Heaven is a new single from Tampa and Colorado Springs based artist Jevon Jamel James. This smooth and poignant jam contains elements of hip hop, indie and roots reggae. It’s very much in the avant garde experimental category as well. The uniquely personal lyrics are artfully delivered like a spoken word poem over a chill and ambient backbeat. Mellow and abstract, the song reaches the listener on a meditative level, very much in line with the naturalistic imagery which accompanies the release. Jevon focuses on mood, tone and substance in this effort. You won’t find any flash or ego. Heaven is pure thought provoking goodness, and the artist’s vocals are rather pleasant to listen to. This track clocks in at about 4 minutes, and it’s peppy and productive enough the entire time to hold the listener’s interest.
Different Trains to the Station is a new single from UK based artist Stew Fisher. The song is a promo for Fisher’s album, The Artistic Spectrum (which this track also appears on.) His music seems to focus (in an abstract manner) around experiences and reflections on living with autism. Different Trains to the Station in particular, is an ambient jam with a humbly avant garde music video. The title hints at the meaning of the track in accordance with the visuals which are from the perspective of a contemplative individual riding a train. The artist is demontsrating how people with autism will often use their own unique thought processes yet arrive at the same conclusions as others.
That the song manages to be thought provoking and intellectually profound without any lyrics is an accomplishment. In fact, even if I listened to this having no idea what it was about ahead of time, I still feel like it would take my mind to interesting places. The musical aspect is fairly high octane as well, combining a pulse generating beat with an ethereal, almost dreamlike ambiance. People could get down to this track even if they weren’t hip to the subject matter. The music is very dynamic, changing frequently with smooth transitions, juxtaposing nicely with the scenery. I like this artist so far. Stew’s musical eloquence, attention to detail and artistic sincerity make this song worth a listen.
A Friday the 13th special, Gutless is a new single from punk rap artist, Jack Acid. Contrary to what the title would have you believe, Gutless is a bold and genre defying release, as Jack takes a stab at achieving crossover appeal in a difficult market. Jack Acid functions as a one-man musical doomsday machine. While the ambiance is dark and the vibe is that of “horror movie metal,” the rap elements really are there, and the track is surprisingly high energy. The lyrical delivery is tight and on point. This isn’t just some dude screaming fiendish chants into the void. There’s melody and musical cohesion here. The backbeat is thrashin’ but contains hypnotic “siren-like” sounds and the occasional creepy voice. Gutless is also fairly dynamic. There are a lot of changes and a number of different distinct segments within the track, almost as though there are several songs within the song, each combining with one another to a some kind of epic demonic centipede.
The video for this jam (which premiered on WorldStarHipHop) does a solid job of matching the mile-a-minute pacing of the song (there are literally scenes with him driving fast and belting out lyrics, with his head sticking out of a car window.) It’s professionally shot and edited in a manner that always keeps the action moving. The visual elements are those of the average 80’s horror movie: blood, leather jackets, the devil, long hair….and in the context of metal (or in this case, metal adjacent) those visuals are timeless and never will seem out of place. As a performer, Jack manages to display the kind of charisma where you know people will either love him or hate him, reminiscent of other pop/metal/punk stars who experiment and venture outside of their comfort zone. That’s just what happens when you take artistic chances. The underlying potential is there though. It would be a welcome change to see artists like Jack Acid, who practice this more brazen and darkly medievel style, replace the more milquetoast pop/rapcore class of crossover artists like Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit.
Apparently Gutless is even available on 7″. That’s right you can get this bad boy on translucent red vinyl. Pretty cool.
Sack is a new single from Chicago (West Side) based artist, NoSleepCity. City is fairly well known, having been part of the “Mud Brothers” musical duo with the late producer LeekeLeek (who produced Chief Keef’s Ballin’). Sack is a straightforward and no-nonsense hip hop jam. As is usual in the Chicago style, the song isn’t overly flashy, instead City focused on organic performance, lyrics and solid delivery. The track is backed by a hauntingly hypnotic beat, providing some serious ambiance. City’s delivery style makes it clear he’s all about handlin’ business and focused on what’s important to him. This is not a fan who falls for distractions easily. He also has a knack for lyrical storytelling, as the song packs in plenty of interesting biographical tibits. While the content is serious, the vibe is still chill enough to kick back to and even dance. Produced by GETZH, the track’s production quality is very good, a clean, professional mix which blends old school quality with contemporary clarity.
Dating back to around 2015, Atomic Rebel is a well known youtube channel that features a plethora of remixes and original music, with a focus on trap. Seriously though the channel is massive and has racked up over 11 million views. There are literally hundreds of videos. Some of the jams appear to be artist submitted while others are releases from Atomic Rebel. The channel is somewhat enigmatic. There isn’t a lot of background info or hype. That’s okay, because the music does the talking, and there is a lot of it here.
The very first vid I checked out was the recently uploaded Cradle Song, and I was immediately impressed. It is in fact the actual cradle song you’d hear in a baby’s crib, but reimagined as a trippy, high octane dance track. Surreal, memorable and creative, this one is an instant crowd pleaser, and right away it becomes obvious we’re clearly dealing with a professional operation here.
Another standout jam is Glass Slipper, an ambient and futuristic tune. It incorporate both colorfully sofy musical elements and mechanical, assertive sounds to create a quasi robotic mini masterpiece. One thing I really like about these Atomic Rebel songs and remixes by the way, is that they are relative short and condense. A lot of dance music/DJ stuff typically is very indulgent and has exhaustingly lengthy runtimes. Atomic Rebel’s tracks get right to the point, pack quite a musical punch and never overstay their welcome in your ears. Most of them clock in at around 3 minutes or less. There’s no fluff, filler or drag.
Piranhas In the Waterfall is an energetic and high intensity dance track, with an erratically enamoring beat and a subtle sexual energy brimming just below the surface. This song offers a jarring and suspensefully brooding intro entrances you and pulls you into the action. What begins as hypnotic syhths, builds and transitions in and out of euphoric, ecstatic peaks.
There is honestly just a ton of content on this channel. It’s just wall to wall music, and over 4 years worth of it. There’s a lot of primo trap/dance music here, and quite a bit of variety in terms of artists and style. Atomic Rebel is definitely worth a sub.
Not Alone is a new single from DJ Forrest Houston, featuring Kelsey Edwards (who is credited with the vocals and songwriting while Forrest is responsible for the beat.) The song is a peppy and colorful pop/dance jam with an optimistic and comforting message. Basically the lyrics reassure listeners that despite what they may be going through, they are not alone. It may seem like a simple concept, but we’ve all needed to hear that at some point. The voice of Kelsey Edwards carries the song well as she belts out the lyrics emotively and with sincere passion. It helps that she can really sing, too. Her performance rivals major label pop artists.
The beat is dynamic and refreshingly complex. It’s melodic and fast paced while maintaining a calming aura, and there’s still enough energy in the track to light up a club dance floor. This isn’t just some throwaway, filler backbeat, there’s real musical substance there to provide a proper framework. The sound changes throughout, always keeping you on your toes. The “must see” video for Not Alone is visually stunning. Really high production quality for an “indie” video. It also does a fine job of visually conveying the lyrical narrative of the song, taking on the role of a short film. The song and the vid complement one another effectively to create a complete artistic package.
FreebBeats.io is one of those sites that offer royalty free beats for artists to use to help construct their songs. I’ve always found these types of services useful, particularly for finding shott samples and backbeats as filler or when I want to focus on writing lyrics. FreebBeats.io actually offers one major advantage relative to similar services, and that is that their beats don’t require you to give producer credits and use tags. You can use these beats free with, for the most part, minimal restrictions, and upgrade prices are totally reasonable (for one particular beat I checked out it only cost 4.95 for a licensing upgrade). The beats they offer actually are high quality, too. There’s no homebrew stuff or pots and pans. It seems they focus mainly on hip hop/rap/R&B beats, but there are also pop and club jams available if that’s your thing. Check out FreeBeats.io in the link below.
Neon Gold is a new single from musical duo, N2BLÜ. The song combines elements of pop and EDM to create an energetic and passionate club jam. The vocal training of New Orleans native, Jonathan Arceneaux really shines through on the catchy chorus, which is in fact, pure gold. The beat (courtesy of Russian born artist Konstantin Smorodnikov) is powerful and uplifiting, providing a lively and melodic framework for the track to succeed. Both artists come from different backgrounds, with Jonathan coming from a pop singer/lyricist’s world and Konstantin earning his stripes on the DJ/Club circuit. The group was additionally cultivated and developed in part by producer Loren Israel. The technical quality of this song is stellar. It’s very clean and sonically pleasing, without being overly processed. There’s a lot of clarity in the mix, and all the best ingredients are accentuated. Neon Gold is a professional and high octane release. Some top notch songwriting here.
Roman Revolutionaries: Beach Day is a new album from Los Angeles artist and all around creative mogul, Brad Geiger. This eclectic release blends elements of multiple genres to create a collage-like, avant garde tour de force. Songs like Say and Elapses give off organic and powerfully neo-psychedelic vibes. Musically the sound is mildly reminiscent of indie rock experimentalists like “Of Montreal,” though the ambiance here is a little more raw (though that’s what happens when you’re not backed by a major label). Far from being minimalistic, the tracks on this album manage to condense a lot of unique sounds, the result being a strangely cohesive energy, often reminding me of 60’s classics like Defecting Grey from The Pretty Things. A more contemporary comparison would be some of the lo-fi indie projects that came out of Portland and Olympia (before the scene became cliche.)
Brad’s vocals seem to be built for indie and just seem to have that natural indie pop tone. They are usually subdued in the mix, audible and enjoyable but not placed at the forefront. The focus here is typically on the instrumentals, which are loud, melodic and strangely danceable. Synth elements and cool, retro noise samples give some of these recordings an almost new wave feel. Other jams like Waking have more of a 90’s alternative, pop punk aesthetic, reminiscent of groups like The Smoking Pokes. Now that I think about it, Geiger’s voice sounds a lot like the singer from that band (which I suppose is a pretty good compliment). I honestly love the production on this album. It sounds very analog and is mixed in a way which highlights the artistic qualities, and overall it’s just very pleasing to the ear…especially when one considers all the potentially abrasive experimental elements being thrown into the mix to spice things up. Brad isn’t afraid to make bold creative choices and is willing to risk ruining a song to add some interesting ingredient or musical afterthought. In every case here, it pays off. At 14 songs, jam packed with passion and humble talent, this is a full length album in every sense. No ego, no posturing or empty hype to get in the way. Some good stuff here, folks. It’s real.
Wadd Up Doe is a new single from Pittsburgh hip hop artist Blacc Cuzz. This pimp tight jam has the official World Star Hip Hop stamp of approval, so you know it’s legit. The video for this song is larger than life and makes a point of showcasing a rather impressive Mercedes Benz, which must have cost a pretty penny.
Production is very good, pretty much at the level of a major label. With an intriguing backstory and probably a lot more street cred than the average up and coming rapper, Blacc is the real deal. The vibe is a mix of old school substance and contemporary musical innovation. The song combines elements of hip hop, trap and EDM, all centered around Blacc Cuzz’s conversational and reflective delivery. He excels at storytelling and lyrically comes across as motivational and aiming to inspire. In that sense Wadd Up Doe is upbeat and always leans in a positive direction. The artist has a charismatic presence, and the video for this song is already approaching 200k views, (despite being out less than a month). I could see this guy making some real waves nationally.
