A friend said this past week, "I still bump "Champagne Coast" like its new, we feel the same about "Sutphin Boulevard". Defs. Both of 'em.
Now Blood Orange (Devonte Hynes - Lightspeed Champion, Test Icicles, Solange's producer) has released his newest album, Cupid Deluxe, on Domino Records (so solid). Its available now...
So first, just sayin...
Now you're up to speed... .. Lightspeed.
So general vibes : people ready for new/more/all Blood Orange.
This is an amazing album. Our faves are many, with standouts being "Chosen", "Clipped On" (with old fave Despot!), "High Street", & "Time Will Tell". And this one :
Really, every track has that killin vibe for us. And such vocal melodies. Fuck yes. Devonte
Remember this? Came up on playing in the offices today. Good times.
Illy "Hollertronix" era, Diplo remix of TV On The Radio - "Staring At The Sun" x Dead Prez - "Hell Yeah"
Some Heroes actually first discovered TV On The Radio in early 2004, via CNet's Download.com music section. It was kind of an amazing place back then to tap into the unheard world of small indie artists. T-Radd (most of the original songs are not findable..), Atomic Puppy (can't find a music link at all), Ghetto Girl, many others I can't remember right now & this very weird looking crew from Brooklyn, NY (Brooklyn? What musicians were there or came from there besides Biggie? --- obviously this is in jest...but in 2003, vs. in 2013...ha!)... with a gem of a song called "Staring at the Sun", and a cover of The Pixies', "Mr. Grieves". They did well and it was most deserved.
The collection was produced for the most part by Sango (with a little help from Marvel Alexander, Mr. Carmack & $ir OJ...all quite great producers on their own) who really kills it.
A little more on Sango...upon visiting his facebook page I discovered two things. 1) this very touching story and song from Dee Mafioso, in which he reached out to Sango to let him know that he was very inspired by his music, that he and his girlfriend had loved his song "When I Need You The Most", that she had recently passed away, and that he had recorded a song in her memory over one of S's beats. Here it is. Its nice when music can heal. And when others can share that. This has been your "real life" music moment with the Hero, all jokes aside.
Thanks to Revolt, P Diddy...ahem, Comcast, and well, I suppose Maxine Waters, really great music videos (and some mediocre ones of course, as it goes) now have a place on television again.
Says Diddy :
Oh yeah, he also said all of this :
“REVOLT is not a time slot, it is 24/7 TV. The first to be built entirely from the ground up in the social media age. REVOLT addresses the music void on television by uniting the artists of the world, empowering them, and giving them, as well as their fans, the tools and apps to share an authentic music experience."
As the Hero is a force comprised mostly of those who grew up while actual music videos played on MTV (see LL Cool J, Guns'n Roses, Skid Row, Young MC), this is something that is nice for us to witness. TV in general isn't something we fully subscribe to over this way (both literally and figuratively), however this is something unlike anything else of its "kind" (a statement that can only be made loosely of course), and is refreshing artistically, musically, and culturally. Very few commercials, a very diverse, and more importantly talented slice of the music world being included. Lets hope it can keep itself where it is. Its quite entertaining and high quality upon its debut.
We watched Revolt live online on the opening day, featuring Diddy (quite amazingly not slipping up in his speech even once over the course of his 3+ minute, laptop-cam-to-web monologue) announced its existence "live" (not sure if we caught the first one, it was on repeat, as is the entire channel in a broad sense). Now, through work this week, the channel has been on muted repeat on high up flatscreen, floating over the console and speakers as studio work abounds. Many an impressive mini-motion-pictures have passed before our eyes, in silence as we work, and here are a few of our faves... the ones we could quickly remember anyway.
And of course, the obligatory crew deep rap video...which is, at least, again... refreshingly retro....
Poliça are awesome. We saw them live at the Levis Haus one time and they put on an excellent, low key (for a small venue) live show. Even the EC Twins thought so. Now they have a new album. This is a great thing.
While the first album, Give You The Ghost, featured singer Channy Leaneagh's voice awash in reverb and effects, Shulamith scales that back a bit, and the resulting clearness definitely lets you know that her vocal talents are really quite amazing, and the processing was simply one form of presentation, rather than a technique used to hide lack of talent.
This new album was released in late October (available now directly through the bands website!), continues that awesomeness, and its recommended by your friends at The Hero that you get, and then listen to it.
22 y.o. wunderkind, and current reigning champion of (mostly) "chill-trap", Flume, has released his first full length album, to much anticipation. The self-titled, 14 track album was released earlier this year on Future Classic records, and is available for purchase in their online shop. A great album. Sidenote : we highly reccommend you check the "Get Free" remix down below...
Since he started to create music using a production CD he found in a cereal box, the guy has done a lot. Winning awards in his native Australia, going platinum, touring the world, and whatever the fuck else.
Peep some new jams :
A stellar remix :
And and a classic Flume fave :
Also, to accompany the album, Flume put together a hip-hop inspired mixtape (the "Flume Deluxe Edition Mixtape"... it is included with the deluxe retail package of Flume) while on tour.
Get lightly crunk.
Tracklist :
Flume: Deluxe Edition Mixtape
1. Flume - Intro feat. Stalley 2. Flume - Space Cadet feat. Ghostface Killah & Autre Ne Veut 3. Flume - Insane feat. Killer Mike & Moon Holiday 4. Flume - Stay Close feat. Boldy James, Alexander Spit & Aaron Cohen 5. Flume - Holdin On feat. Freddie Gibbs 6. Flume - Change feat. How To Dress Well 7. Flume - Warm Thoughts feat. Grande Marshall & Goldie Glo 8. Flume - Sleepless feat. Twin Shadow & Jezzabell Doran 9. Hermitude - HyperParadise feat. M.O.P. (Flume Mixtape Version)
While we love the chill solo Flume works, over here at the Hero, we really like to turn up. Bigger. So in that vein, here are a few more from Flume's second musical project. Along with Emoh Instead, he is 1/2 of the duo What So Not. A remix of Major Lazer's, "Get Free", was their real intro to the globe, and has been getting us open over here for a little while now... peep game...track is killing shit all over the place. Can't get tired of it. Even after we've heard the original, and a number of other remixes many, many times since forever ago. Always completely on purpose. The other couple are equally pure blissful crunk inspirers.
This is a rarely-seen mini-profile on Christopher Wallace from the UK show, Diary On Passengers, in which The Black Frank White chops it up about supporting Junior M.A.F.I.A., with then-wife Faith Evans, and allows the world some insight into his relationship with his Mother. Some realness.
Seriously, just chill out for 14 minutes and 10 seconds. Then peep some tracks after that...
New from true "electronic" music pioneer Flux Pavillion comes the five track Freeway EP. Itis now available, and its killing. This track "Gold Love", featuring Rosie Oddie is murder. Great shit right here.
Flux achieved international recognition with the track "I Can't Stop", which was eventually sampled by Shama "Sak Pase" Joseph for the song "Who Gon Stop Me" from Watch The Throne. He is also (along with Doctor P) the co-founder of Circus Records. and has been inspiring producers of sample and "beat" based music for years! We're certainly psyched on this new material. Ak like you know.
Also...additionally from the crew comes this Doc P & Adam F, Method Man featured track which comes with a pretty slick little video...
Finally... peep some tour footie...good times...(a bit more interesting than the current Baauer & R.L. Grime tour videos...) AND features a little hometown PORTLAND, MAINE cameo here in EP #2...HOLLER.
Don't know a lot about Ty Dolla $ign yet, we been OG Bobby Ray fans, and together this video is kind of our shit right now...
Track goes hard too, obviously. And lyric and concept are more clever than the other TD$ tracks I've heard so far..
Apparently he is on it with the production game as well...nice and simple, but kinda feeling this one on the slow jam, old school vibe (whatchyall know about some old school Rn'B slow jams?)... and a nicely old school ghetto-music-video-production video to go along with it :
20 days until the new Kid Cudi, Indicud, drops, and just a few hrs ago (Tuesday) comes news that he is not longer on the Kanye West G.O.O.D. Music label, which he basically helped West to form.
I am announcing that I am no longer on G.O.O.D. Music...Me and Kanye were talking on the phone the other day, and there's just things I've been wanting to talk to him about, about me starting my own diredtion, and he got it because you know he's trying to start his new path, and trying new things as and artist, and you know he was just like, "Man I feel you, its cool!" (HEAR THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW BELOW)
He goes on to say this is not the reason there aren't really any G.O.O.D. Music artists on the new album, and that was simply due to scheduling and Big Sean being "on fire right now".
Cudi plans to focus on his own productions, including his artist, and old school Hero fave, King Chip (formerly known as Chip The Ripper), who has been putting in work for a while now. With Chip, Cudi dropped the first single from this new album in late 2012 titled, "Just What I Am".
This track has been a serious anthem here at the Hero for a couple months now, and though the next couple of tracks dropped (Too $hort collabo "Girls" and MGMT sampled "Immortal") aren't as exciting, we're looking forward to big things happening on this album with a lot of interesting guest spots [including Father John Misty, Haim, Kendrick Lamar, and Michael Bolton (?!)...].
Hollerrrrrr.
Tracklist for Indicud :
1. “The Resurrection of Scott Mescudi”
2. “Unfuckwittable”
3. “Just What I Am” feat. King Chip
4. “Young Lady” feat. Father John Misty
5. “King Wizard”
6. “Immortal”
7. “Solo Dolo Part II” feat. Kendrick Lamar
8. “Girls” feat. Too $hort
9. “New York City Rage Fest”
10. “Red Eye” feat. Haim
11. “Mad Solar”
12. “Beez” feat. RZA
13. “Brothers” feat. King Chip & A$AP Rocky
14. “Burn Baby Burn”
15. “Lord of the Sad and Lonely”
16. “Cold Blooded”
17. “Afterwards (Bring Yo Friends)” feat. Michael Bolton & King Chip
18. “The Flight of the Moon Man”
Odd Future "leader", Tyler the Creator drops the new album, Wolf, today on OF Records/RED Distribution/Sony Music Entertainment.
New video for "IFHY" (a collaboration with Pharell) from Tyler the
Creator came out last week...and, what can we say, this one welike. Extra hyped on that snippet at the end with Hodgy Beats...
Though the dude can be a bit kiddo for the masses here at the Hero, his innovation and refusal to stick to any norm is what is most important in this art and music world...props. Whatever the outcome may be. Shake your world up, you know its gotten boring anyway.
Fresh off a nice little SXSW showcase, New York duo, MSMR, have landed a track an official Game of Thrones : Season 3 trailer, and seem to be finna embed themselves right into the indie-pop music scene for good. Details on this (also enigmatic) duo have been scarce, but they do have a Tumblr page.
Judging by the songs (quite awesome), the branding (snappy), the remix collaborations (Twin Shadow, Charli XCX, Kele of Bloc Party), the video content, and the overall buzzaroo (some sneaky but heavy airplay on KCRW this past winter...), the future seems bright for these two.
Give an ear:
And and eye :
MSMR - "Bones" in Game of Thrones : Season 3 extended trailer.
Recently we've been quite taken with one Mac Demarco, and his band of ruffians hailing from Montréal, Quebec, Canada. First came a 12" called Rock n' Roll Nightclub and some other tracks online, then a quick signing with Captured Tracks, a mysteriously up-then-gone video for "Only You", some whispers about shows @ SXSW, some great tunes, and this (posted at the end) live performance by Pitchfork.
Lots of things. Lots of music. Lots of fun you guys.
Let's just say there seem to be lots of good things to come from the young lad. Here's some tunes to bang to.
With an extremely detailed and hands on marketing scheme, the enigmatic & flamboyant, Duo of Empire of the Sun returns in all of its glory. With a pop-up listening party at SXSW, and now with a series of teasers to hype their coming album, Ice On The Dune, due out in June of this year. All four unlockable teasers are being revealed at both the Empire of The Sun official website, and (sans only the first so far...) a chosen music blog for each. And you get to use a decoder wheel if you really want to get into it.
The first, a trailer-style video, titled "Discovery (Trailer)", depicts an archaeological dig on the Guerrero peninsula, in which cave paintings showing "empire of the sun" are discovered, a snippet of new music is played, and the EOS boys (Luke Steele & Nick Littlemore) are shown in full regalia.
The Hero has a mighty talented Brother, Broverstander, Famborgini Diabro, you know what time it is.
Entricut been off the hook for about a few minutes sunnnn!!
Been too long since we've hosted the ever so goodness!
Get at it.
Looking forward to a show with the Brothers this Christmas in Central Maine...........
Glad I got to see the dudes perform before this split... Seems as though it was bound to happen, though they never recorded their one album agreed to in a deal with Sony, signed in July. Ah well, time will tell... until then... this video is just amazing enough to not really care...
Holler homies. Be well.
Also, why not check the fuck out of this blazing remix of the track from ETC(!)ETC(!)...
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