Early January is usually a quiet time for music releases, so it shouldn't necessarily come as any surprise that the corpse of Death Grips has reanimated to deliver an unholy racket entirely unprompted. At this point, the only thing we were expecting from the now expired band was jenny death, the second half of the powers that b.
The instrumental album Fashion Week then is a complete and total curveball that no one saw coming. The chaotic electropunk that Death Grips always cultivated is in full-effect, though MC Ride's voice never cuts through the chatter. Nevermind that exclusion because its thoroughly enjoyable from what I've heard, and actually goofy in the case of "Runway N."
Speaking of jenny death it looks like we can expect a physical release of the powers that b featuring both n***** on the moonand jenny deathon February 10. If that sounds like an eternity from now, you have Fashion Week to keep you company and the knowledge that Death Grips love a surprise digital release.
(You can download Fashion Week through the band's website or Soundcloud and listen to it all on a YouTube playlist. It is worth pointing out that the song titles of Fashion Week spell out JENNYDEATHWHEN, so there's one more thing to tease you with.)
There's nothing inherently
political about M.I.A.'s writhing Matangi cut "Double Bubble
Trouble". The blaring Partysquad beat is far more likely to get you
dancing than rallying. But this is still M.I.A. we're talking about and the
recently released video for "Double Bubble Trouble" proves the Sri
Lankan artist can't remain apolitical for long.
"What if you could make
weapons like these in your own home, using what's called a three-dimensional
printer?" a voice calmly wonders aloud at the beginning of the M.I.A.
directed clip. It's not a stretch to say our society is suffuse with guns, so
to hear that making
your own is now possible is utterly terrifying. And M.I.A. seizes on that
terror throughout the video. Brazen individuals are seen waving their weaponry
with delight, while others quietly lurk in close quarters. If that weren’t
enough, circular drones casually float overhead to check in on the self-made "militias."
For all of the neon-imagery and brightly colored parrots the political
firebrand throws in, "Double Bubble Trouble" stays remarkably dark.
(Earlier this morning, M.I.A.
was apparently having troubles with
Universal in releasing the clip, but thankfully those problems have now
been resolved.)
How to Dress Well is hitting the road
Indie R&B crooner How to Dress Well (Tom Krell) has a new album, entitled "What Is This Heart?", out June 24 through Weird World and to promote the record Krell is hitting the road this summer.
After 5 European dates in mid-to-late June, Krell will arrive on North American shores in August and tour until late-September. With 26 total dates spread over two months, its the largest tour the artist has undertaken. And while you wait for the "massive" tour to begin, you can enjoy the video for beautifully fragile "Repeat Pleasure".
Tour Dates:
6/13 London, England - ICA
6/14 Brussels, Belgium - Beursschouwburg 6/16 Paris, France - Nouveau Casino 6/17 Amsterdam, Netherlands - MC Theatre 6/29 Berlin, Germany - Berliner Festspiele
8/21 San Diego, CA - Casbah 8/22 Los Angeles, CA - First Unitarian Church 8/23 Monterey, CA - First City Festival 8/24 Monterey, CA - First City Festival 8/25 Portland, OR - Holocene 8/26 Vancouver, British Columbia - Fortune Sound Club 8/27 Seattle, WA - Neumos 8/29 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge 9/2 Omaha, NE - Waiting Room 9/3 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Social Club 9/4 Chicago, IL - Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) 9/4-9/6 Raleigh, NC - Hopscotch Music Festival 9/5 Louisville, KY - Headliners Music Hall 9/8 Atlanta, GA - Terminal West 9/9 Nashville, TN - Exit In 9/11 Columbus, OH - A&R Music Bar 9/12 Toronto, Ontario - The Mod Club 9/14 Montreal, Quebec - Le Belmont 9/16 Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall 9/17 New York City, NY - Irving Plaza 9/19 Philadelphia, PA - District N9NE 9/20 Washington, DC - U Street Music Hall 9/22 St. Louis, MO - The Luminary Center for the Arts 9/24 Oxford, MS - Proud Larry’s 9/25 New Orleans, LA - Hi Ho Lounge 9/27 Austin, TX - Central Presbyterian Church
Lupe Fiasco battles cancer in new single "Mission"
Lupe Fiasco dubbed himself a "Friend of the People" all the way back in 2011, but today's release of Tetsuo & Youth's first single "Mission" fully drives the point home. Beginning with personal testimonies of cancer survivors, including G.O.O.D. Music's Charlie Wilson, Fiasco breathlessly raps over a hyper-kinetic beat about an unshakable will to live. Throughout the six-minute effort are small asides about "bald heads" and "biopsies" which only makes the track more relatable for anyone who has ever been affected by cancer.
While "Mission" is intended as the first single to Fiasco's upcoming 5th album Tetsuo & Youth, it also serves to promote the Stand Up 2 Cancer foundation, "a groundbreaking initiative created to accelerate innovative cancer
research that will get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives
now." You can download "Mission" now through iTunes.
Check back tomorrow for more of the newest in new(s) and follow AllFreshSounds on Twitter for updates throughout the day.
Nearly two months ago, before Voice-O-Graph fever had seized Neil Young's life there was the disappointing announcement that his long out-of-print live album Time Fades Away wouldn't be arriving on shelves any time soon. Apparently being in constant contact with Jack White in recent days and weeks has put Young in a giving mood again, as he's now talking about issuing Archives Vol. 2. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Young revealed the latest installment will be finished this summer and include not only Time Fades Aways, but vaunted never-released LPs Chrome Dreams, Oceanside-Countryside, and Homegrown as well. Homegrown in particular is storied for being scrapped at the last minute for Tonight's the Night and having its tracks pilfered for other albums throughout the 70s. In fact Young's 70s run, right up through 1979's Rust Never Sleeps, will feature on the archival effort as well.
And if that weren't enough, Young's already promising additional volumes of Archives which will extend all the way into the 2000s. As harried as it all sounds, Young remains unperturbed in the interview saying "I'm not doing anything I don't want to do. I do one thing at a time, and I do it right."
While you wait for Young to "do it right" enjoy a clip of Time Fades Away's penultimate track "The Bridge".
Lana Del Rey reveals release date/album cover for Ultraviolence
Now that Lana Del Rey's has put sensual lead-single "West Coast" in the mirror and sped past song titles like "F***ed My Way Up to the Top" and "Sad Girl", the only thing the "Gangsta Nancy Sinatra" has to do in her drive towards third LP Ultraviolence is reveal the album cover and release date.
Today she checked both of those items off her to-do list. The record which features production from the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach is out June 17 via Interscope and the black and white image above is the album cover. In additon to the standard and deluxe CD versions dropping in June, Ultraviolence will also be issued on vinyl and as a part of a sprawling, photo heavy boxset. Below you'll find a tracklist for the deluxe edition along with the smoldering video for 'West Coast".
Ultraviolence: 1. "Cruel World" 2. "Ultraviolence" 3. "Shades of Cool" 4. "Brooklyn Baby" 5. "West Coast" 6. "Sad Girl" 7. "Pretty When You Cry" 8. "Money Power Glory" 9. "F***ed My Way Up to the Top" 10. "Old Money" 11. "The Other Woman" 12. "Black Beauty" * 13. "Guns and Roses" * 14. "Florida Kilos" *
Follow AllFreshSounds on Twitter for updates throughout the day.
A new documentary feature on dub-pioneer Lee "Scratch" Perry entitled The Upsetterrecently premiered on demand and to promote the release, the Super Ape himself dropped "Jesus Is A Soul Man" as part of a BitTorrent Bundle. Perry isn't alone on the new production however, as he's enlisted the aid of cloudy-bass producer Clams Casino. Though Casino and the 78 year old Perry are decades apart in age, the chattering dub track demonstrates how remarkably like minded they are.
You can download the BitTorrent Bundle here and view a trailer for the documentary below.
The Roots new album ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin is now streaming
The Roots' 11th studio album ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin doesn't drop through Def Jam until next Monday, but fans of the Philly crew can stream the LP now through Pitchfork Advance. Produced by drummer ?uestlove, lead-rapper Black Thought, and Richard Nichols, the concept-album has been touted by Thought as a "satire, but in that satire it’s an analysis of
some of the stereotypes perpetuated in not only the Hip Hop community,
but in the community." The 33-minute satire will feature appearances from frequent Roots collaborators Greg Porn and Dice Raw and include a track from soul-legend Nina Simone.
Next Tuesday to promote the new release, the Roots will go from house band to music guest when they perform on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon". Peep the lyric video for sobering album cut "When the People Cheer" below and head over to iTunes if you want to preorder the album.
Check back tomorrow for more of the newest in new(s) and follow AllFreshSounds on Twitter for updates throughout the day.
