Each week, we’re going to round up new tunes and bring them to you here on the Dive blog. Check out our next installment from Jay Prevatt!
Must-watch music videos:
• Analog Rascals, “Gringo Starbuxxx”
At a time when hip-hop music is being pushed into all kinds of weird new places, there’s a dearth of innovative rap in Chapel Hill – there’s just no good reason for that. Props to Analog Rascals for stepping up to the plate. Part of the No9to5 crew (one of the campus’s only consistent hip-hop sources), the Analog Rascals are rapper P-Rob (Patrick Robinson) and producer AltAir (Michael Carey). Their new video for “Gringo Starbuxxx” has it all: an addictive, feel-good beat, raps about everything from Ayn Rand to binge drinking culture, a Mipso cameo, literal hat tricks and plenty of coffee and suits. It feels like something that could’ve only come out of this campus, and if Chapel Hill can’t get behind that then there’s just no pleasing this town.
• Red Bull Music Academy, “Don’t Call It #Beats”
Red Bull Music Academy sat down with laptop-music rockstars including Flying Lotus, Shlohmo, TNGHT and XXYYXX for “Don’t Call It #Beats,” the fourth installment in its H?SHTAG$ video series, to talk about what exactly defines the amorphous beat scene cultivated in Los Angeles. The result is an entertaining,thorough-but-concise introduction to a trailblazing scene – it’s well worth a ten minute investment.
New Tunes:
• Lapalux ft. Kerry Leatham: “Without You”
Lapalux is a rising star in the beat scene detailed by the video above – “Without You” is the type of track that warrants him the status. Restrained, arid synths and masterfully processed vocals courtesy of Kerry Leatham make this one a clear-cut jam. “Without You” is the lead single for Lapalux’s debut album, Nostalchic, which will be released by Brainfeeder Records on March 25. While you’re at it, check out “Forlorn” ft. Busdriver, a rad B-side released on Soundcloud this week. Busdriver’s left-field raps are a perfect complement to Lapalux’s off-kilter beats – a steal for the price of free.
• Akron/Family: “Until the Morning”
A couple of weeks ago I complained about folk pop in the Bonnaroo lineup, referencing acts like the Lumineers and Mumford & Sons. If you want to hear a band doing folk pop the right way, look no further than Akron/Family. From Miles Seaton, one of the band’s core members, in his recent interview with Spin: “A lot of this contemporary pop stuff, this 1930s, panning for gold, bow tie stuff like the Lumineers, it’s very heart on the sleeve … But they’re telling someone else’s story. I feel like we’re telling our own story now and it’s less fairy tale.” “Until the Morning” is the second single from Akron/Family’s forthcoming third LP, Dead Oceans, out April 30.
• Rustie: “Slasherr”
Glasgow producer Rustie, after releasing his critically acclaimed debut album Glass Swords in 2011, is finally back with new material in the form of “Slasherr,” a single to be released on March 18. A maximalist romp boasting a truly over-the-top synth lead and drums that would make Mannie Fresh jealous, the track is almost too much fun.
Other Tracks:
• Surfer Blood: “Demon Dance”
• The Flaming Lips: “Look…The Sun Is Rising”
• Ghostface Killah: “The Sure Shot (parts 1 and 2)”
Remixes You Didn’t Know You Wanted:
• Passion Pit ft. Juicy J: “Constant Conversations (Remix)”
• Psy ft. 2 Chainz and Tyga: “Gangnam Style (Diplo Remix)”
• Tame Impala: “Mind Mischief (The Field Remix)”
• Azealia Banks: “Barely Legal (The Strokes Cover)”
New Album Streams:
Atoms for Peace, Amok
Jimi Hendrix, People, Hell and Angels
David Bowie, The Next Day
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