Frank Wu
Listen: Phonte – “Not Here Anymore (feat. Elzhi)”
North Carolina rap legend Phonte is set to release his first ever solo release Charity Starts At Home on September 27, 2011 through FE Music. The first offering off this new project is “Not Here Anymore (feat. Elzhi)” and is produced by 9th Wonder. Phonte and 9th made up two-thirds of Little Brother, highly regarded as one of the most prominent underground rap groups of all time, before the trio officially broke up in 2010. With 9th Wonder handling the production duties, Phonte and former Slum Village member Elzhi share the mic and drop some thought-provoking, conscientious rhymes. Give it a spin below.
Listen: James Blake & Bon Iver – “Fall Creek Boys Choir”
James Blake and Bon Iver‘s first and widely anticipated collaborative track, “Fall Creek Boys Choir”, was just released by Blake on his Youtube page. Featuring production by Blake and vocals from Vernon, “Fall Creek Boys Choir” is a pretty minimalistic effort. Vernon’s signature auto-tuned falsetto meshes pretty well with the simple, thumping bassline throughout the song. My only complaint? Blake seems to be incorporating a random dog bark in the beat, which seems to disturb the flow of the song rather than help it. Give the track a listen below.
The track will be available for purchase on iTunes next week on August 29, 2011 and according to the Youtube page, “Enough Thunder – Oct 2011”. Could it be another new song or a full-fledged EP or album? No word yet, but any further efforts by these two should be of extremely high quality.
Listen: Ryan Adams – “Lucky Now”
Ryan Adams is set to release his brand new solo LP, Ashes & Fire, on October 11th via PAX-AM/Capitol, his thirteenth studio release and first on Capitol. Today, the singer-songwriter released the first cut from the album, “Lucky Now”. The deluxe bundle of the album (which you can preorder here) will come enclosed with a 3D Lenticular photo of Adams, an expanded booklet with 3D images, 3D glasses, and bonus track “Darkness”.
You can listen to “Lucky Now” below and check out the full tracklist after the break.
Video: Matt & Kim (feat. Soulja Boy and Andrew WK) – “I’m A Goner”
Last year, Converse brought together Kid Cudi, Vampire Weekend‘s Rostam Batmanglij, and Best Coast to create the cheery “All Summer”. Yet again, Converse has created another random combination of musicians, putting together Soulja Boy, Andrew WK, and Matt & Kim to create the extremely catchy “I’m A Goner”, recorded at the Converse Rubber Tracks studio in Brooklyn. Talk about a weird group.
The video features the foursome rising from the dead to “throw a raging dance party in a morgue.”
You can download the track or find out more about the project over here.
Bjork’s ‘Biophilia’ Tracklisting
Bjork‘s Biophilia now has an official tracklisting, according to this product listing on Play.com. The album is set to only include ten tracks, with three additional tracks featured on the digipack edition. You can check out the full tracklisting after the break.
You can listen to lead single “Crystalline” below.
Mixtape: The Weeknd – Thursday
The Weeknd makes his highly-anticipated return with the release of the second part of his planned mixtape trilogy, following up House of Balloons with the brand-newThursday. After mysteriously bursting onto the scene with his first mixtape, Toronto-raised Abel Tesfaye has been busy with October’s Very Own, working with fellow Toronto artist Drake and even performing with him at the OVO Fest. The nine-track mixtape can be downloaded at his website here. Alternatively, you can use thisMegaupload link as well.
Echoes of Silence, the final part of the mixtape trilogy, is planned for a release this fall.
Thursday Tracklist:
01. Lonely star
02. Life of the party
03. Thursday
04. The zone
05. The birds part one
06. The birds part two
07. Gone
08. Rolling Stone
09. Heaven or Las Vegas
Sid Sriram Covers The Weeknd
Sid Sriram has been on a roll recently, releasing a great cover of Frank Ocean‘s “We All Try” (watch that here). To follow up, he has released yet another fantastic cover, this time choosing to perform his take on The Weeknd‘s “High For This”. Complete with live instrumentation, Sid’s voice really shines here. You can download the song or watch the video below.
James Blake and Bon Iver Collaboration on August 24
Now that Kanye West and Jay-Z have teamed up and released Watch The Throne, it seems like more superstar collaborations are in our future. Indie kings James Blakeand Bon Iver, who both released critically-acclaimed albums this year, have teamed up and will be releasing, well, something. Taking to his Twitter account, Blake posted the following cryptic message: “24th August 2011 – James Blake & Bon Iver ‘Fall Creek Boys Choir'”. Justin Vernon owns a studio in Fall Creek, Wisconsin and the two both have incredible singing voices. As for what this project will be? No real details have been revealed.
The Vaccines Perform on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
The Vaccines, fresh off the release of debut album What Did You Expect From the Vaccines?, made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night, bringing their garage-rock sound to late night television. Accompanied by a flashy light show, the British rock outfit impress with a bright, energetic performance of “If You Wanna”. The band’s 2011 tour dates with chillwave duo Tennis and fellow Brits Arctic Monkeys can be found after the break.
Listen: Gorilla Warfare Tactics – “Dark Saber Jedi”
After promising a new track on Facebook, Gorilla Warfare Tactics follow through and have dropped a brand new cut entitled “Dark Saber Jedi”. The new song is fairly raw sounding, but it definitely has an old-school vibe. As always, GWT drop some sharp rhymes over a smooth beat. You can download below.
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