Recent News

Black Belt Eagle Scout – the recording project of multi-instrumentalist Katherine Paul – presents a video for “Run It to Ya,” the final pre-release single from her new album, At the Party With My Brown Friends, due this Friday, August 30th via Saddle Creek. Following “My Heart Dreams” and “At the Party,” “Run It to Ya” is about the gentleness of love and how wondrous it can feel at times from the point of view of a queer Indigenous womxn. The video was directed by Evan James Benally Atwood.

“It felt natural for the ‘Run It to Ya’ music video to star queer Indigenous womxn and show their love story unfold. The setting is a queer Indigenous prom, a space where we can truly be ourselves without the ridicules of white settler colonialism. It’s a realm where we can reimagine what our lives look like as queer Indigenous people; what is normally a heteronormative space turns into a magical place where people have the freedom to safely love how they choose.

Throughout my work, I intend to show the thriving lives of Indigenous people, and how we are often excluded from mainstream rock music and the media. This exclusion is detrimental to our health and our existence. I am trying to show what my life is like so that other people can see how we have the right to thrive in this world and have the ability to decolonize.”

Where her 2018 debut, Mother of My Children, was a snapshot of loss and landscape and of Paul’s standing as a radical Indigenous queer feminist, this new chapter finds its power in love, desire and friendship. At the Party With My Brown Friends is a profound and understated forward step. The squalling guitar anthems that shaped its predecessor are replaced by delicate vocals and soft keys, sentiments spoken and unspoken, presenting something shadowy and unsettling; a stirring of the waters. The end result presents a captivating about-face that redefines Paul’s beautifully singular artistic vision.

Gemini Rising started more as an experiment, almost a whim. House and disco producer Tensnake linked with Fiora and Lester Mendez, with the three-piece completing two songs in 2017.With their diverging schedules keeping them apart, the project only really came into focus last year.

Their debut album ‘Best Case Life’ was constructed as 2018 progressed, with these three musicians seeming to unlock something within themselves. Sparkling production matched to clinical songwriting, it’s electronic soul fused with disco abandon.

Check out their new track ‘Just Because’ below! An electrifying return, it’s clipped tones have a subtle sense of restraint, something makes it all the more affecting.

Their new album Best Case Life drops on September 6th!– Via Clash

Common Holly has shared a second single off her upcoming album When I say to you Black Lightning, which is due October 11th via Barsuk/Solitaire. The new single is called “Joshua Snakes,” and like lead single “Central Booking,” it sees Common Holly exploring dreamy, off-kilter art pop and coming out with a song that stays accessible while taking all kinds of abrupt, unexpected turns.

Common Holly is opening for Pinegrove on tour this September, including shows in New Haven, Boston, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, and more; and she also just announced a headlining tour happening after that. – More Info + Solo Dates Via Brooklyn Vegan

Common Holly — 2019 Tour Dates
09/03 – New Haven, CT, USA @ Toad’s Place*
09/04 – Boston, MA, USA @ Royale*
09/05 – Boston, MA, USA @ Royale*
09/06 – South Burlington, VT, USA @ Higher Ground Showcase*
09/08 – Toronto, ON, CAN @ The Opera House Toronto*
09/09 – Detroit, MI, USA @ Majestic Theatre*
09/10 – Chicago, IL, USA @ Lincoln Hall*
09/11 – Chicago, IL, USA @ Thalia Hall Chicago*
09/12 – Madison, WI, USA @ Majestic Theatre*
09/14 – Minneapolis, MN, USA @ Fine Line Music Café*
09/15 – Fargo, ND, USA @ The Aquarium*
09/16 – Soiux Falls, SD, USA @ Icon Lounge + Events*
09/17 – Omaha, NE, USA @ The Waiting Room Lounge*
*supporting Pinegrove

ALA.NI celebrates the joy of finding yourself by releasing a light and free music video for her latest single “SHA LA LA.”

Known for her wistful and airy tunes, the London-born singer typically pairs her songs with simplistic instrumentation or a capella. Her vocal tone is soulful and her emotions seep through every phrase. “I like the idea of nurturing something,” ALA.NI says at the beginning of the visual. “The more I come into myself as an individual person, I like my freedom.”

Throughout the video, ALA.NI showcases signs of finding balance while basking in the beauty of life. She aligns crystals, sages her space, showers, glowing in the sun and, most often, blissfully dances. The song opens up with popping a capella that gradually develops and expands. But don’t let the upbeat and bubbly sound fool you, this is a break-up ode in it’s own right.

“SHA LA LA” is the lead single off ALA.NI’s upcoming album, ACCA, scheduled for an early 2020 release date. – Via NPR

Mayer Hawthorne is an artist who likes to mix things up. On his recent Tuxedo tour Hawthorne challenged himself by playing bass, singing lead and incorporating choreography into the show. While he says he had no interest in being a label head he started his own Big Bucks imprint.

Yes, a true artist, Hawthorne thrives on challenging the norms. Take his new video for “The Game,” premiering here, in a manner of speaking. Being an artist who likes to test boundaries he made a one-minute video, premiering this morning on his Instagram feed. Above is the extended three-minute version, inspired by the seminal 1987 film The Princess Bride.

Forbes spoke with Hawthorne about the video, being a label mogul now, his love for Chic with Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards and his dreams of producing a track for Rihanna. –> Read More HERE!

Hailing from the Congo capital of Kinshasa, KOKOKO! are known for using homemade electronic instruments that they’ve upcycled from metal, cans, engine parts and plastic containers. (If you dig Konono Nº1, they are in the same general territory, sound-wise, but more overtly electronic.) The group, which also includes producer débruit, Makara Bianko (aka the Lingwala devil) and his dancers, will release their debut album, Fongola, on July 5, and you can listen to a few songs from it below.

KOKOKO! just kicked off their 2019 tour at London’s All Point East, and their dates include UK/EU festival stops like End of the Road and Green Man, and they’ll be in North America starting in September, with stop including Pop Montreal and a NYC show at Le Poisson Rouge on October 4th!

KOKOKO! – 2019 TOUR DATES
20 Sep – Cedar Cultural Centre, Minneapolis
24 Sep – Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto
25 Sep – Pop Montreal, Montreal
27 Sep – Deluxx Fluxx, Detroit
28 Sep – Lotus World Music & Arts Festival, Bloomington
2 Oct – Rock N Roll Hotel, Washington DC
3 Oct – Boot & Saddle, Philadelphia
4 Oct – Le Poisson Rouge, New York City
5 Oct – BU Global Music Festival, Boston
8 Oct – The Echo, Los Angeles
9 Oct – New Parish, Oakland
11 Oct – Jack London, Portland
12 Oct – Barboza, Seattle

Mixpak Crew @ Red Bull Culture Clash at The O2, London’

??ICYMI Last week on CityFM! Get to know Brooklyn’s own Mixpak Records, as @navaniknows and @jessfromcosign dig into Caribbean music here in NYC ??

Few influences on New York’s cultural life are as overt and glorious as the traditions brought here by people from the Caribbean. New York’s connection to the West Indies can be found in every part of the city’s Black and social life, but it’s most noticeable in the wealth of its sounds — reggae and dancehall, calypso and soca, kompa and zouk — many of which have ingrained themselves into the local flavors of jazz, disco, hip-hop, house and creative music. The artistic output brims with a rich history; but make no mistake, the cultural conversation between the islands, its immigrants and the streets of New York is a fully current global exchange, offering a daily push towards what’s next. One simply needs to stop by any good summertime dance-party for proof of where the heat is coming from. Which is why CityFM’s episode dedicated to the Caribbean explores both, what happens around the big West Indian Day parade, and what happens all year long.

Special guests this episode = Suze Webb from Brooklyn label Mixpak (pictured), Regg Rocc and Epic B, Aaron Talbert from VP Records and Eddie “Stats” Houghton.

Brought to you with support from the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.