Freddie Gibbs and the Alchemist’s Alfredo has already been hailed as one of the best records of 2020 — thanks to some of the stickiest bars of the year — and its visuals only hammer that in more. The duo released their latest video for standout album cut “Scottie Beam” on Wednesday, which shows Gibbs pulled over in a convertible as an officer draws a gun on him. Gibbs holds his own and escapes the life-or-death situation before Rick Ross sees Gibbs’ face plastered on a TV screen and calls him up. The two rappers link up at Ross’ place as Ross throws some cash Gibbs’ way, sends him off and dives into his unforgettable verse off the critically acclaimed record (“My pistol polished, any problems, I’ma pull that ho/Peter Parker, but I’ve yet to reach my pinnacle”). “Scottie Beam...
Sun Ra Arkestra have announced details of their first new album in 20 years: It’s called Swirling and it’s due out October 9th via Strut Records. Swirling sees the legendary jazz group at the top of their game under the direction of maestro Marshall Allen. The album spans 10 tracks — 11 if you include the vinyl-only track “Queer Notions” — and was recorded in its entirety at Rittenhouse Soundworks in Philadelphia. A handful of tracks are updated renditions of longtime gems while others are new songs entirely. To coincide with today’s announcement, Sun Ra Arkestra have shared a new arrangement of “Angels And Demons At Play”, which you can stream below. “We truly hope that this recording brings much joy to a planet which is so deeply in need of a spirit sound and vibration,” says saxoph...
Chicago indie rockers Whitney have announced a new covers album. Titled Candid, it’s due out August 14th through Secretly Canadian. Spanning 10 tracks, the album sees Whitney tackling originals by David Byrne and Brian Eno (“Strange Overtones”), Kelela (“Bank Head”), and Damien Jurado (“A.M. A.M.”). The album also includes the group’s previously shared rendition of the John Denver classic “Take Me Home, Country Roads” featuring Waxahatchee and their take on “Rain” by SWV. In a statement about their choice in covers, drummer and singer Julien Ehrlich explains, “This could’ve been as simple as saying we really love these songs and we love our bandmates and making a covers record just felt right but it truly became an exploration into how we can evolve as a band going forward.” Editors...
Ultra Mono is the third album from post-punk group IDLES, due out this fall through Partisan Records. The effort, which comes two years after Joy As An Act of Resistance, is being previewed today with “A Hymn”. While previous singles “Mr. Motivator” and “Grounds” the Bristol natives ferocious and snarling as always, their newest offering opts for an entirely different mood. “A Hymn” rolls out slowly and steadily, almost in a drone-like fashion. “I want to be loved, everybody does/ I find shame in the crack-like corpse un-cadaver reign… I find shame gripped tight like your withering fame,” sings frontman Joe Talbot, with an equally monotone cadence. The fixed churn of it all echoes the backstory for “A Hymn”, which according to a tweet from the band ” rejoices in the sinister flesh-eating v...
Filipino-British indie rock wunderkind beabadoobee has announced her debut album, Fake It Flowers. As a first look at the highly anticipated project, she’s sharing a new single called “Care”. According to a statement, Fake It Flowers is due out sometime later this year through Dirty Hit Records, the English indie label home of The 1975, Wolf Alice, and former Artist of the Month Rina Sawayama. The full-length follows last year’s Space Cadet, an EP that contained the Pavement-referencing single “I Wish I Was Stephen Malkmus”. The forthcoming album’s lead single “Care” picks up where that project left off, but is also a welcomed continued evolution of her lo-fi bedroom style, which has drawn comparisons to The Moldy Peaches. Her vulnerability here is noticeably more raw, as the 20-year-...
Experimental jazz collective Standing on the Corner have shared a video for their new song “G-E-T-O-U-T!! The Ghetto”. The clip features SOTC in Variation 7 (Shamel Cee Mystery on clavinet, drummer Savannah Harris, Kweku Sumbry playing congas, Devin Starks on double bass, Linton Smith III tapping the tambourine, and organist Aja Grant). They’re joined by 7-year-old vocalist Annalise Chanel Renee Williams, who takes the stage like a true star performer. Young Annalise screams and sings some “ooh-ahhs” before interpolating a bit of “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen”. Described in a press release as “a special shape shifting message of concern,” the video also features poetry from director Carlos de Jesus. Watch below. Editors’ Picks Standing on the Corner will release ...
It’s another special day for the BTS ARMY, as BTS have officially released their new album, Map of the Soul : 7 ~ The Journey ~, via Big Hit Entertainment. It’s now available to stream below via Apple Music or Spotify. This effort serves as the beloved K-pop group’s first Japanese album in over two years. Its 13 offerings expand on the tracklist of BTS’s most recent Korean-language record, Map of the Soul : 7, which dropped back in February. Included on ~ The Journey ~ are two all-new original songs, “Stay Gold” and “Rasen no Meikyuu -DNA Kagaku Sousa-“, as well as newly recorded versions of “ON”, “Black Swan”, “Make It Right”, and “Dionysus” in Japanese. Following today’s digital release, a physical version of the new album will arrive August 7th. Limited-edition versions of the ...
Makaya McCraven released one of the 2018’s most acclaimed jazz albums in Universal Beings. Now, the Chicago-based drummer and producer is prepping to drop a companion piece called Universal Beings E&F Sides, in addition to a documentary series about the record. E&F Sides promises 14 “new pieces of organic beat music” that were cut from the original sessions for Universal Beings proper. One of those “Mak Attack”, which finds McCraven fiercely “attacking” his kit like the percussion beast that he is. As for the corresponding documentary, the visual will be soundtracked by the music found on E&F Sides. Its footage chronicles the making of breakthrough album Universal Beings, following McCraven in the studio and on the road as he traveled to California, New York, and...
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have returned with “Honey”, their first new material since last summer’s Infest the Rats’ Nest. Nearly five minutes in length, the single leans on the more gentle, twangier side of psychedelia, as frontman Stu Mackenzie praises a special someone (“the magic potion”) that’s kept him afloat during these uncertain times. “You taste like honey/ All warm and runny/ Kinder than candy/ Effervescent shandy/ Days are ever sweeter when I wake up near ya,” he sings on the track, which isn’t to be confused with The Jesus and Mary Chain’s similarly titled saccharine alt-rock hit. Accompanying the song is a video directed and edited by John Angus Stewart. “Shot at sunset during the apocalypse with a reeeeeeal long lens,” Mackenzie noted on Twitter. “I wrote this s...
Lo and behold, Yo La Tengo have joined Bandcamp. Or at least one that’s being managed by their label Matador Records. To celebrate, the veteran indie outfit have dropped a five-minute new track that’s titled — breathe in, breathe out — “James and Ira demonstrate mysticism and some confusion holds (Monday)”. Why this spirited jam? What’s the story here? Allow Ira Kaplan to explain: “In late April, with the outside world weighing on everybody, we determined that the three of us could assemble in Hoboken without disobeying the rules laid out by Governor Murphy, and resumed . . . ‘practicing’ hardly describes it, because we’ve done no practicing per se, and anyway what would be practicing for . . . playing. James set up one microphone in the middle of the room in case we stumbled on something ...
Bob Mould is back with another new song from his upcoming album, Blue Hearts, which is due out this fall. Entitled “Forecast of Rain,” the Mould, also a member of Hüsker Dü and Sugar, accompanied the release with a lyric video that also shows him singing along to the song. Mould previously released “American Crisis” last month. Mould said his upcoming 14-track album — which he produced at Chicago’s Electrical Audio with engineer Beau Sorenson — “the catchiest batch of protest songs I’ve ever written in one sitting.” Here’s a statement from the singer/songwriter regarding the song: “As a child, my mother took me to Sunday Mass. I’ve written many songs around religion. In the 2000s, I went back to the Catholic Church for three years – but I did not find my place. “I recognize the import...
Kanye West has unveiled a new song in honor of his late mother, Donda West, on what would have been her 71st birthday. Simply titled “Donda”, the track begins with audio of Kanye’s mother reciting lyrics to KRS-One’s “Sound Of Da Police”. Kanye himself takes over around the 1:28 mark. Listen below. Donda West died on November 10th, 2017, one day after undergoing a plastic surgery procedure. A coroner later determined she passed from coronary artery disease and “multiple post-operative factors.” Last month, Kanye released “Wash Us in the Blood”, a collaboration with Travis Scott that serves as the first preview of Kanye’s upcoming album, God’s Country. He also recently announced his intention to run for president in 2020, though he has yet to file the proper paperwork and some family and fr...