| Bloom’s Hydraulics: What the f… | November 11, 2014 |
Hindsight being 20-20, Belfast-based producer Bloom's Quartz EP was a major line in the sand for instrumental Grime. The Hydraulics EP, his first release in over a year, pushes his industrial aesthetic to its breaking point.
Dan Adu-Gyamfi is bucking to to make Mad Skillz’s 2015 round-up. Unlike other genres of music, in rap there’s an unwritten rule that the lyrics that you spit were written by you. Other unscripted laws are artists have to be authentic, speak honestly about their lives, and no biting of someone’s rhymes and style. Old […]
| How the Sad Robot Became The Dominant Sound in Rap | February 20, 2014 |
Essay by Dan Adu-Gyamfi, art by Brad Beatson and captions by Son Raw. T-Pain’s use of Auto-Tune influenced many to follow their singing dreams even if their vocal chords refused to go along. A new rap subgenre was born: “Sad Robot Music.” The phrase was coined by site founder, Jeff Weiss, and rapper, Nocando, on […]
| The Inscrutable and Addictive Travis Scott | December 12, 2013 |
Brad Beatson wrote this from the inside of a sarcophagus. Above is the video for Travi$ Scott’s “Uptown” featuring A$AP Ferg, released on December 1st. It’s the second he’s put out this year in which the titular song doesn’t drop until 2+ minutes into the video. The other, “Upper Echelon,” is posted after the jump. […]
| Kanye Performs “Bound 2” on Jimmy Fallon | September 10, 2013 |
Maybe you missed this because you’re sick of the onslaught of all things Kanye. Or maybe you’ve already watched this a half-dozen times. There seems to be little middle ground on the man who brought you the Little Lord Fauntleroy voice on the Kris Jenner show and then can smash paparazzis and primal scream in […]
| Question in the Form of An Answer: An Interview with Engineer Noah Goldstein (Kanye West, Jay-Z, Nas, etc.) | August 29, 2013 |
Since graduating from Philadelphia’s Temple University in 2006, Noah Goldstein has engineered, mixed and occasionally produced for Nas, Jay-Z, 2 Chainz, Snoop Dogg, Patti Smith, The Mars Volta and Ryan Adams. But his most interesting client might be Kanye West, who he has worked closely with since 2010’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. He was […]
| Yeezus Pieces: Doc Zeus | June 19, 2013 |
This is what Doc Zeus does. After seven years of living in “Brooklyn” during the Great Hipster Gold Rush, I have attended my fair share of mediocre experimental art shows in the bowels of some half-finished art space. These functions inevitably begin to feel the same. You stand stiffly around, gossiping with friends and drinking […]
| Yeezus Pieces: Son Raw | June 18, 2013 |
Son Raw is the new Shabba. First up, I’m not going to concentrate on what doesn’t work on Yeezus. There’s plenty of arguments against this album, and based on the comments so far, I’m sure you guys will happily point them out and/or get pissed off at me for even suggesting it’s any good. But […]
| Yeezus Pieces: Jonah Bromwich | June 18, 2013 |
Over the next few days, we’ll be rolling out a roundtable on Yeezus. Jonah Bromwich is up first. One of the biggest issues separating music critics from fans is the critics’ constant demand for reinvention. For the most part, a fan of any given artist would be happy to hear their favorite album remade again […]
| Revealed: The Lost Bonus Tracks from “Yeezus” | June 17, 2013 |
When fans found out “Yeezus” was only ten tracks, they were devastated. They felt cheated. They wanted more. Luckily, we’ve been able to scour internet message boards and hard drives, high and low bandwidth, foreign and domestic, and we’ve found some “Yeezus” Loosies. — Brad Beatson A Man Needs a Lamp [Feat. Drake (Prod. by […]
