Listen: Baroness - "Yellow and Green" (Full Album Stream)

Savannah Georgia’s Baroness are set to release their third color themed album, Yellow and Green, on the 17th of July via Relapse Records. The double album contains 18 tracks and continues down the same genre bending path both Red and Blue did and was once again produced by John Congleton (The Roots, Explosions in the Sky, Black Mountain, The Polyphonic Spree.)  Check out the first single “Take My Bones Away” below and if you like what you hear you can stream the album now in its entirety over at NPR.

Video: Dominic Lord - "Pierce"

Harlem native and Ex-A$AP member Dominic Lord released his debut video for a tune called “Pierce.” For those following the A$AP Mob, Lord was an early member of the crew and served as a designer but removed himself from the group somewhat recently moving on to Pusha T’s manager Steven Victor. Lord has since established himself as a songwriter/producer and has been working in the studio with the likes of Onomatopoeia favorite Hudson Mohawke, amongst others, to put a collection of songs together. Lord is currently fielding offers from labels such as Geffen, Warner Bros., Def Jam, and more. But if the Aram Bedrossian visuals for the Hudson produced “Pierce” is any indication of what’s ahead color me intrigued.

Listen: Passion Pit: "Constant Conversations"

Passion Pit has shared yet another tune off their sophomore LP, Gossamer, due out July 24th via Columbia Records. Unlike “Take A Walk” and “I’ll Be Alright”, ”Constant Conversations” has a more smooth laid back R&B groove happening, stream it now at Pitchfork or below via Youtube...

Gossamer Tracklist:
01. Take a Walk
02. I’ll Be Alright
03. Carried Away
04. Constant Conversations
05. Mirrored Sea
06. Cry Like a Ghost
07. On My Way
08. Hideaway
09. Two Veils to Hide My Face
10. Love Is Greed

Happy Friday!

I'm Rick James Bitch!

Video: "Skate On Film" The History Of Skateboard Videos

I’ve always loved skate films, I’ve been watching them since the mid 80’s from their birth with the Powell Perlata Bones Brigade films to Plan B’s Questionable and on. From those early days of film to the eventual rise of the VHS camera to present day digital recording devices, skate films have always impressed me in their artistry, filming techniques, and spirit.

ESPN and 900 Films have put together Skate on Film, a twenty-minute documentary on the history of Skate films. Likening the skate video to a skateboarder as is an album to a musician is the foundation of what the video bit has done for the skateboard industry and it’s stars.  Before videos started to make an appearance your only outlet to becoming a pro rider was through competitions, furthermore unless you were traveling across the world there was no real way to see what other skaters were doing. With the entrance of Powell Peralta’s skate videos everything changed, soon people began to realize how useful the medium was to showcase their talents and get a pro deal, it also solved the problem of getting some absolutely incredible skaters their just due outside the world of official events. Kids everywhere where introduced to people like Lance Mountain as a direct result of the skate video, the Powell video series not only showed off Lance’s talents but also his personality and humor. Powell where a rare breed in the skate industry at the time though as film was not something most kids had access to, that changed the moment VHS arrived on the scene.

Enter H-Street and their two seminal video’s Shackle Me Not and Hokus Pokus. H-Street, a small upstart skateboard company had a dream of being able to produce their own video, most of the people involved in the company grew up watching the Powell Peralta videos but could never dream of making their own until the VHS tape came along. The guys at H-Street knew they couldn’t just replicate their heroes, they had to put their own twist on things and so they did, launching a much rawer campaign showcasing their talented team with nothing but a handheld cam and a the will to get it done.  Soon skaters like Matt Hensley, who had never placed in any major event was outselling the top ranked riders in the world, all because of the energy and style captured in his video bit. 

By the 2000’s skate videos where showcasing the most incredible tricks imaginable, Plan B released Questionable and it became the pinnacle of tricks both technical and big and brought us the talents of Pat Duffy.  Skaters like Jamie Thomas had an almost mathematical approach to filming with his Zero Videos. Welcome To Hell saw Jamie creating checklists of tricks and locations that he would pass along to the team with months of preparation and research being put into the thought process. Progression had hit it’s peak as had the industry and with innovators like Heath Kirchart retiring after he felt he couldn’t one up his last video, the industry started their new era of focus.

With things like image and personal style being what could set you apart from the others, a new batch of video stars like Geoff Rowley and his Sorry video part had the goods in both tricks and attitude. Spike Jonze and his Girl videos launched the directors career and before the masses where enjoying Jason lee’s acting chops kids everywhere loved him for his bit’s in films like Video Days.

Skate On Film decides to end off with Nyjah Huston’s story, a truly incredible contest skater who until he filmed a video didn’t get the respect of his peers that his skills and style deserved. The skate video has become an essential part of the skaters career, with the internet, footage is filmed and distributed to the masses faster than ever, and if your footage isn’t at the level of what’s already out there you need to keep practicing.

Featuring interviews and footage from the likes of pros, photographers, directors and more including Tony Hawk, Ty Evans, Pat Duffy, Matt Hensley, Lance Mountain, Kirk Dianda, Tony Magnusson, Jake Rosenberg, Danny Way, Andrew Reynolds, Heath Kirchart, Atiba Jefferson, Ed Templeton, Geoof Rowley, Torey Pudwill, Erik Ellington, Jon Miner and Nyiah Huston this film is a must for anyone interested in skateboarding. 

Check out the Jared Prindle directed film HERE.

Throwback Thursday's: Azealia Banks - "Seventeen" & "Slowhands" (Interpol Cover)

Next Wednesday Azealia Banks will be dropping her much anticipated mixtape, Fantasea, and while I do prefer the Harlem rappers new sound over her old, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some tracks from yesteryear worth revisiting to remind ourselves where it all began. For this week’s Throwback Thursday I thought why not throw up two of Azealia’s most defining moments prior to the release of her 1991 ep. We start off with "Seventeen", a track produced by Diplo which sampled the well known Ladytron song of the same name,  and was released in 2009 prior to her XL Recordings deal. Following her departure from XL in 2011 , Banks left behind her original alias, Miss Bank$,  and formally became Azealia Banks, and like many artists today used Youtube as a resource to get her name out there. Going in a totally different direction Banks uploaded several demo tracks - including a cover of "Slow Hands" by Interpol which definitely caught a lot of people’s attention at the time.

Download/Stream: Childish Gambino – "Royalty” Mixtape

Happy July 4th!, we should be seeing a fare share of mixtapes dropping throughout the day on the internet as the holiday has become a somewhat unofficial day for artists to share  something new with their fans. And on that note Childish Gambino has dropped his latest. Royalty was released, as promised, bright and early this morning and with all the previews we shared leading up to it you should be familiar with the large list of guest stars on this one. Truth be told we didn’t even know some of them and there are some surprises. Featuring people like Beck, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Bun B, Ghostface, Danny Brown, Haim, and Tina Fay you know this is going to be a must listen for fans. Check out the tracklist below and hit the link to download.

Tracklist

1. Royalty
2. We Ain’t Them
3. One Up (feat. Steve G Lover)
4. Black Faces (feat. Nipsey Hussle)
5. Unnecessary (feat. Schoolboy Q & Ab-Soul)
6. Shoulda Known
7. R.I.P (feat. Bun B)
8. American Royalty (feat. Rza & Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
9. It May Be Glaour Life (feat. Ghostface k!llah)
10. Toxic (feat. Danny Brown)
11. Silk Pillow (feat. Beck)
12. They Don’t Like Me (feat. Chance The Rapper)
13. Arrangement (feat. Conage)
14. Won’t Stop (feat. Danielle Haim of Haim)
15. Bronchitis
16. Wonderful (feat. Josh Osho)
17. Make It Go Right (feat. Kilo Kish)
18. Real Estate (feat. Alley Boy, Swank & Tina Fey)

Download: Childish Gambino – ‘Royalty” Mixtape

Listen/Download: Theophilus London – "Rose Island, Vol. 1" (Mixtape)

Theophilus London dropped a new free mixtape for the fans to rock tomorrow during barbequing.  Rose Island Vol. 1 features one of my favorite tunes from this summer which we shared back in April and guest stars A$AP Rocky as well as some random cover songs including “Take it Off”(TL and Blood Orange) and 80′s Wang Chung track “Dance Hall Days.” You may have heard the smooth joint featuring Big Boi as well that has been floating around the last month called “She Said Ok.”  Some other highlights on the mix include Marvin Gaye and Sade samples. Listen to and or download below......

DOWNLOAD THE ROSE ISLAND, VOL. 1 MIXTAPE

Listen: Wye Oak – “Spiral”

Following their acclaimed full length effort Civilian last year, Baltimore’s Wye Oak have released a new and rather different track then we are accustomed to hearing from the duo in “Spiral.”  Those who have been keeping up with the Oak know that Jenn Wasner started up a solo project and has contributed  a slew of guest appearances on albums by Sharon Van Etten and Future Islands but it’s been a while since we’ve heard from WyeOak as a group and the somewhat 80’s sounding “Spiral” leaves me wondering if this is a new sound or a one off experiment?

Listen: The Dirty Projectors - "Swing Lo Magellan" (Full LP Stream)

It’s been three year’s since Brooklyn’s Dirty Projectors‘ critically acclaimed breakout album Bitte Orca was released into the wild. Swing Lo Magellan (out July 10th) acts as the follow up and is the bands 8th proper studio album overall .  Magellan is definitely the bands most accessible album to date, the harmonizing is all still intact but the pop has been turned up a little bit to balance out some of David Longstreth’s more eclectic tendencies. Take a listen to the full album stream below….

Video: Santigold – “The Keepers”

Santigold delivers a video for her single “The Keepers,” from her recently released sophmore LP, Master of My Make-Believe. The clip is “a green tinted social critique set to a highly dancable beat.” Directed by Santi herself and featuring a cameo from Wu-tang's GZA, enjoy...

Video: Joey Bada$$ - "Waves"

Joey Bada$$ dropped the latest video from his recently released debut mixtape 1999. “Waves” see’s the 17 year old  doing his thing over the Freddie Joachim produced  track in that classic 90's New York hip hop style. Directed by Va$htie, we Joey’s typical day as a teenager. Watch below….

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