Posts by Arjun
Childish Gambino – We Ain’t Them
So Donald took to Twitter about half an hour ago and just started a Kanye-esque rant. Well okay, “rant” is a harsh word. Donald basically felt the need to explain himself–what’s he’s doing with his rap career, how he’s trying to improve, why he goes out of his way to mention kids like Trayvon Martin, and much more. The fact that he feels like he has to defend himself is ridiculous, but the things he said were insightful into the mind of one of the most talented young artists around today. He is ambitious, but he doesn’t think he’s the best (even when he says it all the time). He’s grateful for the many good things that have happened in his life but also remembers the bullshit he had to grow up with. A lot of people don’t realize that he’s paid his dues; he’s faced the same sort of hardships that many iconic rappers have faced. He’s just as “hood” as they are. After talking about how Childish Gambino started as an inside joke and has now become a legitimate rap career and how he has accepted that, he dropped the link to his newly redesigned site, featuring the picture above and the realest Big Ghost review of it. “We Ain’t Them” was first heard live at The Switch, which streamed online late last month. My favorite part of the song is when Gambino talks of reminiscing about Whitney Houston with Questlove. That’s royalty.
MP3: “We Ain’t Them” – Childish Gambino
Bonus!
This one dropped yesterday on Funkmaster Flex. I hate radio tags but love the song and the Schoolboy Q feature.
MP3: “Unnecessary (Radio Rip) (ft. Schoolboy Q)” – Childish Gambino
We don’t wife ‘em like Khalifa, we just party then we leave ‘em
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Flight Facilities – With You (ft. Grovesnor)
Everybody who is anybody knows who Flight Facilities is–at least from their massive global sensation “Crave You,” which came out two whole years ago. Since then, the Aussie duo has kept busy, releasing another international smash, dropping tons of big name remixes, and touring around the world.
Yesterday, they released a brand new single, which features “something darker, something deeper, and something more mature” and vocals from Hot Chip drummer Grovesnor. I’ve had this on repeat since last night. The music video is really cool, too. Sexiest song of the year right here. LET’S GO!
Take a risk, well that’s all you keep on saying / And the point that I’m relaying is it shouldn’t be like this
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The Tallest Man on Earth – 1904
Kristian Matsson is The Tallest Man on Earth, and he just released a new track from his upcoming album There’s No Leaving Now, which will be released June 12th. There has always been a raw and unflinching quality about Matsson’s music. What has drawn me to him in the past is his distinct vocal twang and the abstract images his lyrics manage to paint in my mind. With “1904″ he maintains this unique aesthetic, which results in the most pleasant thing you’ll hear all day.
MP3: “1904″ – The Tallest Man on Earth
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Interview: One Room + New Song
One Room is unlike any other group around today. Sunset has been supporting them since day one, and all the way up to now their releases have been nothing short of impressive. Their music is a unique blend of that dramatic Weeknd flare and the grounded, honest lyricism of someone like Kid Cudi. The group consists of Samuel (who released a solo track in March) and recent Indie-Pop signee Chris P. I had the pleasure of interviewing the duo earlier this year, and now you can read the full interview and listen to their brand new song “Tip Toe” in anticipation of their debut EP which will be released this June.
Arjun: How did One Room begin? Whose idea was it?
Chris: One Room came from a deep place inside both of us. It was kind of a mutual idea for us to do music together. Before you know it we had all these tracks we called ours.
Samuel: Yeah. We needed a new creative outlet that combined our individual strengths and talents into one big one. Watching all the awesome music happening around us and wanting to make something different… At first it was more experimentation than anything.
Arjun: What exactly is Heavy Roc‘s role in your music (production, distribution, etc.)?
Chris: The Roc is where it all goes down. Everyday pretty much we would go down to the studio and work. I was one of the engineers. Sam was always brewin’ something up as far as production, so by the time it was done I just had to cross the t’s and dot the i’s on it, ya know.
Samuel: The studio is our center, it’s really the way that we met and began to make music together and our friendship and the creative things began overlapping. We also knew that the HRM blog would be the first place we premiered our music. Everyone at Heavy Roc is really supportive, and we definitely owe them a huge thanks.
Arjun: I don’t think I get this whole set up yet. Who exactly does the production for One Room? And Samuel sings and Chris raps?
(Hit the jump to read the full interview, including who they’re both listening to right now and how Chris ended up being Lydia‘s Valentine this year.)
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Xander The Great – Royal Blood [Mixtape]
I’ve been sitting on this mixtape ever since it premiered over at Hilly Dilly. For whatever reason I haven’t posted it until tonight when it hit me–Xander The Great is insanely talented. He sang, rapped, and produced this entire tape, and the best part about that is that it’s so good. I’ll be honest I don’t know what Xander did before Royal Blood. Part of me is curious to know, but also part of me wants to go to sleep as soon as possible. Essentially my point is that Xander must have been doing something right before this mixtape dropped because his music right now carries a weight of experience with it that only time can buy. On Royal Blood Xander sounds like a veteran artist despite being only 20 years old. Which rappers would I mix in a people-mixing lab to create Xander The Great, you ask?
Drake, Kanye, and a mysterious third person (maybe Sonny Shotz of The Dean’s List?). Check it out.
MP3: “Milan” – Xander The Great
MP3: “Overbooked Hearts” – Xander The Great
MP3: “Lock Her Down” – Xander The Great
MP3: “Sonic Dellusion, BYE” – Xander The Great
DOWNLOAD XANDER THE GREAT – ROYAL BLOOD HERE
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Oberhofer – Runaway (Kanye West Cover)
I’ve recently come to terms with the facts that Oberhofer‘s one of my favorite bands. You can read about that HERE in my review of their first commercial release Time Capsules II. Just yesterday the band released a studio version of a song they’ve been covering at live shows for quite awhile now. It’s actually really impressive how true they stay to the modern classic original.
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Childish Gambino – Fuck Your Blog (ft. Flynt Flossy & Yung Humma)
You guys, I’m so confused right now. I don’t know what to do. There’s not much information about this track. I’m trying to figure out why it exists and why it’s so almost-bearable (#BASED). I don’t get it. I feel violated. Do I want to smang it? I don’t know. Maybe I’ll try it sometime?
Here’s a reminder of who Flynt Flossy and Yung Humma are.
MP3: “Fuck Your Blog (ft. Flynt Flossy & Yung Humma)” – Childish Gambino
Do you think this song is “super bad” as in good?
Does it make you want to smang someone/something ASAP?
Do you relate hard to Flynt Flossy’s rap lyrics?
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Passion Pit – Take A Walk
I clearly remember hearing this song for the first time at last year’s Moogfest. It was one of the many highlights of Passion Pit’s set, particularly since it was during the band’s encore performance. “Take A Walk” stood out as the better of the two new tracks Passion Pit tried out that night. It is a pleasant reminder of why Passion Pit is a powerhouse alternative band and will be a welcome addition to your iTunes library. Especially if you like to walk.
Passion Pit’s new album Gossamer will be released on July 24th.
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The Neighbourhood – I’m Sorry… EP [Free Download]
The Neighbourhood is cool, so cool in fact that I’m going to go on a little bit of a tangent. Do you guys remember The O.C.? Well, I loved that show. One of the great things about it (besides Seth Cohen) was its soundtrack. Over the years that show cranked out so many of my favorite songs–it’s ridiculous. Well, The Neighbourhood sounds like a band that could have been featured on The O.C. if it were still around. They are young and cool. They fit a general indie rock sound, despite their hip-hop tendencies. And perhaps most importantly, their lyrics are smart and paint a vivid picture of love lost in California. If there’s one band I’d say to watch out for in 2012 and beyond it’s The Neighbourhood. Check out the two new songs featured on their EP and download the entire thing below–you won’t be sorry you did.
MP3: “Leaving Tonight” – The Neighbourhood
MP3: “Baby Came Home” – The Neighbourhood
DOWNLOAD THE NEIGHBOURHOOD – I’M SORRY… HERE
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The Neighbourhood – Wires
With just two songs released The Neighbourhood has quickly become one of our favorite artists. It makes scientific sense though. Their Californian indie rock sound with a hip-hop sensibility is really the amalgamation of every Sunset writers hopes and dreams. For me, personally, The Neighbourhood was part of probably the coolest moment of my life when I drove my date to prom listening to “Sweater Weather” (along with the Drive soundtrack and Hoodie Allen’s All American EP)*.
“Wires” is perhaps the band’s “most hip-hop” release yet, followed closely by “Female Robbery.” The song was premiered yesterday on Zane Lowe’s BBC Radio 1 along with an interview that isn’t available for stream in America because someone’s still salty about The Revolutionary War.
The Neighbourhood’s debut I’m Sorry… EP will be available for free download on May 7th. Mark your digital calendar!
*”Sweater Weather” is my favorite song of the year so far. And I’m not very cool.
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RAC – Hollywood (ft. Penguin Prison)
André Allen Anjos and Co. have been killing remixes for a minute now. Like, really destroying the remix game with their endlessly creative reinventions of popular blog hits that find the Remix Artist Collective consistently atop the beloved Hype Machine. Today, Anjos released his first original track via the kind of game-changing Green Label Sound (which is cool despite being created by Mountain Dew). “Hollywood” features vocals from Penguin Prison‘s Chris Glover and is just so damn catchy.
I don’t know about you, but I’m putting this on repeat all day. I’m not afraid.
Cause you’re Hollywood, another world, you made it all on your own / With your high heels on, you kill the sun, I’m not your friend anymore
(Note: I’m really bad at translating song lyrics, please excuse any blatant/racist mistakes)
BONUS! Below is Green Label Sound’s Introduction to RAC. It features founder André Allen Anjos discussing “his development from a college student remixing tracks in his dorm room into a sought-after DJ and producer” and why he chose to put music out on Green Label Sound. Really interesting stuff.
Introduction to RAC from GreenLabelSound on Vimeo.
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Tape Tuesday: Hot Ass Summer Day
The weather is a lot warmer now. I like that. Just the other day I almost went to the beach, which really is a promising sign. But gosh darn it, I digress. This mix isn’t about summer the season. It’s about the people you spend time with during the summertime. It’s about friends. It’s about family. It’s even about those random strangers that you meet at the beach (not the rapey kind!). This is the mix that can soundtrack your entire summer vacation and hopefully stay relevant throughout.
Let me also say that HOT ASS SUMMER DAY is dedicated to Lydia, whose birthday is today. I love Lydia. I don’t know how many times I have to say it (I think that’s the first time). She’s taught me so much in such a short amount of time and has given me such an awesome opportunity to write for Sunset in the Rearview and do things that I never thought would be possible a year ago. I literally love every second of it, so swag on that.
Please take this time now to wish Lydia happy birthday softly in your mind or on Twitter.
While I was feeling such a mess, I thought you’d leave me behind,
While I was feeling so upset, I thought the sun never shine,
Then I found forever. Hey! Hey! Love!
We’ve been best friends forever darling,
That’s what’s up!
- Maverick Sabre – Let Me Go (Welcome to HASD)
- Dieter Schaaf – Biochemistry
- Oberhofer – Away Frm U
- Vacationer – Everyone Knows
- Of Monsters and Men – Mountain Sound
- Manicanparty – Rebels in the Light
- Swim Deep – King City
- Mouth’s Cradle – The Fever
- Dana Buoy – Call to Be
- The Preachers – Take a Card
- Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – That’s What’s Up
- Teen Mom – You and me
- The Parlotones – Honey
- The Cast of Cheers – Animals
- Last Dinosaurs – Weekend
- Chance The Rapper – Prom Night
- Sunni Colón – Shrines
DOWNLOAD ‘HOT ASS SUMMER DAY’ HERE
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