The relationship between Bay area native Lil’ B (aka the Based God) and rapper Soulja Boy is one that is well-documented and one that is seemingly mutually beneficial. The two hip-hop artists write and produce complementary styles of popular rap; that is to say, a brand that caters to many and finds much adverseness with some. What’s clear about the two artists, however, is that they exhibit a work ethic that is uncommon of many in the current state of the rap game. The rousing success of Lil B, of course, being the stand-out example of this phenomena; with his massive influence on social networking behemoth Twitter and consistent releases of self-produced and directed freestyle videos on YouTube. Both artists, (though perhaps not of the tastes of many purveyors of today’s hip-hop and EOLA’s readership), the ethic and, somewhat ironically, the artists’ uniqueness in their strategies demonstrate why they worthy of discussion (at least in my eyes). Peep their recent collaboration “Swag OD” here:
Speaking of Ratatat, the Brooklyn electronic duo have dropped a new music video for the track “Drugs” off of their latest CD, LP4. The video which was directed by Carl Burgess, is not unlike their past video accompaniments, this time weirding viewers out with shots of awkwardly posited people.
The Canadian indie supergroup, Broken Social Scene, have long since been on a roll following the release of their 5th full-length album, Forgiveness Rock Record in May of this year. The collective consists of an ever-changing roster of musicians including Leslie Feist, Stars, Apostle of Hustle, amongst a slew of others. The music video for their second single off of the aforementioned album, “Forced To Love” features holographic type visuals of the band.
Check out the video, directed by Makapoon here:
Forgiveness Rock Record is in stores via Arts & Crafts now.
The multi-talented graphic artist and producer, Dan Nguyen (aka Demon Slayer) has been steady on his grind, performing live sets regularly as well as being commissioned for various mural projects. Luckily for those of us unfortunate enough to not have experienced a Demon Slayer performance as of yet, filmmaker Eye Tape has shot and edited an amazing video to accompany one of the artist’s cosmic tracks. The music video features snippets from one of Nguyen’s performances at the “Fly Ball” event at the Grand Star Jazz Club in Los Angeles.
Admittedly, this video isn’t necessarily new (at least in light of the speed of information exchange in today’s day and age), the video for the second single off of the debut album O.M.G.! of British dubstep producer and DJ, Rusko is a dope one that we overlooked here. “Hold On” is a decent offering from Rusko, a joint that well represents the type of dubstep he produces; fun, poppy and less ominous than his peers. Indicative of this is the variety of artists he collaborated with on the record, which includes: Italian electro duo Crookers, rapper Gucci Mane, and Amber Coffman of the Dirty Projectors on the focused song.
Watch the music video for “Hold On” (Ft. Amber Coffman) here:
The music video for the second single off of Body Talk, Pt. 1 by Swedish dance-pop artist, Robyn, takes a different approach from her others. Complimenting the song’s more down-played electronic pop, the video offers a glimpse into the life of a touring musician.
It should come as no surprise that Canadian electronic pop maestro Caribou (alternately known by his former alias, Manitoba) is not only a gifted essential one-man band, but an accomplished mathematics scholar. Daniel Victor Snaith’s 2010 breakthrough release, Swim, is wholly demonstrative of the musician’s cerebral approach to both his passion in academia as well as in his aural craft. The dance-worthy lush soundscapes Snaith creates in his latest album are the result of his application of chord sequences and logic in his songwriting and some truly and feasibly evocative of progression.
Check out the correspondingly trippy new music video for Caribou’s latest single “Sun”:
Download and listen to “Sun” (Courtesy of Ca Va Cool):
Philadelphia hip-hop veterans/innovators, The Roots, have released a music video for the first single off of their recently released ninth studio album, How I Got Over. “Dear God 2.0″ features Monsters of Folk and My Morning Jacket vocalist Jim James on the hook, a nod to the Monsters of Folk “Dear God” single from their self-titled album.
Australian psychedelic indie rockers Tame Impala are the talk of the town (or rather, the ‘blogosphere’) and with good reason. The Perth natives bring to the table a refreshing sound that hearkens back to a generation in which tunes were most inspired and driven by the latest magic mushrooms or LSD an artist had consumed. Retro guitar effects and distortion? Check. Crazy tempo/time changes sure to blow the mind of the young stoner listening intently? Check. It would seem that the band went about their songwriting for their hit self-titled EP bearing these thoughts in mind as the end result was a groovy retro work capable of transporting listeners to other aurally-induced realms that would otherwise necessitate a whole lot of acid. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if a friend had me listen to their record and told me that these lanky Aussie hipsters wrote it in the 60’s.
Already hitting number one on the Australian Independent Record Labels chart as well as huge supporting slots with the likes of heavy hitters such like Yeasayer, The Black Keys, and MGMT and with the release of their debut full-length under their collective belt, it’s safe to say these newcomers are set to take over. Thanks to Annie Nguyen for reminding me about their album.
With three music videos already released from his breakthrough mixtape, Kush and Orange Juice, it seems like Pittsburgh’s young DIY rapper Wiz Khalifa is looking to set a new standard in mixtape promotion. The recently released video for “Mezmorized” marks the fourth and follows suit with “The Statement” and “The Kid Frankie”; a seemingly small peek into the everyday life of the artist. Sure it’s Khalifa’s standard recording of studio hi-jinks and prolific marijuana use, but it was my favorite joint on the tape; utilizing one of the doper beats by Cardo (a.k.a. CardoGotWings).
Download and listen to “Mezmorized” off of Kush and Orange Juice here:
Soulja Boy & Lil’ B - Swag OD (Music Video)
The relationship between Bay area native Lil’ B (aka the Based God) and rapper Soulja Boy is one that is well-documented and one that is seemingly mutually beneficial. The two hip-hop artists write and produce complementary styles of popular rap; that is to say, a brand that caters to many and finds much adverseness with some. What’s clear about the two artists, however, is that they exhibit a work ethic that is uncommon of many in the current state of the rap game. The rousing success of Lil B, of course, being the stand-out example of this phenomena; with his massive influence on social networking behemoth Twitter and consistent releases of self-produced and directed freestyle videos on YouTube. Both artists, (though perhaps not of the tastes of many purveyors of today’s hip-hop and EOLA’s readership), the ethic and, somewhat ironically, the artists’ uniqueness in their strategies demonstrate why they worthy of discussion (at least in my eyes). Peep their recent collaboration “Swag OD” here:
