Recent News

Elliot Moss announced his sophomore full-length album, A Change In Diet, will be released on January 17th, 2020, via Grand Jury. The NY-based artist has also shared the evocative video for first single “Barricade,” directed by Madeline Kate Kann. “This one used to be called ‘Golden Dark,’ because that’s the feeling…adrenaline rushing as a result of being lost, hurt, or isolated,” Moss says of the song. “Adrenaline that continues as you’re reminded by things, by your own routines, of someone or something you’re trying to forget. An anxiety that you eventually might look to shield yourself from at whatever cost.” A Change In Diet follows Moss’ 2015 debut Highspeeds and 2017 EP Boomerang—which caught the attention of outlets including NPR Music, The New Yorker, The FADER, Billboard, SPIN, and Noisey—and is now available for pre-order.

The Goods are back with a second single, “Peach,” a collection of moods with an obsession for chasing the funk. When their vocalist Black Tree heard the beat for the first time in the studio, lyrics and melodies flowed instantly.

Band member Black Tree says: “My hope is that it becomes a feel good anthem for sexual liberation. Freedom from shame is after all about opening yourself up to the world and that act of vulnerability breaks down walls and allows us to come together.” Reminiscent of early Prince, “Peach” is sure to keep you dancing through the Summer with a tasty combination of sweet melody and juicy rhythm.

Bringing a sound that reaches into the realms of spaced out synth funk and lowslung house, The Goods’ flavour is both wild and eclectic yet sharply focused.

Chicago-based duo DRAMA is the collaboration between producer Na’el Shehade and vocalist Via Rosa, playing to the complementary dynamics of their unlikely pairing by blurring the lines between R&B and dance-pop, heartbreak and bliss. They have announced their signing with Ghostly International and today, they share “Hold On,” their debut single with the label, hinting at an exciting next step for their label debut coming in 2020.

The track showcases the duality of DRAMA, contrasting vulnerability and self-reliance, curatively dancing out from the throes of a breakup with stylish lucidity. “For me, it’s an anthem. It’s what anyone’s friends would say if the love of their life left them,” notes Rosa. “It’s a reminder for myself to keep loving.” Shehade’s production is crisp, catchy, bright, and buoyant, but not lacking emotional substance, accentuating the lyrics as bass and synth lines arpeggiate atop kick drums fit for dancefloor epiphanies.

ON TOUR:
Sept 30 Seattle, WA @ Neumos ∞
Oct 01 Portland, OR @ Star Theater ∞
Oct 02 Vancouver, BC @ Fortune Sound Club ∞
Oct 04 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
Oct 05 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
Oct 07 Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf ∞
Oct 08 Denver, CO @ Gothic Theater ∞
Oct 11 Las Vegas, NV @ The Bunkhouse Saloon
Oct 12 Los Angeles, CA @ The Novo ∞
Oct 19 Chicago, IL @ Metro – Ghostly 20
∞ dates with SG Lewis

Later this week Robert Glasper will release Fuck Yo Feelings, a collaborative effort that he’s calling a mixtape. Fuck Yo Feelings comes from a two-day studio session. Glasper invited rappers, singers, and jazz players to come through for improvised, organic collaborations, and he put together a hell of a guest list. The mixtape features contributions from Yasiin Bey (the former Mos Def, a longtime Glasper collaborator), Denzel Curry, Rapsody, Herbie Hancock, Terrace Martin, YBN Cordae, Bilal, Andray Day, and Mick Jenkins, among many others. The man got Herbie Hancock and YBN Cordae on the same song. That’ll be something to hear.

The new record is scheduled to coincide with another Glasper residency at the Blue Note. This time, he’s playing at the legendary jazz club for a full month — 56 shows in 28 days. That stretch, which starts the day Fuck Yo Feelings comes out, includes shows with Yasiin Bey and Esperanza Spalding, and it’ll also include tributes to J Dilla, Stevie Wonder, and Roy Hargrove. – READ MORE via Stereogum

DJs and Music lovers alike have sung the praises of fellow New Yorker Alex Gimeno (a.k.a. Ursula 1000) for nearly his entire 20-year career. A gifted DJ/producer/remixer who is able to navigate through a spate of styles including lounge music, pop and breakbeat, Alex has done well to craft an evolving soundtrack that works on and beyond the dance floor.

Ahead of the release of Esoterique, a collection of tracks sporting collabs with tracks Fred Schneider of the B-52s, Isabelle Antena, Qypthone, Gentle People as well as remixes by Jazzanova and Fantastic Plastic Machine, we’re pleased to world premiere the first single called “Swing Boom Bop” featuring Loredana Grimaudo of Swingrowers. It’s a meldonium-mildronate electro-swing throwback track that reminds us that it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.

LISTEN HERE!

Around six months after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in September of 2017, Raquel Berrios and Luis Alfredo Del Valle, founders of synth-pop outfit Buscabulla, finally answered the perpetual call to return home to their native island.

“Vámono” was the first song they wrote since moving back. Today, they’ve premiered its video, directed by Claudia Calderón and inspired by long-standing Puerto Rican traditions: the folkloric vejigante masks centric to the Carnaval de Ponce, where Del Valle is from, and the Festival de Las Mascaras in northern Hatillo where, along with nearby Arecibo, Berrios’ ancestors lived and died.

Over time, these festivals have adapted to modern culture: The Dec. 28 Masks of Hatillo Festival, dating back to 1823, is no longer a parade on horseback. Now, it’s all about wildly decorated, wheelie-popping floats soundtracked by reggaeton blasting through crowded, chaotic streets. And while many of the “gangs” showcased have updated to modern themes (e.g. SpongeBob, Smurfs), they’re still acting out the biblical tale on which the festival was founded — Innocents’ Day — by portraying the soldiers deployed by King Herod to slaughter Bethlehem’s children. – READ MORE (and peep the amazing photo gallery) VIA PAPER MAG