STREAMING // (Video) Bill Waves – “City Of Thoughts”
Listen/Watch Here – Youtube
Featuring: Sierra Sellers
Directed By: Jordan Armstrong
Produced By: CRKD FNGRS
Classic Day – Train Track Tyrants
With a rising political climate that started to escalate at the time of its writing and recording, What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye is a record filled with uneasy tension disguised by fascinating production and active lyricism. As war raged on and continued to light fuel for artists in America, Gaye took the opportunity to explain a personal relationship through his brother Frankie Gaye.
As the celebrations and questions of “What’s happening brother!” ring faintly throughout the first track “What’s Going On”, Gaye is quick to showcase a daunting tone rather than a cheerful one. He explains, “Mother, Mother, there’s too many of you crying. Brother, brother, brother, there’s far too many of you dying… You see, war is not the answer for only love can conquer hate.” His vocal approach is not met with smoking barrels but instead peaceful grasps as he is incredibly calm while describing the true ugliness that the Vietnam War caused in American homes.
With a global view, Gaye moves through the crowd and lands on the track “Save The Children” which is a defeated gaze into the void of immense loss. He explains, “Who’s willing to try and save a world that’s destined to die? When I look at the world it fills me with sorrow, little children today are really gonna suffer tomorrow.” It pulls this curtain back on the African-American expressionism and taps directly into a public view for a time in America that continued to burn under the name of the flag. The way that he incorporates horns and these bursts of vitality into such a progressive message continues to illustrate how What’s Going On became such an influential and recognizable record even almost 50 years later.
Gaye makes these calls of mercy through the microphone and performs under extreme scrutiny to form bridges between each piece. The transitions are flowing and seem without any blatant transition that cuts from track to track. What’s Going On sees a movement from “God Is Love” to “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” that perfectly segues the end of side one on vinyl that leaves the listener with this soulful and passionate display on the horns and bells. The choir styled in the background is perfect sampling material with their dramatic fluctuation before coming to a final silence on the track.
The last moments of What’s Going On opt for this gently rising action of jungle-esque percussion and these calm, but moving hums from Gaye as each piece is layered through bricks and walls of sound. It is true that “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)” is a desolate track that determines less of a hopeful future and instead focuses on the bleak injustices within the community that Gaye saw. It was not simply just a problem in the United States but ultimately showed a shockwave across the planet through What’s Going On.
Just as things change with time, they also stay the same and Marvin Gaye’s message is still relevant today. With a bigger push into the unforeseeable future, one of the prophets of truth saw an untimely demise that left the world just as toppled as when What’s Going On hit the streets.
Listen To What’s Going On Here!!! – Spotify/Amazon/iTunes
STREAMING // (Track) Softest Hard – “XO XO”
Listen Here – Soundcloud
STREAMING // (Track) Chris Travis – “Commotion”
Listen Here – Soundcloud
Misc. Day – Profitable Prophets
Earl Sweatshirt in 2013 was beginning to gain more traction from the Odd Future craze. In his absence, his crew members were rising to unmeasurable amounts of hype and fame. Pink socks, donuts on everything, and goofy white kids who finally found their niche began this entryway into the likes of what become teenage golden years.
But this style of rhyming was different, Earl Sweatshirt became the introspective and cracked mirror of production that was stoned, broken, and ultimately human. He could combine the love for dusty records in dollar bins with the fresh and crisp snap of a K9 through rap. It was the first real step as his studio debut through Doris where Sweatshirt could balance his youth and loss of innocence that was apparent even though he established double entendres with ease. It was less of an open hand slap and more of a closed fist punch that teetered between his first mixtape Earl, and the future that would see masterpieces of relation to I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside and even his newest record Some Rap Songs.
In any case of the word, Earl Sweatshirt became this enigma with thousands of hidden stories that somehow people found relatable even on entirely different sides of the world. Doris is that first dive into the water that is not so much a rebirth but is instead the death of one style that adapts to another. Sweatshirt stands behind this coherent story with himself, and sometimes his conscious as the narrator. He begins on the first track “Pre” with a feature, he does not make an appearance until near the 1:50 mark where he finally douses the listener in gas and strikes a match.
Each performance on Doris is volatile and has some sense of dread that bleeds closer and closer to the end of the record. With the later track “Centurion” which features Vince Staples, Sweatshirt is a frantic mess with a whirlwind of paranoid rhymes where he explains, “Eating nothing but hard punches to that abdominal, closed-fist chronicles, sold sniff momma knew. Baggies laying round, peanut shells at a carnival, stomping clowns welcoming pussy niggas to the romper room.” But somehow amongst the ashes of his torment, Sweatshirt is this floating character that people love to watch.
On the track “523” Sweatshirt is coherent but somehow caught between this dream sequence. It is as if he has his entire sound mapped out but also experiments to create these flashes in the pan of raw, unadulterated experiences where the percussion is a crashing and mesmerizing hypnosis piece. The synths that capsulize “523” are simply breathtaking and the room hits vertigo before falling back into the realm of reality.
Nearly six years later, nothing is the same. As the features on Doris age as fine wine and the production is similar, Sweatshirt was a vocal renaissance man who could tightrope between both aggression and depression. With one hand hanging on a gun and the other on a pen.
Listen To Doris Here!!! – Spotify/Amazon/iTunes
STREAMING // (Video) Freddie Gibbs X Madlib – “Crime Pays”
Listen/Watch Here – Youtube
An Object and Animal Production
Executive Producer : Justin Beneoliel (@objectandanimal)
Producer: M. Corey Whitted (@mcoreyw)
Director: Nick Walker (@nickwalkerstudio)
DP: Harley Astorga (@harleyastorga)
Editor: Harley Astorga
Creative Director: Ben “Lambo” Lambert (@lambolambo)
Starring: Freddie Gibbs
Farm Girl: Zoe Neal
Farm Guy 1: John Pistone
Farm Guy 2: Mazen Shehabi
Farm Guy 3: Benedikt Sebastian
STREAMING // (Track) Blu X Exile – “Spread Sunshine”
Listen Here – Youtube
STREAMING // (Video) BBGuns – “Valley”
Listen/Watch Here – Youtube
Directed By: JP Pitt (@lazyjapan) & Cory Pitkavish (@korywithastory)
DP: Evan Butka (@ebutka)
1st AC: Neil Hausey (@mrhausey)
Executive Produced: Cory Pitkavish
Written By: JP Pitt
Song Produced By: Height Keech
New Music – Greaze Gun
Konnichiwa, the 2016 instant hit was a cultural phenomenon that bridged the gap between American rap and the British grime from the streets to the clubs. Skepta is a walking grease “greaze” gun in this case with witty lyrical ability, an outstanding and recognizable producing credit, and an approachable smirk to his newest record Ignorance Is Bliss.
Each track as it floods beginning with either “Bullet From A Gun” to the last track that was the previously released “Pure Water” single, Skepta finds a perfect balance between the hard body performances that make mosh pits and bouncing occur. To the introverted reflections where Skepta is more of a descriptive narrator toward his own outlook on the record. Here, Ignorance Is Bliss was on the backburner for any fan that quickly bumped Skepta up to a top spot in their playlists, always watching to see what was next for the London born rhymer and artist.
Visually stimulating from the vivid, 3×3 thermal grid, each track acts as a piece of this overarching method where Skepta holds the keys behind its truth. Each photograph is a different mood of Ignorance Is Bliss where “Redrum” is the first track that acts as a tank shell in the mix. The hook is a right-hand slap to the eye where Skepta explains, “If I pull up on the strip, it’s murder. Pull up in the whip, it’s murder. Pull up on your chick, it’s murder. Pull up with a stick, it’s murder.” There is this boosting 808 that marks iconic grime styles of production that can tightrope between the synthetic instruments and the bold vocals from both Skepta and KEY!. As the verses begin to trade off, it is apparent that Ignorance Is Bliss will hold some sense of teeth baring.
However, on the opening track “Bullet From A Gun” where the production is a floating and almost watery organization, Skepta rhymes to become less aggressive and more of a tragic hero. “Like a bullet from a gun it burns, when you realize she was never your girl it was just your turn,” describes Skepta in this illustrative and almost shattered opening. He is both hopeful but also relatively similar to his opening on Konnichiwa where he both discusses the success he has seen, but also the immense pain that hits and comes with that life outside of camera flashes. Alternatively, he finally describes, “you got to face your demons don’t matter how much money you earn… The same old story, the world spins ‘round and ‘round fam, lessons have to get learned.”
In another piece, Skepta uses the track “Animal Instinct” to flex for one last time with one of the best bass drops and longest running rhyming teases since “Shoota” by Playboi Carti. Where he stirs up the lines, “But I’m in Paris with the goons, I should take a selfie and go and hang it in the Louvre. And that’s why they wanna start beef, cause the gang came in lookin’ like an art piece, made your wifey skip a heartbeat.” Always ready to go to war with words and perhaps pistols too, Skepta capitalizes on what makes his character so engaging on Ignorance Is Bliss.
Sculpting a world of once sand castles to now marble statues in the courtyard, Skepta is a cultural beast that moves his own pace in a blacked-out tinted Spitfire. As Ignorance Is Bliss becomes this internal war that hits both mountains and valleys, Skepta reminds his audience why he is flying SK Air.
Listen To Ignorance Is Bliss Here!!! – Spotify/Amazon/iTunes
Classic Day – The Interpreter’s Sheets
In the misty morning where those iconic chords can still be heard ringing, Led Zeppelin formed their fifth studio record Houses of the Holy with an inevitable movement toward sophistication and adaptation. In one of the most consecutively banging records, Houses of the Holy is a supreme demonstration of the raw talent, innovation, and ability through writing.
The physicality of a Zeppelin record is almost transplanetary, stretching far beyond what can even be comprehended in a single listen. From the initial sounds, Houses of the Holy opens with “The Song Remains The Same” with an instantly crashing performance on the instrumentation before vocals ever grace the scene. With Jimmy Page as the head guitarist, John Paul Jones covers the bass and keyboards. Standing alongside him is John Bonham on the percussion, which then leaves Robert Plant to be the narrator through the often amber-burning journey.
Passionate, illustrative, and scientists of the craft, Led Zeppelin almost instantly invokes some sense of pride through their music. They can make a heavy rainfall feel less of a downer to a day and more of an uplifting experience. With the raging guitar solos thrown into the mix, the way that the drums become iconic through each track, and just how crafty the bass work is; Houses of the Holy is a stacked line-up for conscious potentiality. With every track, the bleeding factor of skill comes with the aptitude of the writing and ultimate prowess for wanting to produce.
From “The Crunge” or “Dancing Days”, from “Over The Hills and Far Away” to the masterfully manufactured “No Quarter”, Houses of the Holy is a masterpiece with little in room for improvement. The entire presentation is a stage act that relies entirely on an emotional draw from the fab-four. As Led Zeppelin reaches these almost impossible achievements through creation, “No Quarter” becomes this overwhelming warmth that gives chills from the first listen to the last. It is a gentle build that slowly adds more and more layering until everything comes crashing down in this train wreck of addictive resonation.
Not only are the lyrics engaging, but the way that Houses of the Holy shifts from being a rampant rock n’ roll animal to the then spaced out and mesmerizing. As expansion really plays a role, the real scope of Led Zeppelin changes with “No Quarter” at every passing. The low-tuned guitar that conflicts with Plant’s vocal approachability simply lights up the board and sets a humbling fire below the listener. The track is warm, growing, and eventually bursts to become something almost unrecognizable.
Houses of the Holy is a welcome introduction to the artistic endeavor that was Led Zeppelin. The band messes coherent sound while still pushing the boundaries to become pioneers in a land that was still light years behind. As everything falls into place, Houses of the Holy reigns on as a respectable master of hounds.
Listen To Houses Of The Holy Here!!! – Youtube/Spotify/Amazon/iTunes
STREAMING // (Track) Ho99o9 X Ghostemane – “TWIST OF FATE / COBRA”
Listen Here – Youtube/Soundcloud/Spotify
Written + Produced By: theOGM, Yeti Bones, Ghostemane, Dave “Squirrel” Covell & Elete
STREAMING // (Album) TRiPPJONES – “Broken Fixation Vol. 1 & 2”
Listen Here – Soundcloud
Producers: IAMPISSED, Mutant Joe, Hi-C, Stimachine, Dream Beach, Raphy, Vamp Money, Tony Seltzer, Nedarb, A Lau, Ryan C, Trip Dixon, Pentagrvm, Fatherblaze, Acid Brain, Tobias, Terror, Bek, Kimu, Loko Los, Sayda, DeliverTheCrush
Featuring: GRiMM DOZA, Yung Mojo, Morgue!, YVNCC, Slim Poppins, DirtBagMarley, WIFIGAWD, SICKBOYRARI
Misc. Day – Draped in Despair
As the clock turns systematically through these clamoring rings of cymbals and drained vocals, King Woman takes an inevitable march toward sonic damnation. Each step acts as tracks on their 2017 release Created in the Image of Suffering where screams into the void are placed to be artistically rewarding as their methods become dramatically refined in both high and lows.
King Woman has this everlasting truth behind their sound that dawns new life at every turn. The record is started by a digital exclusive, “Citios” where whispers grow by lead vocalist Kristina Esfandiari where she continually repeats “Created in the image of suffering” before static noise overtakes her voice to this whirl of mystery. Then as “Utopia” begins to stack the bricks of overarching and pulverizing dread, King Woman becomes less ethereal and more concrete. Esfandiari’s lyrical approach is still layered behind walls of apparitional views, but the instrumentation is punishing and physical.
They essentially tackle a continuous flow with Created in the Image of Suffering where each puzzle piece connects more than the last. As these pieces are beginning to congregate together and find a perfect balance of both tension building and rock solid reprieves, King Woman quickly climbs the ropes to become a centerfold of engagement. “Shame” is progressive in the way that the vocals act like siren songs which draw the listener in as the instrumentals are often wars within percussive stations. No barriers hold a grasp on Created in the Image of Suffering even as each track holds a familiar ground that is approachable even under such daunting weight.
Hitting all the major key points of being an arsonist’s wet dream, the fun of King Woman is seeing how they can balance all these monumental efforts into one tightly wrapped and clockwork-esque package. The tracks that King Woman decide to unleash as an arsenal become tarnished and undermined for just how gorgeous they actually are. On Created in the image of Suffering, there are immense amounts of dirt that cover the piece in grit and this thick soot. With that leftover material comes the blanketing of what stands out as a simply beautiful writing and instrumental manipulation.
One of the last tracks on the record showcases this synonymous dichotomy of gentle builds that leads to a bitter demise. “Manna” begins small, with only two noises coming from the vocals and reverb on the guitars before everything crashes together with a foundation of performance. The percussion is slowly added in until every single sound becomes utilized and finally transcribed into this grandioso of draining proportions.
Broken bones and materialization from darkness becomes King Woman with a black and white styled mantra that is minimalistic but still impressionable. Their work stands to crack walls, create undertows within their own world, and shatter impressions from the jump. As the body crumbles around them, Created in the Image of Suffering strains and fights for one last grace of sunlight against the harsh black they face.
Listen To Created In The Image Of Suffering Here!!! – BandCamp/Youtube/Spotify/Amazon/iTunes
STREAMING // (Track) MonteMadeIt – “Cash Route”
Listen Here – Soundcloud
THIS IS A LIST OF THE MOST RECENT STREAMS...
The complete list of all past streams can be accessed here as well
(Click Here)
MATT'S MUSIC MINE - MERCH FOR SALE
VIDEO REEL 2
LIVE PHOTOGRAPHY – JESUS PIECE AT BABY’S ALL RIGHT, DECEMBER 6TH, 2022
SUNDAY SAMPLER // (Playlist) “12/04/2022″
(Track) Jake Mason Trio – “Rib Eye”
(Video) Lightning Bolt – “Dead Cowboy @ TAICOCLUB 2014”
(Video) The Velvet Underground – “After Hours”
(Video) Mac Miller – “10 Years Of You”
(Video) A$AP Rocky – “Same Problems”
The complete list of all past streams can be accessed here as well
(Click Here)