hip-hop
Rabit—the artist born Eric C. Burton in Houston, Texas—is a storyteller documenting the American South primarily through sound. He grew up on the East Coast before moving to Texas aged 21. Before making music, he was a prolific graffiti artist, but gave it up as costs started to spiral. “It became really expensive to keep […]
Last month, Max Graef returned to Tartelet Records with his third solo album under his own name. Like the two that have come before it—2018’s Lo Siento Mucho Pero No Hablo Tu Idioma and 2014’s Rivers Of The Red Planet—Natural Element is filled with psychedelic, starry-eyed jams. Amongst these releases, Graef—a resident of Berlin, Germany, […]
DJ Lag—the alias of Lwazi Asanda Gwalahas—will release a new album this month. The Rebellion, as it’s called, marks a “bold evolution” of his distinctive gqom sound, we’re told, and builds on the success of his previous album, Meeting With The King, which established himself as a sonic innovator and leading ambassador of the genre, […]
For around a decade, Philadelphia-based DJ-producer Estoc has been weaving together experimental electronic, industrial, ambient, and hip-hop and even pulverizing hardcore influences into her DJ sets, original productions, and edits. She connected to music through classical and jazz music, before she discovered chiptune, a unique genre of electronic music that utilizes the sound chips found […]
Open Space and Domesticated Records have released an album from DJ Fitness, an alias of Pablo Arrangoiz. You might not have heard of Arranzgoiz but there’s a reasonable chance you’ve heard his music. Based in Miami, Florida, the young Mexican artist has quietly been building his back catalog, displaying a variety of styles and genres […]
Machinedrum (a.k.a Travis Stewart) will release a new album on Ninja Tune. Stewart’s journey to making 3FOR82 began, fittingly, on March 4 last year. For his 41st birthday, he ventured out to Joshua Tree National Park, California, to seek clarity and inspiration for a new album. “I’ve been to Joshua Tree many times and I’ve […]
Last month, Seven Davis Jr.—the Texas-born, California-raised singer, songwriter, and DJ-producer—returned with Stranger Than Fiction, a new album. Since 2012, Davis Jr. has put out music on Secret Angels, the label he launched in 2016, but also Classic Music Company and Ninja Tune, which is where he released his debut album, Universes, on which he […]
Ian Nnyanzi, better known as Masaka Masaka, will release a new album on Hakuna Kulala. Growing up in Uganda, Nnyanzi cut his teeth fashioning rudimentary hip-hop beats at a friend’s studio on Makindye, a hill that overlooks Kampala, Uganda’s balmy Murchison Bay, and realized that he wanted more. “Out here, everyone seems okay to listen […]
Moor Mother has unveiled a new album. The Great Bailout is the ninth album that Moor Mother, otherwise known as Camae Ayewa, has released, and her third on ANTI- Records. Across nine new tracks, she dissects the ugly realities of British colonialism. The record features production contributions from Lonnie Holley, Mary Lattimore, Vijay Ayer, Angel […]
The intention of DJ Tara, a resident of New York, is too “amplify artists and uplift the crowds,” she says—through a collage of soulful sounds. She came into music through her childhood, learning from her father, and in particular she fell in love with hip-hop. But through party promoting she decided she wanted to try […]
Ivy Lab, also known as Sabre and Stray, will release a new EP on Future Classic. Demon Dust stems from a love of UK bass but “plays with tempo and collides hip-hop with jungle, LA humidity, and London grit,” we’re told. It follows releases on Dirtybird and their own TWTW London imprint. “We’ve built a […]
Iglooghost, real name Seamus Malliagh, has released a two-track single on LUCKYME®. Malliagh, who is Irish but based in London, makes untethered, detailed electronic music, throwing juke, footwork, punk, electronica, hip-hop, and pop into a blender and hitting infinity. You can read more about his work in his XLR8R feature here. Collision Data / Diode, […]
Toada, the Portuguese producer born Valdir da Silva, will release a “contemplative and immersive slow-paced” EP. Slow​-​Paced Tangents comprises six lush and organic tracks and showcases Toada’s “musical prowess” through heartwarming synth sounds and simultaneously groovy transient drums. While the release incorporates contemporary music production aesthetics, its genesis is rooted in the sonic landscapes of […]
Hip hop recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, and the genre owes a great deal to producers like Man Parrish, whose electro beats helped soundtrack the New York scene of the early 80s. With tracks such as Hip Hop Be Bop (Don’t Stop) and Boogie Down Bronx, Parrish was an early pioneer of the urban sound […]
Italian DJ-producer Fabio Monesi has quickly carved out a solid reputation through a unique, rough and ready sound that lands somewhere between vintage, dusty Chicago house and analog-driven hardware techno. You can hear this across Piano Vandals, his latest album, which is available on Ron Morelli’s L.I.E.S. label. The majority of his earlier work has […]
Having dipped his toe into electro, drum ‘n’ bass, hip hop, big beat, techno and a myriad of other genres over the years, Freddy Fresh is one of those artists that continues to defy expectations. The Minneapolis native has also released on more than 100 record labels during his more than three decade career, including […]
Bill Kouligas’ PAN will release the debut album of Honour, Àlà áfÃa. Honour is an anonymous act who previously released two mixtapes on PAN which sold out very quickly. They may or may not have grown up in the United States, making beats with a cousin who sang in a church band; they might have toured […]
Manchester, UK label Sferic has released the debut album of Yungwebster, a rapper based in New York who is influenced by the likes of Travis Scott, Future, and Young Thug. The Yungwebster album features eight tracks recorded over the last couple of years, taking mumble rap and dissolving it into pure ambient syrup. Yungwebster is […]