[Album] LIZ: "Just Like You"
LIZ has been popping up all over our radar since just before the start of the new year. The Los Angeles-based Mad Decent signee may very well be the best example of the theory of a "twenty year loop" in fashion, media, art and music. Her website literally has the Millennium embedded into the title and is a templated Google Image search page. Her music pulls from the early 2000s, adding the grungy dance vibes of today's EDM world with the angelic-ness of artists like Aaliyah to produce a sound that is described on her Mad Decent profile as "reminiscent of that perfect Pop/R&B tune from the 90s that you couldn’t wait to burn onto a CD so you could play it endlessly in your car after dropping your summer crush off at their house." Great imagery there. Honestly, just try LIZ on for yourself. Her project, Just Like You hit the Internet yesterday and the complete, seven-song project is sure to be talked about for some time. Pick it up/listen below!
[Video] Moody Good: "MusicBx" (Feat. Eryn Allen Kane)
Moody Good is the English producer, formerly a part of production team 16Bit that helped craft Bjork's 2011 album, Biophilia responsible for the latest track to come out of the always popping UK dance music scene with his track, "Musicbx" that came complete with a visual rendering today with a premier on NME.com. The video traces what seems like one man's stumbling post-trip experience as he wanders, looking for something and finding a lot of what he doesn't need. Vocals for the track are supplied by one of our artists to watch out of Chicago, Eryn Allen Kane, who shows her full flexibility with this latest offering by taking a step outside the soul/r&b vibes that she has been linked to thus far. She continues to impress as she heads toward her own album release soon. Moody Good keeps the song going and lays out a solid canvas from which Kane can work with his expert production and playfulness throughout. Check out the full video for the song, streaming now below.
[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!
Death Grips & Local Natives Release Stems For Free
The trend of releasing music for free is not a new concept, but in the past six months even, the practice has taken on a whole new attitude and usefulness. Death Grips, never ones to wilt to social norms or adhere to expectations or ethics, released both the a capella and instrumental versions of their albums, Government Plates (click here) and NO LOVE DEEP WEB (click here) for free via their Twitter account. While the move is similar to Beyonce's instantaneous release of 14 songs and 17 music videos as one entity, it is a different kind of openness.
Local Natives also followed suit, dropping the stems from their album Hummingbird (click here). While Bey gave the world a host of new entertainment to sift through, Death Grips and Local Natives offered music geeks and production nerds an endless amount of material to work with, encouraging remixes and the use of their work. It is the sort of openness that breeds new genres and new sounds and is honestly a responsible move on the behalf of both acts and it will be interesting to see where the stems lead in the near future.
RatKing Announces Album With "Canal" Single
RatKing is an act I couldn't seem to hear enough about throughout last year. The New York trio took the indie music scene by storm in 2013, en route to playing Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, Tx., and booking a set for this year's Coachella in Indio, California. The eclectic and begrudgingly different group, led by artist Wiki whose solo music was the first whiff anyone had of Ratking initially. Today, the crew announced the release date of their highly-anticipated debut project, So It Goes, due out on XL Recordings with production allegedly coming from the likes of Young Guru. April 8 appears to be the day the masses can expect a proper release from the group, but they offered up their latest single, "Canal" to hold listeners over for the time being. Take note, Ratking will be around for awhile.
Peter CottonTale: "Suitcase Remix" (Feat. Vic Mensa & Chance The Rapper)
Yesterday, Chicago's SaveMoney squad dropped their much-delayed video for "Still Alive" and today, the clique gets another listing as Acid Rap and Innanetape producer Peter CottonTale gives Vic Mensa & Chance The Rapper's recent collaboration, "Suitcase" his own unique spin. Perhaps no one else could have given the track the kind of fitting twist than CottonTale, who has worked closely with both Mensa and Chance over the past year or so, helping to craft two immensely eclectically-unique sounds that can intertwine, as they do here, or venture off into wildly different paths.
While he has established himself while being a part of several successful ventures, there have been few, if any, solo releases from the producer responsible for Chance's "Brain Cells," making today's offering a special one. Different for CottonTale on this release is his use of samples, which are almost completely left off of his own production, opting instead for a instrumental aesthetic that has had many across the country pointing to the 22-year-old producer as bringing soul and jazz back to hip-hop. The "Suitcase" remix is a fully Chicago affair, with close friend OJ Hays providing the artwork. Check out the latest from CottonTale and co., streaming here below.
Mike Golden & Friends: "Hey Jane"
Later this month, Mike Golden & Friends will release their latest project, Utopia. Today, we get the lead single from the project, released today via the Internet. Featuring fellow Chicagoans Vic Mensa and Donnie Trumpet, "Hey Jane" is an emphatic play on dealing with the relationship with "Jane". Golden offers up an inspired, soulful chorus as Mensa continues to slaughter a wide variety of beats with his frenetic, changing rhyme scheme and easily relatable lyrics. Donnie adds his pieces in the background, helping to build the overall aesthetic of the track. If nothing else, "Hey Jane" should get you up out of bed to face the winter weather. Check out the track below, along with an exclusive behind the scenes video at Classick Studios from Davy Greenberg at Elephilms.
[Mixtape] Kaytranada: "Instrumental Hip-hop Is Dead"
Today, Hypetrak released its latest artist-rendered mix from the ever-eclectic Kaytranada. Instrumental Hip-Hop Is Dead is described by Hypetrak as "an intriguing selection of hard-hitting unreleased production. Much closer to Dilla's Donuts than a DJ mix". Apparently, Kaytranada is declaring the end of instrumental hip-hop, just when it seemed to be making a comeback. His mix is a compilation of what he characterized as "some old hip hop beats" of his. It is a smattering of trap drums, heavy bass, and sample-laden interludes, all sandwiched inside of a comfortable synth sandwich that can carry you through the day with it's smooth transitions to airily different areas. Check out the full mix from Kaytranda streaming down below!
[iframe id="w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/125451850%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-6lT5Q&color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true" mode="normal" align="center"]