Archives: February 2020

OUT NOW – “Take It All Away” is the latest offering from San Francisco Bay Area-based band The Seshen, taken from their upcoming third full length LP ‘CYAN’ (out 28th February). This album opener sees vocalist and lyricist Lalin St. Juste invoke imagery of power, strength and independence reflect on her own transformative and bold decision to cut ties with the things that no longer serve her;”As a black, queer woman, there are a lot of ways in which I have been conditioned that do not serve my truth. I’m in a continuous process of taking away all these layers, healing this confusion, and taking back my power, my voice, my sense of self.” Built around synth sounds that feel warm, yet distant and set against a backdrop of dry and unforgiving drums and bass, complimenting the lyrics of the track, bassist/producer Akiyoshi Ehara creates a soundscape rife with a sense of longing and grasping at something that is just out of reach.

Last month, Thundercat returned with news of a new album called It Is What It Is, his followup to 2017’s Drunk. The announcement came with a lead single, “Black Qualls.” (It was a promising initial preview, ranking amongst our favorite songs that week.) Today, the man otherwise known as Stephen Lee Bruner is back with a new called “Dragonball Durag.”

The first part of the song’s name comes from Bruner’s love of the Dragon Ball franchise. “I have a Dragon Ball tattoo… it runs everything,” he said in a press release. “There is a saying that ‘Dragon Ball is life.’” He continued, talking about durags: “There are two types of people in the world, the guy with the durag and the guy who doesn’t know what a durag is. The durag is a superpower, to turn your swag on… it does something, it changes you. If you have one in the wardrobe, think about wearing it tonight, and it may pop off because you never know what’s going to happen.”

Not that Bruner needs to evoke the mystical characters of Dragon Ball or a superhero costume change by way of a durag to activate his own powers, but it seems to help. “Dragonball Durag” is the kind of liquid funk Thundercat excels at, with calling cards like that muscular-yet-psychedelic bass-playing and a sticky groove. Check it out below. – via Stereogum

Ultraísta have shared a new track from their first new album in eight years Sister – out March 13 via Partisan Records. “Anybody” weaves an orchestra through the band’s sophisticated, enthralling, electronic pop sound, and singer Laura Bettinson uses her face as a canvas in the accompanying self-directed music video. Watch below and feel free to share.

Ultraísta consists of Laura Bettinson (who also performs as FEMME / lau.ra), multi-instrumentalist/producer Nigel Godrich (Radiohead) and drummer/producer Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M., Atoms for Peace). Last month another ‘Sister’ highlight – “Tin King” – landed spotlights with NPR Music (Top Songs of January), Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Fader, Cool Hunting, Hypebeast, Stereogum + more.

Sister grew out of several years of sporadic improv sessions, with Godrich ultimately piecing everything together at his London studio space. The album is a cinematic sci-fi soundscape that’s both exhilarating and laser-focused. Behind Bettinson’s warm, inviting vocal delivery and anchored by Waronker’s sophisticated percussion work, ‘Sister’ easily stands tall among the impressive and extensive career resumes of each bandmember.

Georgia announces 2020 North American Tour Dates! For Georgia, the last year has been hugely triumphant. Her new album Seeking Thrills Out Now, she’s had three singles shot to the top of the UK radio charts on BBC Radio 1’s A-list, she played a debut set at Glastonbury Festival, and in October she toured the US for the first time ever before returning home to the UK, where she performed on the late night TV show Later…With Jools Holland.

She capped off the year with a nomination for BBC’s Sound of 2020, while her summer smash, “About Work The Dancefloor”, was included in Pitchfork and Gorilla vs. Bear’s Best Songs of 2019 lists. And the response to the album has been exultant, with people drawn in by the dancefloor-ready hooks and won over by Georgia’s charm.

Make sure you catch Georgia on her first major headline tour in North America this Spring!

Georgia North American Tour Dates
Wed, March 25 – Brooklyn, NY – The Sultan Room
Sat, March 28 – Boise, ID – Treefort Festival
Sun, March 29 – Boise, ID – Treefort Festival
Wed, April 1 – Vancouver, BC – Biltmore Cabaret
Thurs, April 2 – Seattle, WA – Barboza
Sat, April 4 – Portland, OR – Holocene
Tues, April 7 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo
Thurs April 9 – San Francisco, CA – Popscene @ Rickshaw Stop

Following the announcement of his debut album LESS IS MOOR due out March 20, multidisciplinary artist, rapper, producer, and performer Ojay Morgan who performs as Zebra Katz shares incendiary video for recent single “ISH”. The video is “a square-dance in darkness against oppression,” says Zebra. “With this visual, I wanted to capture and release the rage I’m constantly in as a Black artist. This is what happens when I lose it – in a non-threatening and sensual way. With only a day to rehearse and establish choreography with Tom Heyes, I felt confident knowing it was time to battle myself out of the white box, step back into the zone, and fully embrace my inner ISH.”

Zebra Katz is a first-generation Jamaican-American who burst onto the scene with the likes of Azealia Banks, Angel Haze and The House of Ladosha, when his runaway hit single “Ima Read” paved the way for his distinctive genre-defiant sound. The explosive, viral single was picked up by Diplo’s Mad Decent imprint Jeffree’s and garnered further popularity when it ran for 11 minutes on a Rick Owens runway at Paris Fashion Week. This spark leads to an avalanche of remixes from Busta Rhymes, Tricky, Azealia Banks and many more + genre-defying live performances at The Broad museum in Los Angeles, Art Basel in Switzerland as well as the New Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA PS1 and Brooklyn Museum in NYC.

Zebra Katz Tour Dates
3/31: Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade
4/1: Los Angeles @ El Cid
4/3: Oakland, CA @ Starline Social
4/4: Vancouver, BC @ Paradise

The video for Squarepusher’s new single Terminal Slam premiered earlier this year on one of the huge TV screens that populate Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing, probably the most recognizable intersection in Japan and thought to be the busiest in the world.

This was the perfect location to premiere the video to the new single, set in a very near-future Tokyo and sees a young protagonist don augmented reality glasses to subvert and corrupt the barrage of commercial advertising. One of the many highlights on Squarepusher’s celebrated upcoming album, Be Up a Hello, this new single piles on the acid breaks at huge velocity designed for the most hectic of dancefloors and was matched perfectly by the frenetic, collapsing dystopian world created here.

The video was helmed by longtime Squarepusher collaborator and world renowned visual artist, Daito Manabe. The director, artist and co-founder of the Rhizomatiks research group has won awards for the memorable Tokyo 2020 Olympics presentation they produced at the closing ceremony of the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics in Rio, using AR (Augmented Reality) Technology, and Rhizomatiks are also integral to the creation of this year’s Olympic opening ceremony in their hometown.

“The concept began with the idea of ​​implementing the near future, not the distant future, using modern technology. In the near future, It would be exciting to be able to rewrite ads as freely as is depicted in this music video while wearing such a device and wandering around the city.”

US TOUR DATES
April 09 Royale, Boston – live
April 11 Brooklyn Steel, NYC – live
April 14 SAT, Montreal – live
April 15 Danforth, Toronto, – live
April 16 St. Andrews, Detroit – live
April 17 Metro, Chicago – live
April 19 Bluebird Theater, Denver – live
April 22 Neumos, Seattle – live
April 23 Wonder Ballroom, Portland – live
April 24 The Midway, SF- live
April 25 1720, LA – live

Critically acclaimed Brooklyn duo Overcoats announce the March 6 release of their upcoming album The Fight today via Loma Vista Recordings. Tempering punk energy with vulnerable vitality and irresistible catchiness, The Fight is a ten-song battle-cry. It’s the kind of record that might inspire you to quit your job, run a marathon, divorce your my-drugs-blog, change your life in the way you always wanted to, but needed an extra push for. The Fight is the push.

The Fight was produced by Justin Raisen (Angel Olsen, Charli XCX, Santigold) and Yves Rothman (Yves Tumor, Empress Of, girl in red, Miya Folick). Overcoats have also today debuted a new song and video entitled “Fire & Fury.” The track is equal parts dark and brooding as well as hopeful and anthemic – a dichotomy which is mirrored in the its soaring chorus “there’s a fire, there’s a fury, the sky is falling, but we’ll get through it.”