“Heartbreaker. I’m the young Tom Petty.” South Florida emcee Freewxrld bodies a vibey Tony Yuniverse instrumental on new one “Welcome” which is excerpted below from the just-released W2F mixtape.
Freewxrld (Soundcloud)
Rating 8.3
“Heartbreaker. I’m the young Tom Petty.” South Florida emcee Freewxrld bodies a vibey Tony Yuniverse instrumental on new one “Welcome” which is excerpted below from the just-released W2F mixtape.
Freewxrld (Soundcloud)
Rating 8.3
Island/Def Jam high priority Iggy Azalea knocks out a new trap-ish single with UK popstress Rita Ora. “Black Widow” shines especially in its dark melody tap “Beez in the Trap”-esque verses where the maybe underrated as rhymer Iggy does some serviceable work. While fine in isolation, Ora’s hook is a bit awkward juxtaposed against the musicality of Iggy’s verses but Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” worked in a similar template and succeeded all the same. “Black Widow” isn’t quite “Dark Horse” but it’s definitely holding a bit of potential pop radio shine.
Iggy Azalea (Twitter)
Rating 8.3
Longtime favorite of B3 TOKiMONSTA completes a slinky vibes-down new mix of Tinashe’s radio breakout “2 On”.
TOKiMONSTA (Official) (Blog) (Soundcloud)
Rating: 8.3
It took a minute, but we have recovered. After battling through the post-SXSW plague (aka an annual gnarly cold), curing our hangovers with some proper hydration via resqwater, and yes…actually getting some sleep, we’re back with our annual report from SX. And so it is; straight from the front lines of ATX, here’s a Top 10 report of SXSW Music 2014 highlights from our troops on the ground.
Mike
Jungle
Wolf Alice
Rare Monk
SOHN
KINS
Zella Day
MISUN
SIVU
GEMS
Moses Sumney
Troy
SXSW 2014. I traversed the Doritos #BoldStage, made memories at SXSubway, got social media-relevant at the Tumblr House and sought precious refuge from the apocalyptic World War Z-esque 6th St. throngs; that and I saw some pretty cool bands and artists. From Moses Sumney’s Central Presbyterian stunning vocal sermon to Sango’s star-level beat-making to Soundgarden’s sludgy rooftop stab at Superunkown; the musical component of SX is still at least maintaining a high level. Here’s few of my favorites from the festival.
Moses Sumney
Arthur Beatrice
Sango
Jungle
Angel Olsen
Soundgarden
Sam Smith
Misun
Banks
Kaytranada
Brian Litwin
SXSW 2014 was a big one, making headlines all over the world for puke, corporations and tragedies. For me, SXSW was similar to “Starred” playlist on Spotify; mostly all different genres, all with buzz and a sense of uniqueness. It was a pleasure working with Team B3SCI on their incredible shows and an honor to spend that time with friends in such an incredible city. Here are my 10 highlights of SXSW 2014:
The Preatures
Bipolar Sunshine
Wave Racer
Eagulls
100s
Young and Sick
Cashmere Cat
Kelela
SKATERS
Beat Culture
*Just to sneak one last one in there – the Ray Ban X Boiler Room set was unreal…”
Bruce Rave
Another successful SXSW (South By Sponsorship Week) is behind us. One trend is that there seemed to be fewer rapidly-growing, up and coming buzz bands in that middle level between the big names and the many newbies. Congrats to our Mike and Troy for dropping the first Jungle EP on their B3SCI label, and for Jungle being one of the week’s most talked about bands. I mostly skipped great bands bands I’ve seen, and there weren’t many surprises this year besides the incredibly enthusiastic Gary Numan.
The Strypes
Temples
Gary Numan
Jungle
Moses Sumney
The Crookes
Chloe Howl
Misun
Kid Karate
The Griswolds
As well-cultivated connoisseurs of the G-Mix, we can expertly co-sign this new Daz Dillinger G-Mix of one of YG‘s (who outside Rich Homie Quan might be the hottest MC on radio right now) My Krazy Life‘s standout tracks, the “Lets Play House” send-up “Do It To Ya”. Even thugs can get a little intimate w/ the piano.
YG (Facebook)
Rating 8.5
Maybe our favorite producer out right now Sango collab’s w/ resident Soulection emcee Waldo for this jazz piano-driven vibes-down rework of “Kobe’s Room”. Waldo makes his L.A. and S.F. debuts on 3/28 and 3/29 at The Echo and F8.
Waldo (Soundcloud)
Rating 8.3
BK-based vocalist Cubby makes his formal debut with warm electronics-soaked R&B of “Cold” featuring emcees Kwane and Current. A+
Cubby Soundcloud)
Rating: 8.3
The easy, deep in the pocket, cruise control flow of Chicago emcee Mayo is a well-matched complement to the breezy smooth production of Mad Decent’s Man in Hawaii Mr. Carmack. We need more. (IS)
Mayo (Soundcloud)
Rating 8.1
The Big King Remembered In Time grabs the BIGGEST executive Def Jam’s ever seen, noted character actor Rick Ross for the silky smooth low-ridin of “New Agenda”. The first entry in K.R.I.T.’s “Week of K.R.I.T.” which will feature seven days of new and unreleased material from the Mississippi rapper. Boss Ross could body a mid-tempo beat like that on “New Agenda” in his (we’re imagining very expensive) sleep and he does well to play laid-back foil to KRIT’s more methodical on-the-1 flow.
Big K.R.I.T. (Facebook)
Rating 8.3