This week it’s a very rare video edition of That New New!
Anderson .Paak – Til It’s Over
The list of reasons to be mad at Apple grows longer with each forced upgrade, and the fact that for now the only way we can hear this new Anderson .Paak song is to watch an ad is particularly galling. HOWEVER this also involves watching FKA Twigs dance through a Spike Jonez directed video, so it’s hard to stay too mad.
Vince Staples – Get The Fuck Off My Dick
Vince Staples is a funny motherfucker and to intro his new single, he started a GoFundMe – no need for commentary on this, just watch the video! Then listen to the song here.
We’ve been on Okay Kaya’s dick a lot lately too, and for good reason – she’s a great actor (you can see her in Thelma), singer, dancer and model. The onanistic video for Dance Like U is a piece of art and will make you a believer if you weren’t convinced by IUD.
Listen to these songs (besides Til It’s Over because Apple is some haters) plus NEW SADE(!!!) on our That New New playlist, below:
That New New (3.5.18)
We’ve been slack with the writeups lately but we’ve been updating the playlist nonstop and we’re back with some words for those of you who like to read while you listen to music for some reason.
1950 is timeless R&B, somewhere between Alessia Cara and Lana Del Rey. King Princess is new to us, but she’s on Mark Ronson’s new label, Zelig, she’s self-produced, and she’s young and gay and has an incredible voice!
Swae Lee – Hurt To Look (ft. Rae Sremmurd)
Find me someone who doesn’t like Rae Sremmurd, go on, I’ll wait! Swae Lee in particular is responsible for a huge number of hits on the radio in the last few years, and a solo album from him is a really exciting prospect. (A Slim Jxmmi solo record is a little harder to imagine). Swaecation is supposed to be mostly R&B, and “Hurt To Look” is more of a groover than it is a “Black Beatles” type anthem, which means it might take a few listens to grow on you but you’re also less likely to get sick of it. This is like perfect heavy warmup material, so look forward to hearing it in the 10-11 slot at The Rub for the next few years.
With a falsetto reminiscent of The-Dream, Adrian Daniel’s album is extremely fucking sexy. Our pick is “Face of Eve,” which could just as easily fit in the House of Balloons as in Flawd.
A$AP Ferg, Denzel Curry & IDK “Kristi YamaGucci”
At this point Ferg has been dominating for so long, you’d be forgiven for yawning at the thought of another song in the “Plain Jane” mold, but Denzel & IDK shine here, and the weird pimp interludes push it over the top for us.
Listen to all these plus new smangers from FLACO, Jesse & The Wolf, Ghostface and Juelz Santana in one convenient place!
Calvin Harris – Nuh Ready Nuh Ready (ft. PARTYNEXTDOOR)
Last week we talked about “IUD” and this week we get it from the dude’s perspective, with PARTYNEXTDOOR singing about how isn’t ready to be a daddy. This is the perfect recipe for a meetcute with Okay Kaya!
The rollout for both the movie and the soundtrack has been crazy, and not surprisingly the TDE-helmed album lives up to the hype! They’ve got such a talented team, it’s hard to pick a favorite, but right out the gate, “Bloody Waters” with Ab-Soul, Anderson .Paak and James Blake is really doing it for us.
A-Trak & Falcons – Ride For Me (feat. Young Thug & 24hrs)
Young Thug has so many vocal styles, it’s sometimes hard to ID him on a track if you don’t know it’s him. We’re going to call this one “Mystikal’s James Brown impression.” 24hrs comes in with the Swae Lee-style sweetness to balance Thugger’s guttural shouting.
All this plus new ones from Craze, Ravyn Lenae, Detboi, BlocBoy & Drake in our TNN Q1 2018 playlist:
Busta Rhymes ft. Missy Elliot & Kelly Price – Get It
We’re old, so we still have Busta & Missy in our top ten (do millennials even have top tens anymore?). This is produced by Bangladesh and it’s really crazy. Who doesn’t want to live in a world where this goes to the top of the charts and has a bonkers futuristic video with all three dressed in cyborg costumes made out of garbage bags, doing weird spastic dances?
Odie – Little Lies / Leven Kali – Do U Wrong (ft. Syd)
Every now and then a new song hits you in just the right place emotionally, nurturing you like comfort food. “Little Lies” should do you right, especially if you are a Frank Ocean fan. And the Leven Kali record randomly autoplayed in Soundcloud after “Little Lies” and carried the vibe, so we’re throwing it in too!
Dabrye & Ghostface – Emancipated
You’d be forgiven if you’re not familiar with Dabrye, who is more of an electronic music producer – in the best sense, like Warp Records / Ninja Tune etc, not like EDM – from Michigan. His album comes out February 15 on Ghostly International, a very reliable label for cool, weird music. Ghostface has been releasing more or less same-y records, so getting to hear him over a Dilla-esque beat is a rare treat. There’s an equally great Dabrye record with MF Doom called Lil Mufuckaz.
Listen to these plus new Keys N Krates (album out now!), Rich Brian and Offset below:
That New New 1.22.18
Timbaland & 6lack – Grab The Wheel
6LACK was one of our favorites last year and that doesn’t look to change anytime soon now that he’s working with Timbaland. And not “Sexyback roid Hulk” Timbaland either, more like “if Aaliyah was here in 2018” Timbaland.
Eli Escobar – City Song Part 2 (Peace, Love and Harmony)
Somehow, in addition to DJing 8 nights a week, Eli Escobar is releasing albums at a remarkable pace. Happy Again was less than a year ago, and he’s back with a full length, called Shout, which ranges from really pretty deep house (lush pads and R&B vocals) to jazzy, Moodyman style tracks to hard-edged, minimal acid workouts.
SiR – Summer in November
SiR is a singer and occasional rapper from Inglewood, California on TDE (Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Isaiah Rashad, etc), and November is his second full length. It’s a super chill record with a lot of personality – introspective, personal, sexy and funny. Honestly there’s not a bad song on the album, it’s really high quality songwriting and production all the way through.
Listen to all 3 songs plus new ones from Craig David, Goldlink & Kaytranda and Bishop Nehru below:
A ton of new music is out so we’re just going to run through some of our favorite loosies:
Keys N Krates are back with a fresh sound for 2018 on their new single. This one is way more in the mid-tempo Kaytranada world than their usual trapper fare – and listen, we’re here for both styles! But it’s a really fun release to set off their big US tour. Go see them, you will be blown away, we promise!
New Gent & Jawns is in entirely the opposite direction – “Champion Sound” is a full on dubstep laser fest, sure to start a mosh pit.
Jay Rock – King’s Dead ft. Kendrick Lamar, Future & James Blake
Rob Pursey said it best – “Yo Kendrick – so you think you’re the only one who can do stupid voices? Hold my beer” – Future. This is another single from the Black Panther and it’s a little extra, IDK maybe it will grow on us?
Really really infectious! This one feels like a hit.
Ryan Hemsworth & NewAgeMuzik – Four Seasons
This is airport reggae of the very highest caliber.
Out of everyone in the mumble generation, Lil Uzi Vert delivers with the most consistency and most charisma.
Kali Uchis – After The Storm (ft. Tyler the Creator and Bootsy Collins)
Brent Tactic always sends us cool stoney R&B, and this one is especially dope.
Lil Wayne and Drake over this monster beat from Jay-Z’s 4:44 album, what more could you want? Are you not entertained? OK fine, here are three more great songs for the new year, plus a try-hard Justin Timberlake single.
A few months back we did a mix of all Mike Will productions, and he’s been cooking up beats and releasing music at such a furious pace, we could probably do another one now and it would be just as good. “Bring It Back” is by Trouble, featuring Drake, but the star of the show is Mike’s super weird blown-out synth loop, which sounds like a whale song put through a distortion pedal.
Big shout to Bastard Jazz; we sometimes take them for granted because they live in our neighborhood and, like us, do a show on Brooklyn Radio, but they consistently put out great, groovy music. Chico Mann and Captain Planet “Ariwoko” is a real crispy afro-latin jam, just what you need to get your mind right. Get it here: https://djcaptainplanet.bandcamp.com/album/night-visions-remixed
You probably already know about “All The Stars,” Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s song from the forthcoming Black Panther soundtrack. No longer industry underdogs, these are two superstars, not necessarily reinventing the wheel at this point but still so much better than anything else on the radio right now.
Listen to these records plus new Bruno Mars with Cardi B and the aforementioned Justin Timberlake single in our freshly minted for 2018 playlist:
While everyone else is listening to shitty Christmas music or shittier Eminem music, we got you covered with That New New!
N.E.R.D. – NO ONE EVER REALLY DIES
When N.E.R.D. first released “In Search Of…” fifteen years ago, the Neptunes’ productions were all over hip-hop radio (Jay-Z, Nore, Kelis, Usher, etc etc etc), but Pharell wasn’t a star yet. Post-“Happy” and The Voice, his profile is a million times bigger, but that hasn’t had much of an effect on N.E.R.D.’s sound, which is as soulful and weird as ever. “No One Ever Really Dies” is definitely not for everyone, but even die hard rap heads will want to give it a listen for the features (Andre 3000, Kendrick Lamar, Gucci Mane, Future) you might be surprised! https://open.spotify.com/album/54OXaFd0PtGtAgauTmARkD
BROCKHAMPTON – SATURATION III
On the subject of weird rap shit, BROCKHAMPTON definitely fits that bill as well, and his new record is all over the place in the best way. https://open.spotify.com/album/5c2AzoNyr46fCQM5d8mxE0
Jeezy “American Dream” feat. Kendrick Lamar & J Cole
Less-Young Jeezy may not be at the peak of his powers, but he still has some heat on his album, and “American Dream” immediately jumped out at us. Listen to the whole record at https://open.spotify.com/album/4IJsz38bUJjUXkFBhU8icl
J HUS – Bouff Daddy (Dre Skull Remix feat. Popcaan)
“Bouff Daddy” sounds like some jail shit but thankfully it means something else in patois. Dre Skull brings his magic to this remix, with an infectious verse by Popcaan. https://open.spotify.com/album/4qNrQbpmzmWJxWyhF9m0B1
Listen to all of these and more from DJ Equal & Gyptian, Angelica Bess & Machinedrum on our TNN playlist:
We had some tracks lined up for today and then Brent Tactic sent four absolute heatrocks for consideration so we’re highlighting those instead! As always, you can stream these in our That New New Playlist at the bottom of this post, or click the links below for each individual track.
Statik’s the rare producer who has his roots in the MPC era of 90s rap but also has impeccable taste in new hip-hop, and his new album reflects that balance. The list of features is crazy, like a true school version of a DJ Khaled album: Run The Jewels, Raekwon, Action Bronson, 2 Chainz, G-Eazy, The Lox, really too many to list… Sean Price and Prodigy make appearances from beyond the grave, and Malice of The Clipse even comes out of retirement for a verse.
My god, this one is just gorgeous. Stwo is a French producer who found a home at OVO after coming to Noah “40” Shebib’s attention. We highly recommend digging into his catalog, especially “Neither Do I” ft. Jeremih, “Haunted,” and Drake’s “Western Road Flows,” which he coproduced. But back to “Over U,” the bassline reminds us of The Streets “Blinded By The Light” progression, but played on a layered sub / pretty synth combo, while UKG percussion shuffles along and R&B vocal samples bring on the feelings – but words can only do it so much justice, so the thing to do is listen right now.
Bekon sort of reminds us of Tuxedo, with classic 60s-style R&B harmonies, over a more contemporary, yet dreamy, sound pallet. A quick google reveals Bekon to be Dan Tannenbaum, who contributed to several tracks on Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. Maybe it’s because we’re listening on a freezing Monday morning, but “Cold As Ice” is more or less a perfect song.
What if there was a TLC tribute group that changed all the lyrics to be about marijuana, and they were called THC? Ravyn Lenae’s influences are probably more like Erykah Badu and Georgia Anne Muldrow with a little Santogold, that quirky weirdo R&B lane, but her love song to the sticky icky is just what the dispensary doctor ordered. The off-kilter beat is provided by Steve Lacy, another Kendrick Lamar colloborator (http://www.thefader.com/2017/04/14/steve-lacy-kendrick-lamars-damn-pride), and the youngest member of The Internet.
All these and more from OBillz, Sharon Jones, Big Sean & Metro Boomin:
Here’s a fairly odd pick for us, a bootleg of Darude’s Sandstorm, with a dark Jersey Club feel. It’s part of a free 23 track compilation from We Buy Gold – Trancework 2.0. We’ve never been big fans of trance, but some of these are really infectious, pairing up the candy rave arps with more aggressive basslines and drums, especially the footwork stuff. Other remixes to check out from the comp are Da Hool “Meet Her At The Love Parade” (Slick Shoota Remix) and ATB “9 PM (Till I Come)” (DJ Paypal Remix).
We’ve been beating the drum for Miguel’s album since he started dropping singles a few weeks back, and he’s just released the highly anticipated War & Leisure.
Z-Ro has a new album which sounds like his old albums, so if you’re into those, you’ll likely bump this.