A lyrical song of contradictions with a musical electronic style to match. Using a funk beat mixed with live Latin percussion, female vocals float on top with crazy high harmonies, a big pre-chorus, and hook. The love story speaks of removing all barriers to find each other in the highest, deepest love. Perfect rhythms for high energy dance floors. Live conga’s give this track a Latin dance feel. The video was shot in Las Vegas with aerial views of the Strip, High Roller and street scenes of the city that never sleeps, playing off the song’s theme “climbing down into you.”
LINKS:
https://twitter.com/sidefxband
https://www.instagram.com/kimcameron_sidefx
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Atmosphere – Graffiti
The last time we checked in with Slug and Ant was on 2016’s Fishing Blues, the latest chapter in a string of albums showcasing the pair’s evolution from tortured hedonists into settled-down dads making kicked-back rap records. It would have been nice to carry on thinking they were finally at well-earned peace after two decades of extensively documented trials and tribulations. But just because your corner of the globe is peaceful, that doesn’t mean that the rest of the world stops turning.
It’s a different place than it was two years ago, and the seventh Atmosphere album, Mi Vida Local, reflects the ways in which the world and Atmosphere’s place in it–have changed. The idyllic domesticity of the past few records has morphed into anxiety over keeping loved ones safe during turbulent times. Instead of bragging about backstage misadventures it’s about grappling with mortality. The easygoing collaboration between Ant and Slug has started to feel more like the life-or-death intimacy of two men trapped together on a lifeboat.
At times it’s a heavy album (“I might be the last generation of grandparents,” goes a key line from “Virgo”), but it’s far from grim. There are jokes being cracked, joints getting smoked, a little trash talking and beefing here and there–after all, it’s still a rap record.
And Atmosphere’s never sounded better.
As the name implies, Mi Vida Local is intensely focused on the place it was created–the southside of Minne apo lis–where Slug and Ant work tirelessly in their “beautiful basements”, refining their sound without interruption. (Although a handful of friends from the Minneapolis hip-hop community showed up to contribute.) A year of one-on-one collaboration resulting in an album that matches complex subject matter with equally deep beats–ones that show a clear lineage back to the psychedelic funk landmarks from an earlier era where America was going through a post-utopian hangover, and prove that there won’t ever be a time where boom-bap beats don’t sound perfectly of the moment.
Mi Vida Local might be the best album Atmosphere’s ever made. It’s definitely the one they needed to make right now, and one listener’s needs to hear just as urgently. If it’s sometimes an album about how the fight to find happiness never really ends–even after you get the house and the kids and the artistic freedom to make dad-rap records–it’s also about discovering that there’s happiness to be found just in fighting.
Photo by Dan Monick.
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 -
The 109’s – The Pound
The 109’s are a Hampshire (UK) based four-piece who celebrate a mutual love of the late ’60s and early ’70s rock – Sabbath, Zeppelin, AC/DC, The Who, MC5, Grand Funk Railroad. This melting pot of influences has created a blistering, dynamic fusion of all that is best in rock, and their music has garnered praise from DJs and gig-goers alike.
On The Pound, the band says: “Everyone in the band is a massive AC/DC fan, and we all wanted to write a tune that would possess a Bon Scott type of swagger without sounding derivative. The Pound is our attempt at that: a chunky riff, some slashing open chords, and a ‘Too bad, girl, but I’m out of here’ type lyric”.
The release of the album brought immediate attention from prestigious UK stations such as Kerrang! Radio and Planet Rock. Tracks from the album have also been in continuous rotation on radio stations across the USA, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
The musicians come from strong improvisational backgrounds and write their songs as a collective, jamming until they find riffs, melody lines and unusual rhythms and cadences that can be boiled down into short, punchy song structures that strut effortlessly through complex, unexpected changes.
“Taking the sleaze and swagger of the ‘70s and combining it with a loose and laid back ‘60s approach, The 109s are both timely and timeless. The four-piece will appeal to anyone who likes their rock with an amphetamine chaser!”
– Louder Than WarThe album has been produced by Jason Wilson, at Stakeout Studios who has produced bands such as ‘Don Broco’ and ‘You Me At Six’. Jason has translated the tremendous power and passion of the band’s live performances into recorded songs that have an equal sense of aggression and grandeur.
Lead guitarist, Matty P, is also an internationally published author and member of the UK Crime Writers Association. He has published four novels in the UK to date – Scarecrow, Stolen Lives, Broken Arrow and Werewolf - under the name of Matthew Pritchard, and was nominated for the CWA’s Gold Dagger Award.
LINKS:
https://soundcloud.com/the-109s
https://www.facebook.com/the109s
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-109s/id1153559243
https://twitter.com/the109s
https://www.instagram.com/the109s
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX-DfgIKTdyQmAoBtLCjFUA
http://www.the109s.com -
Jane N’ The Jungle – Wild Side
Phoenix, AZ-based Alternative Rock Band Jane N’ The Jungle has released the Official Music Video for their newest energetic, wild, and contagiously addicting single”Wild Side”. “Wild Side” was directed and filmed by Will Goldstein.
Alternative rock band Jane N The Jungle, from Phoenix, AZ, set fire to the indie alternative music scene with their electric performances and powerful female vocals. The band released their debut EP in October 2016 with influences such as Alanis Morissette, The Cranberries, and Florence and The Machine. Jane and her “Tribe” have received rave reviews on their unique sound, mixing between 90’s alternative and modern rock.
Honda are featuring 2 “JNTJ” songs in prime time ad commercials airing in 2017 in the U.S.; Hard rocker, ‘Smoke & Dust’, and an Americana single, ‘Open Road Blues’.
LINKS:
http://www.janenthejungle.com
http://www.facebook.com/janenthejungle
http://www.twitter.com/janenthejungle
http://www.instagram.com/janenthejungle