New Princess Nokia – “Dragons”

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January 16, 2014
New Music
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Screen Shot 2014-01-16 at 1.56.16 PM

Yesterday, Harlem-bred Princess Nokia (formerly known as Wavy Spice) delivered a dreamy new song/video, titled “Dragons”. Only releasing a few efforts to the public at this point in her short career, this may be her strongest, most fully realized project yet. Slowly fading in and out over a hardcore-indebted beat from OWWWLS (producer of Azealia Banks’ “Atlantis” and Wavy Spice’s “Versace Hottie“) Princess Nokia drops her fangs and delivers an intimate love song. The video for “Dragons” sees the Princess and her baby boy Wiki (of Ratking fame) trading off at arcade games and sharing a forty in the shower between shots of DBZ and X-Men. Stream below and hit the jump for the  video.

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New Brenmar – “Medusa” (Feat. Rush Davis)

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January 16, 2014
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brenmarFor the past several years, Brenmar has been strutting his innate ability for producing dancefloor heaters on the US circuit, linking up with innumerable collaborators and becoming a household name in the club music world. These days, it looks like the New York resident might just have outgrown his shoes, producing bigger, more elaborate productions that resemble Mike Will Made It’s work more than anything coming out of his hometown of Chicago (or Jersey/Baltimore/Philly for that matter). On February 18, he will release High End Times Vol. 1, his first all originals mixtape and a striking effort that will surely enlarge his sound and fan-base. Featuring the likes of Sasha Go Hard and Mykki Blanco, the tape features a bevy of intriguing vocalists. Based on the Rush Davis featuring “Medusa”, High End Times might end up as seminal tape, melding radio ready R&B production with a regional club aesthetic, tied together by Davis’ mouthwatering performance. Stream/download “Medusa” below and be sure to mark down February 18 on the calendar.

 

Southern Hospitality Contribute FACT Mix 420

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January 15, 2014
Mixes
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southern hospitality fact mixSouthern Hospitality is a blog, party, label and crew promoting the very best in hip hop and club music, preferably the bombastic land where the two meet. Rob Pursey and Davey Boy Smith have been imprinting the Southern Hospitality name on just about everything over the past several years, whether that means throwing the best damn rap party in London or releasing wild collaborative efforts from Danny Brown and Darq E Freaker. FACT Mag decided to grab Rob and Davey for their 420th mix and the result is the synthesis of the Southern Hospitality way. Essentially a list of what you should have been listening to over the past year and what you will be listening to over the next, this mix won’t be leaving the rotation for quite some time.

Just Blaze & Sinjin Hawke Collaborate On “One”

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January 15, 2014
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sinjin hawke

Earlier, we posted about the brand new Red Bull Music Academy compilation that features the likes of Kid Smpl, Branko, Throwing Snow and Benjamin Damage. The comp features a number of impressive collaborative tracks including a deeply referential Sinjin Hawke and DJ Slow effort. What we forgot to mention is that while the aforementioned Sinjin Hawke was in New York, he also hopped in the studio with horn chemist/legend Just Blaze and cooked up a collaboration of their own. A far cry from the Just Blaze/Baauer collaboration (no shots), “One” starts out as a piece of digitalized gospel, all soaring church melodies and barely concealed vocal bits. By the second half of the track, the duo’s dancefloor inclinations emerge as a clacking snare brings on an array of neon synth timbres and clipped vocal portions. Thanks to the FACT Mag team, “One” is freely available to the public. Stream and download below.

New Jerome LOL – “Fool” (Feat. Angelina Lucero)

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January 15, 2014
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jerome lol fool

With only a few weeks until the release of Jerome LOL’s Deleted/Fool EP (out February 4 on Friends of Friends), the Los Angeles-based badman has handed us another carrot in the form of “Fool”. The song’s base is comprised of chugging, swung, machine techno with the brilliant Angelina Lucero putting in a transcendent vocal performance over the top. It’s brooding, propulsive and deeply affecting and while those adjectives come up often when speaking of Jerome’s music, “Fool” is as unique a track as we’ve received from him since the LOL Boys era. It represents both maturation and a condensation of the sound that he’s been fiddling with over the years, matching the dance music proclivities of much of his remix work with the deeply melodic, vocal-based work of his solo material. Deleted/Fool can’t come soon enough.

Download Not For Sale: Red Bull Music Academy New York 2013

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January 15, 2014
New Music
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rbma various asets - not for sale

This Summer, 62 musicians gathered in New York City to make music, attend workshops, share secrets and perform live. Those 62 comprised the 2013 Red Bull Music Academy class, an impressive array of producers, vocalists and instrumentalists from every corner of the electronic music world. Today, we’re lucky enough to receive (part) of what they came up with this past Summer. Various Assets – Not For Sale features collaborative tracks from Astral Plane favorites Sinjin Hawke, Kid Smpl, DJ Slow, Throwing Snow, Distal, Thundercat (under his birth name), Benjamin Damage and more. A compilation can only go so far to document a Summer’s worth of collaborative work, but Various Assets does an admirable job at giving plebes like myself some insight into the wonderful process that is the annual RBMA gathering. Stream Kid Smpl, SHDBOX, Branko and AnnaLove’s “Forces In The Way” and hit the jump (or head to Bandcamp) to listen/download the entire compilation

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ASL Singles Club Mix For The Astral Plane (w/ 8prn Interview)

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January 14, 2014
Interviews, Mixes, New Music
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ASL SINGLES CLUB ART

With their feet firmly set in Vancouver and their sights set high, the fledgling ASL Singles Club label/clothing line is one of the most inspiring outfits operating today. Headed by Vancouver residents 8prn, Heartbeat (s) and Chef, the label has already released a series of impressive singles from Nick Wisdom, Autem and Rook Milo. We were lucky enough to grab 8prn for a quick conversation about ASL and ended up roping the mysterious Mr. Chill into contributing a guest mix on the part of the label. Mostly 4/4 fare, the mix features upcoming ASL material from Prison Garde and Sleepyhead as well as a few well-placed unreleased jams from the likes of Motions (formerly of Grown Folk) and the Amsterdam-based Presk.

Who is Mr. Chill and who makes up the ASL family? Is it mostly a Vancouver-based thing or more of a global affair?

ASL is run by Chef, 8prn and Heartbeat(s), with some help from Mr. Chill, an older dude who invests in us. The fam extends to the artists who release with us as well; Rook Milo, Autem, Nick Wisdom, Sleepyhead and more to come. At the moment we are majority Vancouver based, although we have releases lined up from artists in other cities and countries; Montreal, NYC, and London.

Hit the jump for full interview and track list…

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Download Johnny May Cash’s Death Row Mixtape

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January 11, 2014
New Music
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johnny may cashIt seems like we post a lot of Chicago music these days, whether that be one of the many prodigious, young drill rappers or one of the Windy City’s bevy of footwork pioneers. Today we’re bringing you one of the former in the form of Johnny May Cash’s second mixtape, duly titled Death Row. With a heavy helping of Young Chop and 808 Mafia production, May Cash raps in near-constant autotune, bouncing between 808 & Heartbreak style crooning and something akin to Chief Keef’s ever-creative drone rapping. At only 11 tracks, Death Row is an extremely condensed mixtape, curated with a touch that rarely makes into the bulging informal rap world. It’s easy to spit off platitudes about how drill rappers elucidate the dire nature of Chicago’s “South” and “West” sides (though the city is far more fractured than that), but the emotional strain that pervades Death Row is palpable on a level beyond production and storytelling. Stream “Day One” below and download the tape from DatPiff here.

Download Tink’s Winter’s Diary 2 Mixtape

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January 10, 2014
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tink winter diary

After a triumphant 2013 during which Tink let loose her Boss Up mixtape and lent vocals to new club super group Future Brown’s “Wanna Party” (earning the #3 spot on our favorite songs of the year list), the Chicago singer/emcee is back with Winter’s Diary 2. While her last tape included a Versace remix and Young Chop production, Tink transitions into the territory of smooth bedroom jams that her 2012 project, Winter’s Diary showcased. She may not be exploring untouched ground, but Tink’s return to conversational R&B is exactly what we want. Look out for the wax-dripping “Freak Like Me” and “Talkin About“, which features Lil Herb and offers a taste of Chicago drill. Download Winter’s Diary 2 for free over at DatPiff and stream “Freak Like Me” below.

Download Leikeli47’s Lk-47 Pt. II Mixtape

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January 10, 2014
New Music
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lk-47

Leikeli47 is an eternally ski mask clad female rapper from New York who just turned in one of the most inspiring rap tapes we’ve heard in a minute. Lk-47 Pt. II is (clearly) the second tape in a series and while we hadn’t heard the first incantation until today, the mixture of Miami-derived bass, Bomb Squad-esque production and ol’ fashioned New York swagger is irresistible. The rapping is brash and direct as Leikeli47 compares herself to corporate mavens Oprah and Diddy, as well as both Janet and Michael Jackson, and Van Ghogh (among others). Not only can she rap with ferocity, she can really belt it out, crafting some instantly memorable choruses on tracks like “Miss America” and “The Root”. Lk-47 Pt. II sounds effortlessly complete and creatively endowed, a rare fete for a relatively new artist. Expect to hear a lot of “C&C”, “Miss America” and “Heard Em Say” in the coming months. Stream the tape below and download here.