Latest Posts

Pleistocene – “Your New Life”

In a brash two-and-a-half minutes, Rochester’s Pleistocene conveys a message like a swarm of bees: Missing an old friend is hard even if you’re confident she’ll be okay. “Your New Life” is the lead single from the band’s killer release Spear. New life is breathed into the song via this roller derby video featuring a protagonist colliding recklessly reflecting the free, surf rock nature of the lively tune. The video tells the story of roller derby moms and their children growing to love and experience the same rough-and-tumble sport. Pleistocene’s effort is respected as “Your New Life” demonstrates a best foot forward. Check it out below. [vimeo 213706391 w=640 h=360] PLEISTOCENE – “YOUR NEW LIFE” from BUBL-T on Vimeo.

KIN Release Video For “Try”

KIN, the infinitely charming side project from Eliot Douglas (M.A.G.S.) featuring himself and his lovely wife Julia Douglas, released the video for their debut single “Try,” and it is absolutely wonderful. A sweet ode to married indie rock domesticity, the joys of shopping at Home Depot, Brian Wilson’s mythic living room, and the quest for summer fun during a WNY winter, this clip is utterly irresistible. Director Corey James Harris truly makes this video seem naturally effortless, summoning a level of breezy, whimsical artifice reminiscent of The Flaming Lips, another band that does a lot of work in these here parts. Check it out, feel warm and fuzzy, and keep an eye out for more from KIN.

Why We Run – “A Moment To Return”

Sydney-based quartet Why We Run released the video for their first single “A Moment to Return,” off their forthcoming album due out early summer. The video is powerful, featuring an elderly man swimming, then Benjamin Button-ing back into retrogressing in childhood over a three minute time-lapse.  Below the surface, “A Moment To Return,” is about a near-drowning experience where lead singer of Why We Run saw his entire life flashed before his eyes. Heavy stuff. Check out these up-and-coming Aussie’s new video below and keep your eyes peeled for their new album. It’ll be a good one.

Chad Valley – “Arms Away”

Electro-pop UK-based artist, Chad Valley (aka Hugo Manuel), released his latest single and accompanying music video last week while we were scaling back for the holidays. Valley’s latest single, “Arms Away,” off of his sophomore album, Entirely New Blue, is synth-pop at it’s purest, combining youthful perception with growing-up sensuality. As poppy as “Arms Away” is, the subject matter is fairly sullen – the follow-up to a long term relationship that is no more. The video, directed by Lauren Sieczkowski (who also has directed TVOTR, and Vampire Weekend videos in the past) features dream-like interpretative dancing from Brooklyn’s Indelible Dance Company along with a sullen Valley talking to a past self, transforming back to the present. Fans of Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaur, Frankmusik, or Evan Voytas would dig Chad Valley. Check it out below.

Snoop Dogg ft. Pharrell & Stevie Wonder – “California Roll”

Snoop Dogg has been on a futuristic funk wave his entire career. He began as a G-Funk pioneer alongside Dr. Dre and the like on the West Coast in the 90s, sampling George Clinton often on his tracks while offering a hypnotically smooth flow to groove to. Though he’s been relatively experimental in his career, Snoop has maintained the funk influence from his Doggystyle days through his latest album Bush, from which we get “California Roll.” The track features music legend Stevie Wonder on the harmonica and background vocals and Pharrell (who produced the entire album) on hook duty. The video is a Jetson-esque look into the future from 1946, with curious appearances of Egyptian symbols and landmarks. Stevie, Snoop and Skateboard P are decked out in black and gold, and Snoop’s slow-motion c-walk might be the coolest thing captured on video. Check it out below.

Action Bronson – “Actin’ Crazy”

Queens MC, Action Bronson, is larger than life in every sense of the word. His music video game is always on point, and it’s not a stretch to say that he could be the best in the game as far as visuals are concerned. Themes have ranged from action movies to Westerns, but every time a Bronson video drops, you know it’ll be entertaining, and you know that the big guy is probably going to try to show off his mobility. This time though, Bronson lets the green screen do the work for him, in a cheeky video for recent single, “Actin’ Crazy.” Between scenes of him blasting off in computer-generated rocket ships and using Super Saiyan-like flying abilities to dunk a flaming basketball, the green screen returns to standard green, and Bronsolino gets the behind-the-scenes luxury of lint-rolling females taking good care of his black v. The song itself[...]

Max Garcia Conover – “Motorhome (a love song)”

Jamestown, NY native, Max Garcia Conover, has begun to release weekly songs and videos while holed up in his home recording studio in his new home in or around Portland, Maine. His first video, “Moterhome (a love song),” was released on February 9th and has since released two more videos, the most recent on Sunday, in his year long project. While this Bon Iver-like exile is not a new concept to the musician, this year, the folkie decided to try something a bit different, creating a Patreon page where you, as the listener/viewer, can leave him “tips” for every time a song comes out, giving you early access to the videos and more. You can find out more about the sort-of crowd sourcing project here. Watch the video for the weary, Phosphorescent-esque “Moterhome (a love song)” below, and keep an eye out for future clips on Garcia Conover’s Youtube page.

A$AP Ferg – “Doe-Active”

A$AP Ferg always looks like he’s having the time of his life, and the video for “Doe-Active” is nothing different. The single comes from last year’s mixtape Ferg Forever, and is a high-energy, infectious banger. The video also serves as the first release from the A$AP crew in the waning weeks since the loss of leader A$AP Yams, a death likely preventable. Directed by Spike Jordan, “Doe-Active” is a three-minute, 45 second long flex by Ferg, who shows off his celebrity friends and bootylicious females as he screams “I got a hundred dollar bill for every bump on your face.” Notice that “Doe-Active” is a play on the acne cream “Pro-Actve.” I particularly enjoy this chorus because it always seems like Ferg says it too many times, like he knows he should probably move on to a verse, but he still just wants to rub it right in our zit-infested faces.[...]

Planet Three – “Pluto”

Buffalo debutantes Planet Three dropped a new video last week for the Marilla natives ultra spacey jam “Pluto” that’s got tongues wagging in advance of the trio’s opening set next Saturday (February 14th) at Lesionread’s album release party. The clip, directed by the blog’s favorite polymath,aka Sean Lewis, is a lo-fi romp through time and space, featuring 80’s visual motifs, a cameo from the directors channeling both Spike Jonze and R. Lee Ermey, and lots of orange spacesuits. You can catch Planet Three in support of Lesionread at the latter’s release party for the new tape “Lesionread’s Greatest Hits! Vol.”at Dreamland.

BadBadNotGood and Ghostface Killah – “Ray Gun” ft. DOOM

Toronto trio, BadBadNotGood, burst on to the scene a few years back remixing the likes Odd Future and A Tribe Called Quest. Their jazzy, improvisational sound got the attention of some of rap’s most well-respected artist, and it set them up for this collaboration with the Wu Tang’s Ghostface and the masked underground rap giant DOOM. “Ray Gun” is a strange ride following a metal-faced alien, played by Odd Future’s Left Brain. The video heads into a go-go bar and the veiled assailant tries to take a lady back with him to the motherland. The whole thing is pretty weird and shot like it’s in the 80s, working nicely with really great verses from Ghostface and DOOM. Check it out below, and stay tuned for a new collab album between Ghost and BadBadNotGood coming next month.

The Weeknd – “Earned It”

Apparently there’s this movie coming out in a few weeks that’s based on a series of erotic novels that you can buy at Target called Fifty Shades Of Grey, and it will be a huge hit because all of our neighbors who’ve bought the books at Target will bumrush theaters down the street from Target to see if the movie measures up. The soundtrack for 50 Shades Of Grey, also available at Target, will include sexed up contributions from artists like Beyonce, Sia,  Ellie Goulding, Jessie Ware, The Rolling Stones (yes! “Beast Of Burden!”), and Toronto’s very own The Weeknd, who’s featured in the first video off of that soundtrack, the mildly NSFW “Earned It.” Actually, The Weeknd (aka Abel Tesfaye) doesn’t need to sex up his music any more than it already is, and based on this clip featuring Grey lead actress Dakota Johnson, this could well be the[...]

Action Bronson’s Insane Hot 97 Freestyle

It’s not a stretch to say that Action Bronson is one of the most consistently entertaining characters in rap. Without even getting into his raps, Bronson has his delightful cooking show “Fuck, That’s Delicious,” one of the most discernible images in hip hop, and a host of viral cinematic music videos, and a partner in Big Body Bes that is equal parts annoying and likable. When it comes to the rhymes, his obscure references, negative boasts, and next level vulgarity shape up to a raw listening experience that can get you to laugh out loud or scrunch your face in approval after a particular nice line. This Funkmaster Flex freestyle sparks both phenomenon, and led the legendary radio host to say that Bronsonlini is the “nicest in the game,” due to lines like: “If I die change my suit four times at the wake, and make sure I get my[...]

Panda Bear – “Boy Latin”

Panda Bear’s music has always felt like daydreaming, or recapturing that awe struck feeling of childhood. Those deceptively simple repetitions and stoned tempos seem like they could go on forever, and are on full display here. While Animal Collective’s Centipede Hz, and fellow band member Avey Tare’s latest album were too Saturday-morning-cartoons for even their music, the tracks on Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper are great and one of the first releases to look forward to in 2015. “Boys Latin” and its polyphonic lines are like a cubist painting, where everything is broken down into little facets to reveal a bigger picture. Then the next section is the choir boy of one, and the only words you can understand: “Dark clouds resurface again, and a shadow moves in.” In a more just world, this song would be played at FAO Schwarz during every holiday. Watch the video below.

Azizi Gibson – “Smoking With The Gods”

Maryland-turned-LA rapper, Azizi Gibson, is on the rise, and it seems to be his fate. Leaving family and college behind in his home state, Gibson headed west with the hopes of making it big. By chance, he ran into mega-producer Flying Lotus at a gym while he was couch surfing, and showed him some of his music. One thing turned into another and now Gibson is signed Lotus’ Brainfeeder label, and releasing dope music like “Smoking With The Gods.” In the video, Gibson blows trees with a personified Yahweh as the two cruise around outer space in an old school Benzo. Humorous and at times psychedelic, the video works as a great introduction to Azizi. He’s an artist that could and should blow up, and has the talent to go in several different directions with his tracks. On here, Gibson opts for the smoker’s anthem, and the catchy, monotonous hook[...]

Big Noble – “Peg”

The words “new music from Interpol” used to not send cringes down my spine. There was a time when this band was still good and that time is long up. Save for the throw-back opening track, El Pintor is another album that lacks the swagger Carlos D used to bring to the band. Still, my curiosity has remained strong whenever anything Interpol related is released,so naturally, the first track/video from Big Noble was at least click worthy. Big Noble is the side project from Interpol guitarist, Daniel Kessler, and upon first listen, its already better than most of Interpol’s last decade. Some of my favorite tracks from the band, “Untitled” and “Next Exit,” relied heavily on dreamy atmospherics, and that’s exactly what makes “Peg” so good. Its contemplative, minimal, and carries a lingering dense of dread that never really shows itself. The video pairs the song with gorgeous shots snowy[...]