Head over to The Weeknd‘s website or this direct link to download his new highly anticipated mixtape Echoes of Silence. This is the third mixtape R&B singer Abel Tesfaye has released this year, following the critically acclaimed House of Balloons and Thursday. Tesfaye has also recently appeared on his fellow Canadian comrade Drake’s new album Take Care. Two choice cuts (the latter of which is produced by Clams Casino) are included below.
It’s been a long few years for fans of the mysterious California MC Blu since he dropped his critically-acclaimed album Below the Heavens with Exile manning the tables. In the meantime, Blu’s been working on his own production, left Warner Bros. before dropping his major label debut, and has only been releasing a few unmastered tracks every now and then.
But today, seemingly out of nowhere, Blu posted his unfinished second album with Exile, Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them. Recorded back in 2009, the new 15-track LP is unmixed and unmastered, but the rhymes and the beats are both solid. No word on whether or not the two are collaborating again.
Give it a listen below and if you like what you hear, you can purchase the whole thing for $15 on Blu’s Bandcamp.
Director Clifton Bell teamed up with the Legendary Roots Crew on a short film for the hip-hop group’s new concept album, undun. The 9-minute-long clip features four cuts from the album, including “Sleep”, “Stomp (feat. Greg Porn)”, “Tip The Scale (feat. Dice Raw)”, and “Make My (feat. Big K.R.I.T. & Dice Raw)”. undun is now in stores everywhere and is one of my personal favorite releases of the year, describing the fall of a fictional character named Redford Stephens.
“undun is the story of this kid who becomes a criminal, but he wasn’t born criminal. He’s not the nouveau exotic primitive bug-eyed gunrunner… he’s actually thoughtful and is neither victim nor hero. Just some kid who begins to order his world in a way that makes the most sense to him at a given moment… At the end of the day… isn’t that what we all do?”
It’s really quite unfortunate that Asher Roth blew up with “I Love College”, a song that really doesn’t fit in with the rest of his repertoire. Asher is incredibly lyrical, he’s proven that he can be inspirational with songs like “G.R.I.N.D.”, and now he’s even signed to one of the legendary hip-hop labels: Def Jam. Still, people associate his name with “I Love College”. Ouch.
Anyway, Asher released the title track from his upcoming Pabst & Jazz mixtape, a smooth, jazzy cut with production from Chicago’s Blended Babies, a killer verse by Hassani Kwess, and keyboard work from Kenny Keys.
There’s plenty more of Asher on the way: Pabst & Jazz coming soon, as well as Is This Too Orange?, his first commercial release with Def Jam, in early 2012.
To celebrate reaching 10,000 fans on Facebook, Skizzy Marsdropped off a brand new song entitled “Shangri-La”, which he managed to write and record in just one day. “Shangri-La” features the young artist reflecting on his girl, New York, drugs, and more. Here’s what Skizzy has to say:
“I was in the studio last night when I realized I had just hit 10,000 fans. I’ve been writing a bunch of music recently as I continue to work on my debut project, Phases. While Phases is a story in itself, I still find myself with a bunch of other stories I want to tell due to other experiences and changes in my life etc. I got inspired to write Shangri-La and recorded it yesterday. Just another story to tell. In celebration of 10,000 fans, Shangri-La.”
Nick Cave, the frontman of alternative rock band Grinderman, has announced the end of the band. At the end of the band’s performance at the Meredith Music Festival, Nick Cave told the crowd of almost 12,000 that Grinderman is “over.” The band got together in 2006 and have released two albums with very positive reviews since. You can watch the video of “No Pussy Blues”, which was a single from their debut album Grinderman, below.
On December 19, Radiohead will finally release the digital version of The King of Limbs: Live From the Basement, along with a brand new two-song single: “The Daily Mail” and “Staircase”. In late January (the 23rd in the UK and the 31st in the US), the band will also release the DVD/Blu-Ray version of the sessions through independent record stores.
You can check out the full tracklisting and a live performance of “Staircase” on SNL below.
The King of Limbs: Live From the Basement Tracklisting:
01. Bloom
02. The Daily Mail
03. Feral
04. Little by Little
05. Codex
06. Separator
07. Lotus Flower
08. Staircase
09. Morning Mr. Magpie
10. Give Up the Ghost
11. Supercollider (Bonus Track)
It’s disappointing that Common‘s forthcoming LP won’t arrive until December 20. Why? That release date has two meanings to me: 1) we still have over two weeks to wait and 2) The Dreamer, The Believer won’t make it onto this year’s year-end lists. Considering My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy‘s snubbing at the Grammy’s this year, here’s to hoping that Common won’t be left behind in a years time (but really, who cares about the Grammy’s, right?).
Com just dropped off yet another new song on his Soundcloud page and this time, it’s one-half of the title track. “The Believer” features a soulful hook from John Legend and follows in the footsteps of the previously released tracks with an incredibly inspirational and uplifting sound. It’s practically audio therapy.
To honor Bradley Manning, the American soldier who is currently being charged with giving defense information to WikiLeaks, singer-songwriter Cass McCombs has released a brand new song. McCombs has been extremely productive in 2011, releasing two full-length albums, and it looks like he’s poised to have yet another huge year in 2012, starting the year off with a brand new single, which will include “Bradley Manning”. You can already check it out below, but the track won’t be officially released through Domino Records until January 31st, when it will be backed by another new track entitled “Empty Promises”.
It seems like whenever you log onto the Internet nowadays, it’s pretty much guaranteed that you’ll see New York City songwriter Lana Del Rey‘s name mentioned somewhere. Today was certainly no exception as just moments ago, BBC Radio 1’s Fearne Cotton premiered Lana’s newest single “Born 2 Die” from the upcoming debut album of the same name, which you can already check out below. The song has a somber tone, but according to Lana Del Rey herself, the song is a “homage to true love and a tribute to living life on the wild side.” I guess it’s for you to decide.
Lana Del Rey’s debut full-length Born 2 Die is expected to be released on January 30, 2012 via Interscope Records. This new single will reportedly be available a week earlier on January 23rd.
Connect