Curren$y has already dropped two joint projects in 2020, but his latest one might be the most noteworthy. The Outrunners sees the New Orleans-bred rapper reuniting with trusty producer and longtime collaborator Harry Fraud. Stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. The new effort consists of nine tracks and features special guests in Rick Ross (“Mugello Red”) and Wiz Khalifa (“90′ IROC-Z”). Jim Jones also appears on a song called “In the Coupe”, while Conway the Machine provides extra bars on “Riviera Beach”. In a statement, Curren$y said that despite his already-prolific catalog — which includes over 30 (!) albums, mixtapes, and EPs — there’s plenty of new and exciting things to be found on The Outrunners. “Even those who have known me forever will find out things they didn’t ...
One of the most unexpected collaborations of the year might also just be one of its best. Today, Lupe Fiasco and Kaelin Ellis have released HOUSE, a joint EP they created during quarantine. Stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. HOUSE is a testament to the power of the internet. Back in May, the Orlando producer uploaded a video of himself churning out beats while stuck at home. One Twitter user decided to tag Lupe Fiasco in the comments, and the Chicago rapper almost immediately recorded a new version of the track featuring an original freestyle over it. That’s when Fiasco and Ellis decided to link up for real. The two artists wrote and recorded five songs for the HOUSE EP, all of which was created by passing material back and forth online. As for the cover art — which takes its insp...
Taylor Swift isn’t the only one with a New Music Friday surprise. Scottish producer Hudson Mohawke has released a new solo EP, Heart of the Night, completely out of the blue. Stream it in full below via Bandcamp. This new drop comes less than a year after HudMo and Lunice reunited for their second collaborative project as TNGHT. Heart of the Night collects four tracks altogether, some of which are remixes — or “classic R&B bootlegs” as he calls it — of songs by Beyoncé (“Baby Boy”), Sean Paul and Christina Milian (“Dip It Low”), and more. Editors’ Picks Mohawke’s last solo album, Lantern, dropped more than five years ago. Since then, in addition to reactivating TNGHT, he’s produced and remixed material from Kanye West, Anohni, ASAP Rocky, Banks, and DJ Shadow. New newww...
Following its announcement just hours ago, Taylor Swift has released her “surprise” new album folklore. Stream it below via Spotify. For a high-definition listening experience, you can sign up for a 60-day free trial of TIDAL HiFi. A new music video for the track “cardigan” has also been revealed. folklore serves as Swift’s eighth full-length overall and comes less than a year after Lover. Its 16 tracks were co-produced by Aaron Dessner of indie rock outfit The National. His bandmate and brother Bryce Dessner provided “beautiful orchestration on several songs from across the ocean,” while Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, Lover collaborator Jack Antonoff, and William Bower also contributed in various capacities. In a statement, Swift said that “Most of the things I had planned this summe...
Pop Smoke’s posthumous debut album, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon, was released earlier this month, boasting cameos from Future, Swae Lee, DaBaby, and more. Now, an expanded deluxe edition of the album has arrived, along with a new video for “The Woo”. Check out both below. For a high-definition listening experience, you can sign up for a 60-day free trial of TIDAL HiFi. This deluxe edition of Shoot for the Stars includes 15 (!) new songs and guest contributions from Burna Boy, BloodPop, Jamie Foxx, PnB Rock, A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, and Fivio Foreign, among others. There’s also a somewhat controversial track called “Paranoia” with Young Thug and Gunna. A previously leaked iteration of this cut had reportedly featured Pusha-T and a diss reigniting his 2018 beef with Drake,...
The Chicks, formerly the Dixie Chicks, have released their comeback album Gaslighter. Stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. For a high-definition listening experience, you can sign up for a 60-day free trial of TIDAL HiFi. While The Chicks are no longer whistling dixie (they changed their name last month in the aftermath of Black Lives Matter protests) this is still the same trio that tore up country radio at the turn of millennium, and it’s the same group that ran smack into the W. Bush war propaganda machine. Lead singer Natalie Maines’ 2003 comments about the impending invasion of Iraq — “We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas” — led to the most forceful music backlash in decades. Fans burned their ...
Following a number of coronavirus-related postponements, Jarv Is…, the new band led by Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker, have finally released their debut album. Stream Beyond the Pale in full below via Apple Music or Spotify. For a high-definition listening experience, you can sign up for a 60-day free trial of TIDAL HiFi. Issued through Rough Trade Records, this album marks the first-ever full-length for Jarv Is… and Cocker’s first release of any kind since 2009’s Further Complications. Although it’s tempting to call Beyond the Pale a long-awaited comeback for Cocker, it should be viewed more as a creative reinvention. Along with his bandmates Serafina Steer (harp, keyboards, vocals), Emma Smith (violin, guitar vocals), Andrew McKinney (bass, vocals), Jason Buckle (synthesizer and ...
After a brief pandemic-related delay, post-punk greats Protomartyr are back with their fifth studio album, Ultimate Success Today. Stream it in full below via Apple Music or Spotify. For a high-definition listening experience, you can sign up for a 60-day free trial of TIDAL HiFi. The Domino-released collection follows 2017’s Relatives in Descent and was co-produced by Protomartyr themselves alongside David Tolomei (Dirty Projectors, Beach House). Sessions took place at Dreamland Recording Studios, situated in a 19th century church in upstate New York, and featured guest contributors in legendary jazz alto saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc and vocalist Nandi Rose, aka Half Waif. Izaak Mills (bass clarinet, sax, flute) and cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm also joined the band in the studio. In a sta...
At the start of the week, Yo La Tengo popped up on Bandcamp with an instrumental track called “James and Ira demonstrate mysticism and some confusion holds”. A new jam appeared each following day, and it’s all culminated today with the reveal of a full five-song EP called We Have Amnesia Sometimes. Stream it below. The collection stems from a series of sessions that saw the trio “playing formlessly” in late April and early May. Yo La Tengo had escaped to their Hoboken, New Jersey rehearsal space to “push away the outside world” while safely social distancing. As Ira Kaplan explains in a press release, “In late April, with the outside world weighing on everybody, we determined that the three of us could assemble in Hoboken without disobeying the rules laid out by Governor Murphy, and resume...
Illuminati Hotties have unveiled the new mixtape Free I.H.: This Is Not The One You’ve Been Waiting For. Stream it below with Apple Music and Spotify. With humor, compassion, and thrashing guitars, Illuminati Hotties have become synonymous with Los Angeles’ “tenderpunk” movement. Free I.H. is the follow-up to 2018’s Kiss Yr Frenemies, and was written during a messy breakup with indie label Tiny Engines. The label engaged in some, uh, questionable accounting practices, and like so much kick-ass punk music, Free I.H. comes from a place of getting royally (or royalty) fucked. Bandleader Sarah Tudzin wrote the mixtape in February, before COVID-19 had become a global nightmare. In an interview with Stereogum, she spoke of composing songs about a messed-up world, and th...
Nicolas Jaar, photo by S. Hyuj/Somnath Bhatt Electronic music composer Nicolas Jaar is back today with his new album, Telas. Stream it below via Apple Music and Spotify. The record serves as Jaar’s third full-length of 2020, following his March album Cenizas and February’s 2017-2019, an industrial techno record he released under his Against All Logic alter ego. The 60-minute Telas is broken up into four distinct parts — “Telahora”, “Telencima”, “Telahumo”, and “Telallás” — one of which was already shared by Jaar back in May during a Radio Alhara performance. Additional musical contributions come courtesy of cellist Milena Punzi, vocalist Susanna Gonzo, and instrument makers Anna Ippolito and Marzio Zorio, with mastering being handled by Heba Kadry. In addition to a...
Joey Bada$$ has returned with his first solo release in three years. The project, titled The Light Pack, is streaming in full below via Apple Music or Spotify. The long-awaited follow-up to All AmeriKKKan Bada$$ consists of three new songs: “The Light (Mind)”, “No Explanation (Body)”, and “Shine (Soul)”. According to social media posts teasing the release, this bundle serves as a “rebirth” for the Brooklyn rapper, which likely means it’s a precursor to a full album and not than just a standalone effort. Since his last proper full-length in 2017, Joey released a collaborative album as part of Beast Coast, a supergroup featuring members of Pro Era, Flatbush Zombies, and The Underachievers. The MC’s also been particularly busy with TV projects; in addition to portraying Inspectah Deck in...