Foxing – Grand Paradise

Foxing vocalist Conor Murphy laughs when I say his band’s strange, glittery, and stunningly produced new album, Nearer My God, sounds like they went for broke. “I think we literally went for broke. We are out of money,” he jokes. Their third record is defined by a breathless, all-inclusive sort of panic. Death? The afterlife? Reckoning with shortcomings? Craving approval? Apocalyptic visions? It’s all somewhere in there.

The album is overwhelming in a way that is not unlike the experience of stocking up on travel supplies in an unfamiliar New Jersey Target, which is where Murphy is speaking from. Foxing is about to embark on a ten-day run in the UK with Pianos Become the Teeth, before fast-tracking back home and getting on the road again the following week. This should sound chaotic to any homebody, which is what Murphy considers himself—the album’s skyscraping closer “Lambert” is about being terrified of travel and the squandered happiness which comes with that feeling.

But if the massive risks on Nearer My God pay off with a fanbase that’s already hung on through some transformations, the travel won’t cease. Foxing emerged from the rickety St. Louis scene in 2013 with The Albatross, one of the so-called emo revival’s success stories. It was a bracing listen, and they only chose to pare away further on 2015’s downright haunting Dealer. Of course it would only make sense for them to blow it all up again.

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Toro y Moi has announced a new album and released the project’s first single. The California-based singer’s latest “Freelance” is the lead single from his upcoming album Outer Peace, which is out January 18. The new record appears to be a departure from last year’s Boo Boo, with more high energy beats and funny lyrics. “No more shoes and socks, I only rock sandals / I can’t tell if I’m hip or getting old,” he says in the track’s video, as a photographer shoots him dancing around in a camo hoodie and sandals. The rest of the video follows similar form with more dancing and photographing behind blue and pink hues until, finally, he sits at a desk and turns into a skeleton. The song is apparently meant as a response to the shift in culture he found himself in after moving back to his native California after living in Portland, Oregon.

The new album will include features from R&B singer ABRA, Philly producer Instupendo, and Brooklyn indie trio Wet. Toro y Moi has been releasing music throughout the past year with DJ Nosaj Thing as Laff Trax as well as a surprise EP with Rome Fortune, Toro Y Rome Vol. 1. He’s set to tour the upcoming Outer Peace starting in November with full dates on his website.

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Koffee – Toast

With the same punch as your morning caffeine hit, 18-year-old Koffee releases her debut single, Toast, today on Columbia Records. Originally inspired into making music by listening to reggae and dancehall legends like Proteje and Super Cat, everything came full circle earlier this year when the former reached out to request she perform with him. It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind since.

Toast blesses us with energy and youthful pride, and the accompanying music video is as celebratory as the name suggests, taking viewers on a tour through her neighbourhood of Spanish Town, Jamaica, while lyrics lay down an ode to Koffee’s achievements so far. “ Toast is one of the more sentimental tracks taken from my upcoming EP, Rapture,” she says. “It’s about my musical journey; from being in high school and writing lyrics to entering the music industry and being able to accomplish great things upon my entrance. It’s about the gratitude I feel for all these things.”

Produced by Major Lazer’s Walshy Fire, Toast brings a signature blend of sunshine and fun times that’ll leave you buzzing. While she’s off touring the UK with Grammy-nominated Chronixx — she just played London’s Alexandra Palace, Bush Hall and a BBC Introducing event, no less — raise a mug to the video above and brace yourself for this teen’s takeover.

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JPEGMAFIA has released a new song titled “Puff Daddy” that pairs his anti-institution snark with a walloping industrial beat from en vogue producer Kenny Beats. Both weary and raging, JPEGMAFIA pivots from threatening college students, “Hit that nigga in eastern time/He died a central standard,” to confessing distress, “Can’t switch up my code/Morale be too low.” It’s a satisfying, if minor, bit of emotional release, and Kenny’s production connects the dots between El-P’s turn-of-the-century mechanics and Ronny J’s bass-blown SoundCloud hits.

The track is JPEGMAFIA’s second drop, following “Millenium,” since his January album Veteran. In September, he shared a video for the album cut “1539 N. Calvert,” named after the address for shuttered Baltimore venue The Bell Foundry. He appeared yesterday on Frank Ocean’s midterm election broadcast of blonded RADIO, which played his Veteran song “DD Form 214.” Kenny Beats produced the brunt of Vince Staples’s new album FM!, released last week, as well as Rico Nasty’s standout summer mixtape Nasty. Kenny’s joint album with Atlanta’s Key!, 777, was released in May.

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