Today, the New York rap wiseacre Wiki follows up his 2017 album No Mountains In Manhattan with a new one called Oofie. Like No Mountains, Oofie is a meditation on the life on a New York dirtbag — the fun times, the moments of psychological devastation, the sense that the city you’re living in is nothing like the place where you grew up. And like No Mountains, it’s really, really good.
Wiki has figured out his own staggering-drunk take on the old New York boom-bap sound. The album has a real musical vibe to it, thanks, in part to producers like Tony Seltzer, Roofeo, and Alex Epton (formerly known as XXXChange). Wiki projects personality all over it, but he also makes room for extremely New York guests like Your Old Droog, Princess Nokia, and Lansky Jones. It plays as a real cohesive album.
We’ve already posted the promising early tracks “Pesto” and the Denzel Curry/Lil Ugly Mane collab “Grim.” (The excellent recent single “Fee Fi Fo Fum” is inexplicably not on the album.
Read the rest of this article at Stereogum
Following the release of previous singles ‘Curl Up & Die’ and ‘Rom Com Gone Wrong’, Matt Maltese is giving us yet another heartstring pulling number with new track ‘Jupiter’.
“It’s a song about pining, filled with desperation and delusion,” he explains of the new track. “A kind of melodramatic love-song for astronauts.”
Produced by Frank Ocean collaborator Vegyn, Matt’s delicate vocals ring through hyperbolic descriptions of being hopelessly in love with someone, proclaiming how not even Jupiter could keep him away from the object of his affection and he would settle with being an ulcer in their mouth just to be close.
Soundtracked by his characteristically cinematic romantic soundscapes, it’s pretty adorbs regardless of the slightly OTT content. And tbh, think we can all relate the lyric: “You say hello and I’m nothing at all”. Sigh.
The latest track to be taken from his highly anticipated second album ‘Krystal’, get ready to feel all the #feels when it drops next month!
Read the rest of this article at DIY
Innovative French artist SebastiAn releases a brand new video to accompany ‘Sober’ – the fifth track to be taken from his sophomore album, ‘Thirst’, which is released 8th November via Ed Banger Records / Because Music. The album is available to pre-order now.
The pulsating synth driven track features rich vocals from rising London artist Bakar and a signature SebastiAn bassline. The single is taken from his first album in eight years, following 2011 debut, ‘Total’. Previous tracks released from the new album include ‘Thirst’, ‘Run for Me’ featuring acclaimed US R&B singer Gallant, ‘Better Now’ featuring American singer Mayer Hawthorne, and ‘Beograd’.
SebastiAn says of ‘Sober’: “I’m thrilled to have Bakar on my new single because he has the best communicative energy in the whole world. Making the track together was a breeze; he’s so easy to work with, I love his instinctive intensity.”
Bakar says:“Working with SebastiAn has been a great progression for me, a dream of mine too. We started working on music for my LP and once I learnt that he was working on a follow-up album I instantly wanted to be involved! I feel honoured that he brought me into his world.”
Bringing different styles together as one on the new record – from European techno and electro to classic pop and R&B, hip-hop and American gospel – SebastiAn has also called upon an impressive list of artists to feature on the 14-track album. They include acclaimed singer and actress Charlotte Gainsbourg (SebastiAn primarily produced her 2017 album ‘Rest’), cult pop duo Sparks, Grammy-nominated singer Mayer Hawthorne, American singer/songwriter Syd from The Internet and experimental Iranian/Dutch artist Sevdaliza.
SebastiAn says the approach of making the new album was formed by his previous production work with the contrasting personalities of Frank Ocean and Charlotte Gainsbourg and switching his process accordingly. He explains: “I found this really interesting. My record came about from all the encounters I made going between these two projects.”
Read the rest of this article at Total Ntertainments
ALASKALASKA have announced the details of their debut album The Dots, out on May 3 via Marathon Artists. They’ve also shared the album’s lead single “Moon,” with an accompanying video by Elliot Arndt.
Following a self-titled EP, and 2018 singles “Meateater” and “Monster,” “Moon” is another intensely invigorating and rhythmic slice of art-pop. ALASKALASKA’s infusion of jazz and experimental pop blooms masterfully and gracefully on this track. Syncopated beats, jubilant horns and luminous vocals from singer, guitarist and principal songwriter Lucinda Duarte-Holman contribute to a danceable cornucopia of dynamic pop soundscapes. It’s easily one of the best art-pop tracks of 2019 so far.
Duarte-Holman explains the root of the album’s lead single: “‘Moon’ is an account of the monthly, cyclical ebbs and flows (pun intended) of my emotional and physical wellbeing. It is an insight into my neurosis. ‘Moon’ is about PMS.”
Per a press release, The Dots “is both the culmination of ALASKALASKA’s early-days period of experimentation, and a blank canvas for their impossible-to-predict future. A broad spectrum of identity politics and personal discovery, and the ways these seemingly cut-and-dry attributes can be affected by your setting and situation, plays out across the record.”
Read the rest of this article at Paste
St. Vincent’s “Slow Disco” has existed under multiple guises in its short lifespan. The song first appeared on Annie Clark’s 2017 album MASSEDUCTION and was subsequently stripped back to its core elements when Clark re-recorded the album for 2018’s MassEducation project. Throw in fast and slow versions of the song and it’s clear “Slow Disco” is an ever-evolving beast.
This brings us to Norwegian producer EOD’s take on the song, as taken from the upcoming St. Vincent remix album, MASSEDUCTION Rewired. Hand-picked by curator Nina Kraviz, EOD transforms the song into a haunted ’80s pop ballad powered by marching drums and a pitch-shifted vocal.
Speaking to The FADER via email, EOD said: “On ‘Slow Disco’ I wanted to remake the song into something very different but retain the vocals. Just put it in a totally different context and mood but still make it work. I got really into it and I think it worked out well. It was a real honor and pleasure to be asked to contribute to the project.”
Read the rest of this article at The Fader
