturing the sensibilities of both vocals and instrumentation that can be lost in post-production. The result is a fully-formed album that can keep you listening from the first to the last note. Long established in their hometown, Sidewalk Chalk has been making a large push around their latest album, and after playing a pair of album release shows over the weekend at Double Door in Chicago and Drom in New York City they will head off on a national tour in support of the new material. I had a chance to catch up with keys player Charlie Coffeen around the time of the release, check out or Q+A below.
Jake: So, the album is out in the world now. What has the process been like just readying this project to get out there?
Charlie: We're really excited to put it out. The process was a bit different from our first album, we kind of played a lot lot harder on this record we let the music be what it is a little more. We did a few takes of the tunes of the tunes with keys, bass and drums and once we were happy with it we just kind of let it be instead of tweaking things and making everything perfect. We kind of embraced the imperfections of it and I think that was the right move for what we wanted this record to be: raw and gritty and kind of just sound like us. The first album, we wanted everything to be perfect and for everything to be polished and I think we achieved that but on this one we wanted to push the boundaries a little bit and see how far we can stretch ourselves and our sound to the point where we had a finished project.
Jake: Was that something that was a conscious decision from the get-go, to let everything kind of ride on this project?
Charlie: Yeah, that was certainly our goal from the moment we stepped in the studio or even began thinking about how these songs were going to fit on an album. We knew we wanted them to be raw and we wanted them to sound real, like us. That was really our primary goal.
[Songs of the Day] 2/25/14 (Feat. Coldplay, Schoolboy Q & Lil Durk)
Tuesday was a bit lighter than Monday, but we have a solid collection of new tracks that hit the the world today. Coldplay offered up their latest track since Mylo Xyloto in their latest track, "Midnight" which premiered alongside a visual and 'The Voice' host Shakira released a powerful new song with her latest in "Empire". Sango featured Craig David and Omarion again on a reprise of his song in "Icebox 2.0", We Were Evergreens song "Daughters" got a remix from Aeroplane, 100 gave listeners "10 Freaky Hoes", rapper Le1f offered up the "Boom". Schoolboy Q continued promotion of his latest album Oxymoron with a cypher from The Purge/RapFix and Lil Durk gave fans a new one in "Live That Life". Check out all of the songs, streaming below.
Track of the Day: Sango: "Icebox 2.0"
We Were Evergreen: "Daughters" (Aeroplane Remix)
Sango: "Icebox 2.0" (Feat. Omarion & Craig David)
Schoolboy Q: "The Purge / Rapfix Cypher" (20syl Remix)
100: "Ten Freaky Hoes"
Lil Durk: "Live That Life"
Le1f: "Boom"
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Shakira: "Empire"
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Coldplay: "Midnight"
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[Video] Lili K & Peter CottonTale Perform "Highlight The Moon" at Truth Studios
It's been a minute since Lili K and Peter CottonTale got together to produce one of the my favorite jazz/soul albums of the past couple of years in Metal Petals, the 2012 release that established both artists as names to know, especially among the fertile and growing Chicago scene. The pair linked up while in Los Angeles at Truth Studios to re-hash one of the more sonically-rewarding track on the project in "Highlight The Moon" which gets a more down home, instrumental feel here with CottonTale on the keys. Lili shows off the voice we all know and love, while also demonstrating new tweaks in her vocals that make the latest version of "Highlight The Moon" ever more entrancing. The Milwaukee-born songstress has played in the background quite a bit as well, adding her vocals to tracks by Chance The Rapper and Vic Mensa on their latest projects Acid Rap and Innanetape, but here she continues to prove that she is a solo force behind the microphone. Lili and Peter are both back and forth from the coasts as they work on her follow-up to last year's My Favorite Things EP. Watch the full video, streaming below.
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[Album] Kid Cudi: "Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon"
Kid Cudi did his best Beyonce impression last night, releasing his latest project, Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon late last night unexpectedly by posting a message on his Twitter (tweets below). The project is the latest from Cudi since last April's Indicud, his first release since parting ways with Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music imprint. The project, available now on iTunes, is a continuation of a new path for Cudi, whose WZRD album established a decidedly more ambiguous, experimental motif to the work he had done to that point. "In My Dreams", the hit off his 2009 breakout project Man On The Moon: The End of Day get s re-do on the latest project, which is a wavy feel throughout that has Cudi doing what Cudi does best: looking inward at both himself and the listener to create a sort of ethereal experience through which he is able to not only get across a message but exemplify a feeling and though as well. Check out he latest from Cudi here.
[Songs of the Day] 2/24/14 (Feat. Young Thug, Tyga, Big Boi & More)
Monday brought about a bunch of new songs from all corners of the music world. We gathered all the best releases from the weekend and today. Meek Demeo's track "Paper Birds" featuring Kendrick Lamar got a remix from Galimatias that takes the song up a notch higher than it already was, Young Money teased their upcoming collaboration album with "Senile" by Tyga, Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne. A Billion Young appropriately tapped Brian Fresco for his latest single, "Fresco" while Young Thug continued on a tear of singles, the most recent of which is "Ouch". Romeo Santos got with Nicki Minaj as well, tapping her for his hit "Animales" while Taylor Bennett got together with Loyale Soule to pay homage to a good friend in the soulful "Brother Man". A$AP Ant became the latest of the A$AP Mob to emerge on the public sphere, this time with his single, "Zaytoven" while Koda kept things moving in his latest, "Invitation to Love". Alex Wiley and Closed Sessions continued a powerful start to 2014 with another fresh new song in "Own Man" which pairs him with talented Chicagoan Mick Jenkins and Big Boi continued his "Mash-up Mondays" series with a collab with none other than Phantogram, which resulted in the ridiculously funky, "Objectum Shalamar". Also, Joell Ortiz reminds folks he still has "Bars". All this and more, below!
Track of the Day: Big Boi: "Objectum Shalamar" (Feat. Phantogram)
Meek DeMeo: “Paper Birds” (Feat. Kendrick Lamar) (Galimatias Remix)
Tyga: "Senile" (Feat. Nicki Minaj & Lil Wayne)
A Billion Young: "Fresco" (Feat. Brian Fresco)
Young Thug: “Ouch”
Romeo Santos: “Animales” (Feat. Nicki Minaj)
Taylor Bennett: “Brother Man” (Feat. Loyale Soul)
A$AP Ant: “Zaytoven”
Koda: “Invitation To Love”
SEVEN1: “Hiigher” (Prod. By Retro Ren)
DebonairStatus: “GoIN” (Feat. Kami de Chukwu)
Alex Wiley: “Own Man” (Feat. Mick Jenkins)
Big Boi: "Objectum Shalamar" (Feat. Phantogram)
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Joell Ortiz: “Bars”
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[Album Stream] Major Lazer: "Apocalypse Soon"
Major Lazer has been teasing his latest project, Apocalypse Soon for a minute now, and over the weekend the moombahton king dropped a stream of the album on his Soundcloud. In the past couple of weeks, the side project of mega-producer Diplo offered up "Aerosol Can" with Pharrell and the revival of dancehall singer Sean Paul who seems to have been gone from the spotlight since MTV stopped broadcasting 'TRL'. The project is a continuation of the kind of back-side wobbling production that lead Major Lazer to host a 'twerk wall' at last year's Electric Zoo festival. Top to bottom, the project shows Diplo can launch a variety of bass-infused attacks under whatever moniker works. Check out the project, streaming below.