US Hip-Hop legends Atmosphere return to Europe for the Mi Vida Local Tour. After extensively touring North America since the release of their ‘seventh’ album, Mi Vida Local, the kings of indie Hip-Hop will be coming across the pond for eight exclusive live shows this April.
Mi Vida Local has received extensive critical acclaim since its October release and showcases their innovative and defining style of Hip-Hop. With over 20 years in the game and such a phenomenal back catalog, Slug and Ant promise a run of unforgettable performances.
Main support for the Mi Vida Local Tour Europe will be from newer Rhymesayers signee deM atlaS off the back of his debut album Bad Actress, which was produced entirely by Ant (Atmosphere), and was also released October 2018. The innovative rapper/singer/crooner also released his spellbinding 5-song visual EP, “Bad Loves Company” in line with the album. Additional supporting artists include The Lioness and DJ Keezy.
LINKS:
https://rse.lnk.to/MiVidaLocal
https://rhymesayers.com/artists/atmosphere
https://www.facebook.com/Atmosphere
https://twitter.com/atmosphere
https://www.instagram.com/atmosphere
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Mint – Goodbye Beautiful
Mint drop their new video titled ‘Goodbye Beautiful’. Music with a message is more important than ever in these weird times that we live in and it’s nice to get those subtle reminders from time to time. Do we listen? Sure, sometimes. Sometimes not. But the important thing is that it is highlighted.
The music is upfront and in your face in a way to capture the mind and captivate the motivation. Combined with the contemporary visuals you get a contemplative look at contemporary times. Feel the need and urge to wake up and speak up. Some people won’t listen. But some will. Get the ones that will speak up with you.
We’re as scared and angry as any other person our age. If we can provide a soundtrack for people that can relate then we have made a difference. We’re not a protest band and not every song will be a protest. We can’t afford to take a day off work and travel to London to add our voice. But we’re not just going to watch TV and read online either.
ABOUT ‘GOODBYE BEAUTIFUL’
On ‘Goodbye Beautiful’ frontman, Zak has written a song that encapsulates the diverse issues his generation faces. Memories of hearing ‘Bella Ciao’ sung by the sole Italian family in his area inspired him to write a song to voice the resentments, fears, and concerns of the young over the environment and their future, as well as wider issues such as racism, animal cruelty and societal division. In three and a half minutes, Mint channel the broad scope of the song into a high-octane imperial march towards certain doom. Guitars careen through the mix mounting to an explosive and unforgettable chorus. It is a powerful statement of intent from a group that see the emotional resonance of music as a potential platform for uniting people. The accompanying video is compiled from footage taken by a friend of the band on his travels, interspersed with suggestive images: icebergs, waste, oil spillage, animal suffering, and protesters clamoring for revolution.
As they were developing the idea, the group reached out online and contacted organizations, bloggers and social media. “It was an amazing response and took us by surprise” confirms Sam (Veggie). “Most people were delighted to be involved and all added thanks and support.” “We’re hoping that we will touch upon people enough to make them think” Zak adds. “We hope that it will inspire them to do their bit”. Fans of the song can expect a raw honky-tonk acoustic version forthcoming too.
ABOUT MINT
Mint comes from the dolorous landscape of West Marsh, Grimsby. The northern and eastern boundaries are formed by Alexandra Dock, while the western edge is subsumed into the smog of the Pyewipe industrial area. The south is bordered by impassable railway tracks. It is an area with little hope, no tourists, and the dried-up husk of a once prosperous fishing industry. Zak, Veggie, Lenny and Bambi all attended the same school, though the semantics of the word ‘attended’ is loosely applied here. They formed a close bond while locking horns over their different music tastes. Guitarist Lenny drew inspiration from the avant-garde sounds of Nick Cave, The Birthday Party, and The Pop Group, while the other three members leaned towards indie classics and the harder edges of rock. They went on to study at Grimsby Institute and the idea to form a band was soon realized and became serious in 2018.
Being half Palestinian and sporting wild hair in an area affiliated with skinheads, frontman Zak Rashid had it hardest coming up, and started to look outside of his home town. He was a young pro skateboarder and surfer by day and taught himself graphic design by night. When he is not gigging he runs the (only NE) local surf shop and designs artwork for artists such as Lucy Spraggan, Black Honey and False Heads. Lenny works in the cafe next door whilst Bambi and Veggie work shifts in soup canning factories. Mint has enjoyed UK radio support from Radio 1 and playlisting on Radio X and has performed at all major UK festivals. In mid-2019 they started to realize their sound, an idiosyncratic fusion of indie melodies set to beefier instrumentation. Recently they have begun work with award-winning production team Sugar House and taken on management.
LINKS:
https://www.instagram.com/wearejustmint
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3P1VGtEN58XJY7P0TzIapp
https://soundcloud.com/wearejustmint
https://www.facebook.com/WeAreJustMint
https://twitter.com/wearejustmint -
Lover – Fallen Famous
Where dissatisfaction is bohemian and vaguely Marxist in origin, Lover is here to show you the beauty in the darkness.
With a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs – are you ready to explore a life no one thought could exist outside literature?
Lover is:
- Sarah bradbury
- Jamie moore
- Florence sabeva
- Alex villar
- Simon lacon
- Federico bianco
The bones of the band were formed towards the end of 2015, and they started on their debut album, ‘Human Geography’ in early 2016.
The album was completed just before they embarked on a mini UK tour supporting earl slick/bernard fowler’s station to station tour.
Whilst on tour the band started building a following and garnered great feedback from the public and industry insiders alike.
2017 is the year that lover decide whether you’re allowed to be part of their world or not.
About Fallen Famous:
The song came from a strong image of a run-down mansion and a group of young people wearing now tattered fancy clothes living there in faded grandeur in a post-apocalyptic world – almost playing at being the celebrities they once admired (and contributed to destroying). Like a sexier version of miss haversham and her house… the story is hard to pin down but it is something around the way we lionize and then tear down our heroes in today’s mass media culture – a micro version of how, as a race, we seem intent on destroying our home planet…LINKS:
https://facebook.com/LoverTheBand
https://twitter.com/LoverTheBand -
Your 33 Black Angels – Hott Funn
Your 33 Black Angels (a.k.a. Y33BA) has announced their new album ‘Eternities I’, which is their seventh long-play to date, to be released in early May. Ahead of that, they are previewing the lead track ‘Hott Funn’.
Recorded over three years and more than 60 studio days with endless mixes in the making, ‘Eternities I’ is 13 tracks that are built to stand as the culmination of Y33BA’s labors.
Based out of New York City, Y33BA is a long-running noise-pop freakshow. This genre-defying project has its own stamp of dark pop, electro-paisley new wave space rock, with a dose of crunk bass and rhythm. They produce elegant vibrant melodies with strange, novel sounds. This is the New Age underground for the End Times.
How do a group that has danced around sensibilities and sounds refresh the template? More cutting-edge instruments and riskier, avant-garde pop songs than ever. Imagine Madchester, and imagine dream pop meets Aphex Twin. Imagine the bastard child of Arthur Russell, Rain Parade and Rza and add original 21st century sound design and guitar webs.
This is a radical, angry, watermark record. Designed to embrace and rattle against the times. Combining haute popcraft with touches of the undercurrents of our lives–acid house, Paisley Underground, synth wave, field recordings, minimal electronica and epic RAWK.
As well, the Y33BA wordsmiths have always been equal part poetry fans as lyricists, so the Poesia Concreta of Augusto de Campos or Guillaume Apollonaire may have as much influence as wonderful lyricists like Neil Hannon, Bjork or Serge Gainsbourg. Breaking rhythms and broken meter match the polarized sounds from start to finish.
Formed in 2003, Y33BA debuted with the album ‘Lonely Street’ in 2007, which was a vinyl-only limited edition. Once the initial pressings sold out, Y33BA released the album on CD and digitally. They followed up with ‘Tales of my Pop-Rock Love Life’ (2008), ‘Pagan Princess’ (2009), ‘Songs from the Near Bleak Future’ (Optical Sounds, 2010), ‘Moon and Morning Star’ ( Optical Sounds, 2012) and ‘Glamour’ (2015).
In that time, they have played over 500 shows across Europe and North America, sharing the stage with some rather fine acts during recent tours. The Monochrome Set selected Y33BA as the direct support act for its first New York City show in 30 years. La Femme, The Veldt and Dyr Faser have toured or shared many nights with the group. The band has also played with King Tuff, Blitzen Trapper, Suuns, Six Organs of Admittance, Blonde Elvis, B-17 and We Melt Chocolate.
The video for ‘Hott Funn’ was made by Richie of Vinyl Villains. “Richie is a mysterious Bushwick programmer that doesn’t leave his loft til the light has disappeared and the day has turned to dark. He is part vampire, part design whiz. He has invented an automated animation program that turns songs into aliens, furry creatures, whatever the sound seems to suggest. Obviously, Your 33 Black Angels has a very alien sound, but he might have horses singing to Neil Young, vegan cupcakes singing Fiona Apple, dolphins singing Supergrass, etc. Richie is so ineffable and distant, we don’t even know his last name. All we know is he commands legions of aliens, faeries, and elves. Literally, that’s what he does!”
Y33BA ‘Eternities I’ is slated for release on May 7 and will be available across digital stores and streaming platforms. It can also be pre-ordered via Bandcamp. The band’s album release show will take place on May 10 at Alphaville in Brooklyn.
“A delight of jangling guitars, spacey-sweet vocals, and electronic squiggles, a psych record rooted in beat-pop and experimentalism”
– Village Voice (on ‘Glamour’)“One of this year’s treasures… is worth the hunt for its pop-wise rattle (Pavement with a case of the Strokes) and singer Josh Westfal’s resemblance, in dry, frank voice and cautious optimism, to another local institution: Lou Reed on the Velvet Underground’s fourth album, Loaded”
– Rolling Stone (On ‘Lonely Street’)“This is dark electric frenzied New Wave space-rock, blasting by like a fiery and unexpected sonic guest, clearly defying genres and interacting with cosmic messengers”
– Big Takeover Magazine“Retro-leaning, though hardly flower pop fetishists… pacey keyboard textures and groove-oriented arrangements, while their penchant for laid-back Daniel Johnston vocals and warbly lo-fi riffs more closely resembles the classic college rock of Pavement and Built to Spill”
– NOW Toronto (On ‘Songs from the Near Bleak Future’)“Your 33 Black Angels are known for frenetic, unpredictable shows. the interlocking guitars sometimes surged into what seemed like an eternal groove”
– Washington Post (live review)LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/your33blackangels
https://y33ba.bandcamp.com
https://twitter.com/y33ba
https://www.instagram.com/y33ba
https://soundcloud.com/y33ba
https://itunes.apple.com/bn/artist/your-33-black-angels/271047566