Justice has just announced a world tour in support of their new sophomore album, Audio, Video, Disco. The tour starts on New Year’s Day in Sydney and will end in Sydney. You can check out the tour dates after the break. The French duo has also announced a cover contest where the winners can win tickets to the first show at Sydney. Contestants are meant to upload a video of them covering a song from the new album. You can check out a video with the band explaining the details of the contest below.
01-01 Sydney, Australia – Field Day Festival
01-02 Queensland, Australia – Field Day Festival (Gold Coast)
01-03 Perth, Australia – Summadayze Festival
01-06 Melbourne, Australia – Festival Hall
01-10 Osaka, Japan – Namba-Hatch
01-11-12 Tokyo, Japan – Zepp
01-27 Cermont-Ferrand, France – La Coopé
01-28 Toulouse, France – Le Bikini
01-31 Lille, France – L’Aéronef
02-01 Lille, France – Stereolux
02-02 Caen, France – Le Cargo
02-04 Paris, France – L’Olympia
02-09 Bristol, England – O2 Academy
02-10 London, England – O2 Academy
02-11 Birmingham, England – O2 Academy
02-12 Glasgow, Scotland – O2 Academy
02-13 Manchester, England – Manchester Academy
03-16 New York, NY – Terminal 5
03-17 New York, NY – Terminal 5
03-19 Boston, MA – House of Blues
03-20 Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory
03-21 Washington, D.C. – 9:30 Club
03-22 Atlanta, GA – The Tabernacle
04-17 Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
04-19 Las Vegas, NV – The Pool at the Cosmopolitan
04-24 Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
04-25 Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre
04-26 Vancouver, British Columbia – Forum
Odd Future‘s haziest rapper and self-proclaimed king Mike G has released his long-awaited Award Tour EP, a seven track project filled with in-house production anda few collaborations with Vince Staples. Mike G’s still gearing up for the release of his proper sophomore album Gold (set for release on Odd Future Records?), but at least we can bump the Award Tour EP in the meantime. Download link below.
Award Tour EP Tracklisting:
01. Moracular World (w/ Vince Staples) [Prod. Frisco TSC & Left Brain]
02. Chevron [Prod. Hodgy Beats]
03. Carrera Ft. Vince Staples [Prod. Jay Curry]
04. Chanel [Prod. Patrick The Great]
05. Award Tour (w/ Vince Staples) [Prod. Frisco TSC]
06. Vicks (w/ Vince Staples) [Prod. Left Brain]
07. Michael Douglas |Speak! & Vince Staples| [Prod. Frisco TSC]
Producer Star Slinger just gave Harlem upstart ASAP Rocky‘s web hit “Peso” a complete reworking, releasing the song on his Soundcloud page. The vocals are sped up for the majority of the track and ASAP Ty Beats‘s original production is pretty much completely “refixed,” with a much harder-hitting set of drums. Personally, I’m still a bigger fan of the original track and its more laid-back vibe, but Star Slinger’s version is so different in style and energy that it’s worth giving it a listen or two. Check it out below and hit the down arrow on the player for the free MP3.
Now that we’re all on the same page, may I present to you a couple of new-ish, full-length, ridiculously enjoyable mashup albums.
The Abrahammer – How Dubstep Music Destroyed My Life
First off, we’ll be traveling (in a very non-literal fashion) to Columbus, OH, where a successor to Girl Talk‘s shirtless and sweaty crown has cranked out what is quite possibly the mashup album of the year (GT division), How Dubstep Music Destroyed My Life. Much like GT, The Abrahammer presents a densely packed cross section of rap and rock radio hits (152 unique samples in all), but adds even more with the brilliant deployment of TV theme songs and even tosses the geeks an 8-bit bone in the form of a toughened up (via Spank Rock/Amanda Blank and some digitally tricked out Funky Drummer samples) Legend of Zelda theme to kick off “Stray Dog and the Legend of the Best.”
The whole album is shot-through with OMFG ass-kicking moments. Dr. Dre vs. Guns n’ Roses kicking over at the drop of a hi-hat into Audio Two vs. Steve Miller on “Gangster of Success”.The Office Theme fading into A-ha as Major Lazer gives way to the Brazilian Girls and Gucci Mane on “Hold the Right to Spin”. Archie spitting venom over one of the greatest riffs of all time before suddenly spinning the dial over to Devo’s spastic funk and Bun B’s ode to drank on “Back In It”. The entirety of “I Usually Drop It Like This”.
There’s nowhere to go but up, seeing as this is The Abrahammer’s debut. You can pick up the whole thing here, in exchange for a simple appreciative tweet or a Facebook “Like,” both of which he has fully earned.
The Abrahammer – “Stray Dog and the Legend of the Best”
Wugazi – 13 Chambers
Still staying in the Midwest, we now head to Minneapolis, MN, home of Prince Rogers Nelson and several underachieving sports teams. Wugazi is the end result of a year’s worth of cutting up every Wu-Tang acapella and Fugazi riff Cecil Otter and Swiss Andy could get their creative hands on.
Following the greyprint left behind by DJ Dangermouse on his road to eventual superstardom, Wugazi refines the mashup process to one set of vocalists and one set of instrumentals. Fugazi, while not being an obvious choice for an unwitting accomplice, turns out to be a great one. There aren’t too many post-hardcore, post-punk, post-whatever bands out there that rely on their rhythm section quite as much as Fugazi does. (Need more evidence on Fugazi’s love for drums and bass? Check out former Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty’s side project Girls Against Boys, which featured a thunderous duo of bass players. [Much in the way Ned’s Atomic Dustbin did, but only without the {seemingly} novelty aspect. Of course, the Neds did it first, which may make them the standard bearer. All I know is that I prefer GVSB to NAB, hence the previous several sentences.*])
*SCL – Standard Critic’s License, Subsection B, Part 1.(b). “Subjective tastes can (and should) be used to revise musical history as needed.”
While not every track works quite as well as the tracks that work, the ratio of great-to-meh is incredibly high. Once again, the entry free is all of 0, no matter which currency you choose to not spend. Go at it track by track via Wugazi’s Soundcloud page or take a shot at the whole thing with this handy download link.
Following the release of his latest album Lasers, Lupe Fiasco announced that he wasn’t personally satisfied with the album he was forced to make by Atlantic Records, despite the commercial success of the record. Long-time fans of Lu weren’t satisfied either, calling the album too poppy and a manufactured attempt to make hits for the usually deep and incredibly lyrical rapper.
Today, on Thanksgiving Day, Lupe released a brand new mixtape titledFriend Of The People as a way to thank his fans for supporting him throughout his career. The Friend Of The People project actually began two years ago, but was shelved due to Lupe’s involvement with Summit on the Summit and his climb onto Mount Kilimanjaro. After Lasers, he rebooted the project, preparing the 12-track, sample heavy release in anticipation for his forthcoming LP, Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album.
You can check out two songs below (sampling Justice and M83!), as well as the full mixtape below. The full tracklist is available after the break.
Friend Of The People Tracklist:
01. Introduction (Nero “2808”)
02. Lupe Back (Nero “Doomsday”)
03. Friend of the People (feat. Dosage) (Sebastian “Jack Wire”)
04. Double Burger with Cheese (Justice “Ohio”)
05. Joaquin Phoenix (feat. Lil Ronnie)
06. WWJD He’d Prolly LOL Like WTF!!! (Justice “On’n’On”)
07. Lightwork (Ellie Goulding & Bassnectar “Lights” remix)
08. Life, Death & Love From San Francisco (John Coltrane “Love Supreme”)
09. SLR
10. SNDCLsH In Vegas (Kaskade & Skrillex “Lick It”)
11. Super Cold (The Glitch Mob “Bad Wings”)
12. The End Of The World (M83 “Midnight City”)