Evidence‘s Cats & Dogs was perhaps one of the most criminally underlooked records of 2011, alongside personal favorite Phonte‘s Charity Starts At Home. I guess I’m not incredibly surprised as the steadfast Rhymesayer’s rapper is usually fairly reserved in terms of getting his music out there to his loyal and extremely tightly-knit fanbase. The hip-hop purist/producer/MC recently unleashed a new set of respectfully dark, brooding visuals for “Falling Down” directed by Todd Angkasuwan. You can check it out below.
Check out Sleigh Bell‘s new video for their recently released song “Comeback Kid” below. The video features noise pop duo Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller and their signature shades, leather, and letterman jackets with an 80s overtone and a fitting Judd Nelson-esque fist bump ending. The song and video are in support of the band’s new album, Reign of Terror, which is set to be released February 21st. Sleigh Bells will also be touring to support their sophomore outing, and you can check out the dates below.
Sleigh Bells 2012 Tour
02-03 Gainesville, FL – Florida Theater *#
02-04 Tampa, FL – The Ritz *#
02-06 Pensacola, FL – Vinyl Music Hall *#
02-07 Tallahassee, FL – The Moon *#
02-09 Jacksonville, FL – Freebird Live *#
02-10 Orlando, FL – Firestone *#
02-11 Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Revolution *#
02-14 Miami, FL – Grand Central *#
02-16 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club ^
02-17 New York, NY – Terminal 5 ^
02-18 Toronto, Ontario – Phoenix ^
02-21 Los Angeles, CA – The Mayan ^
02-23 San Francisco, CA – Regency Ballroom ^
02-24 Seattle, WA – Showbox at the Market ^
Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar just announced to The Source that his new album is near completion. The album will be titled Good Kid in a Mad City. Kendrick stated that “it’s just going to have its own entity and its own space”, meaning that it will not be a sequel to Section.80, which was released last year to extremely good reviews by critics and was also our number 4 album of 2011. You should definitely check it out if you haven’t heard it yet. Section.80 was in between a mixtape and an album because it was released online, but Kendrick Lamar stated the new release would be his first proper debut album. Watch Kendrick’s interview with The Source below. Below that is also an interview with Drake‘s frequent producer/best friend, 40, where he talks about Kendrick Lamar’s involvement on Take Care.
As previously reported, this year’s Sundance Film Festival will contain a documentary revolving around dance punk band LCD Soundsystem called Shut Up and Play the Hits (taken from a line shouted by Arcade Fire‘s Win Butler during the band’s final concert). The documentary, which is directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, details the band’s last few days before the final show last year in April, and will premiere January 22nd at the festival. Check out the trailer below:
Wilco has released the music video for “Whole Love”. Jeff Tweedy’s son, Spencer Tweedy, directed the video that also stars Spencer’s younger brother Sammy and best friend Joey. Be sure to check out their album, The Whole Love, which is in our top 25 albums of 2011 list. Check out the music video below:
Below, you can check out the Alan Ferguson directed visuals for Chiddy Bang‘s first single off of Breakfast, the fun, energetic “Ray Charles”. In the video, Chiddy and Xaphoon let loose and get their groove on, experiencing a sort-of out-of-body experience while lounging away on the couch. Breakfast will be out everywhere on February 28th.
Manchester’s WU LYF made their US television debut on The Late Show with David Letterman last night, introducing their music to the audience by playing the unintelligible but passionate “Heavy Pop”, off of 2011’s debut Go Tell Fire to the Mountain. “That talented quartet from Manchester, England” (as Letterman himself put it) even managed to throw in a surprise when frontman Ellery Roberts shouted out, “What up motherf***ers?” to end the track, much to the delight of the audience and to Letterman. Quite an impressive debut.
Iron & Wine‘s folky, sun-soaked “Godless Brother In Love” (off 2011’s Kiss Each Other Clean) has received a set of visuals courtesy of director Claire Marie Vogel. The video, which features slow-motion cuts and a group of friends enjoying the beauties of nature, matches the song quite well, adding dimension to Iron & Wine’s calming vocals. Check it out below.
Jónsi has released the music video for “Gathering Stories”, which was written for the We Bought a Zoo OST. The movie We Bought a Zoo, starring Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson, came out in theaters on December 23 and its director, Cameron Crowe, specifically asked Jónsi to do the soundtrack. We Bought a Zoo OST (which you can buy here) features new original music, old songs by Sigur Rós, and songs from Jónsi’s debut solo album, Go. Watch the video for “Gathering Stories” below:
For the holiday season, The Front Bottoms covered The Waitresses‘ classic Christmas song, “Christmas Wrapping” in their own acoustic punk style. If you liked their self titled LP which was released earlier this year, you will definitely enjoy this cover. Brian Sella’s vocals add the emotion that is pretty much expected in any song released by the band. In the spirit of Christmas it is up for free download below, along with a music video created specifically for the song.
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