... the other Black experience
Straight out of Botswana comes some of the most ferocious death metal you'll hear in 2013. Wrust formed back in 2000 when there were only a small handful of metal bands on the entire continent. Now playing the part of living legend (with singer/guitarist Stux Daemon as the sole remaining original member), Wrust just released their latest full length record Intellectual Metamorphosis.…
Added by Sound Check on May 24, 2013 at 8:30am — 1 Comment
Bam! We told you about Wu-Tang Clan's new album to be released in July. You can now download previously unreleased (new?) track 'Execution in Autumn', produced by Frank Dukes. Not sure yet if it will be included on the album. Get it quick while it's free. You're welcome!…
Added by Sound Check on May 17, 2013 at 1:30pm — No Comments
It's maybe weird to call yourself a fan of a band after only hearing one track, but that's how it went with American Fangs. The first time I heard “Le Kick” on the Afropunk Vol 2 comp I was hooked. I hunted for their album. But no luck. Since 2009 they've released a few singles and an EP and a WWE theme song because why the hell not?…
Added by Sound Check on May 15, 2013 at 9:00am — No Comments
Metal has always had a fixation on the mystical and magical. From the occult and demonic fixation of doom metal to the D&D Monster Manual of power metal. The fierce low guitar, thundering drums, and classical technicality convey something larger than life, something more epic than ordinary reality. So it makes perfect sense that UK based Vodun would base their music around West African Vodun rituals and Loa (Haitian elemental spirits).…
Added by Sound Check on May 6, 2013 at 8:30am — 4 Comments
It's hard not to love pop music that you can get lost in. Far too often the artists get as far as a killer hook and declare “good enough.” More and more pop music just kind of coasts without bothering to flesh songs out with arrangements worthy of their hooks. So you have to respect a band like Meridian who pack their tracks with layers upon layers of texture and detail.…
Added by Sound Check on May 6, 2013 at 8:30am — No Comments
Grab a free download of Punk pioneers Death's unrealeased 1974 demo of their classic track 'Politicians In My Eyes'. Also, as we've told you guys before, a documentary about the band, 'A Band Called Death', has been made and will hit theaters on June 28th. Free download + documentary trailer below.…
Added by Sound Check on May 3, 2013 at 11:53am — 5 Comments
Kelis' track 'Jerk Ribs' that we told you about last week is now available as a free download. It was produced by Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio. Grab it, you know you want it! + her new album is coming out in September on Sitek's label Federal Prism.
Added by Sound Check on May 1, 2013 at 1:00pm — No Comments
Happy May Day! It's class warfare week at SoundCheck apparently (ok fine, it's always class warfare week). The appropriately named Rhetoric out of Springfield, MA are an explosion of political metalcore. Their songs are almost more anti-capitalist polemics than songs. (Polemic would also be a pretty rad band name. Just saying.) Brutal bursts of guitar and drums thunder and rattle beneath AP member …
Added by Sound Check on May 1, 2013 at 11:30am — 3 Comments
Free Download! Check genre-defying Tricky's new track 'Tribal Drums' featuring Francesca Belmonte. This cut is from his upcoming album 'False Idols' (due out May 28). Last month we told you about the video for 'Does It', another track off the album also featuring Francesca Belmonte. + in case you missed it, get another free track download…
Added by Sound Check on April 30, 2013 at 10:30am — 1 Comment
Botswana-based death/metal band Wrust released their new song 'Spiral of Torture'. You may remember their video we featured years ago and now they're back with a new album. Rock on! - L.
Added by Sound Check on April 29, 2013 at 12:50pm — No Comments
UK indie rapper Mikill Pane's main appeal has always been his endless cleverness and charm. He just seems like the kind of guy you'd like to get a beer with. Maybe go bowling. His lyrics are a tangled web of references, meta-references, and elaborate puns. They've always been deep from a writing perspective, but never exactly deep emotionally. On…
Added by Sound Check on April 24, 2013 at 10:37am — No Comments
Video + Free download: 'FACes', dope track by UK singer/songwriter/Mark Ronson & Cee Lo collaborator Tawiah. The video was shot in Accra, Ghana. "The track was released as a free download in support of International Day for Street Children and Street Child Africa." 'FACes', written and produced by Tawiah and Jodi Milliner, is from Tawiah's upcoming release 'FREEdom…
Added by Sound Check on April 19, 2013 at 11:04am — 2 Comments
The White Mandingos sample Bad Brains on their new track 'Mandingo Rally'. Murs says: "Probably the hardest and realest I've ever rapped in my life...". The band, composed of Murs, Darryl Jenifer and Sacha Jenkins SHR, will release their debut album, 'The Ghetto Is Tryna Kill Me', on June 11. You can download one of their tracks on the latest Afropunk…
Added by Sound Check on April 19, 2013 at 9:17am — 1 Comment
Video + free download: Punk rock meets hip-hop: The White Mandingos (Murs, Darryl Jenifer, Sacha Jenkins SHR) - 'Rubbertracks Meltdown' (from the Converse Rubber Tracks series). This is the bonus track off their album "The Ghetto Is Tryna Kill Me".
Stream the finished track below and download it for free HERE.
+ Video: "Watch them lay down the vocals, discuss various recording…
Added by Sound Check on April 10, 2013 at 11:31am — No Comments
Shoegaze tends to live and die on its atmosphere, so it's refreshing to hear a band like Brooklyn's Maquina Supervium actually put as much stock in melody as on atmosphere. “Far Away,” the first single from their debut record Tomorrow and the Celestial Geometries, is naturally cloaked in some serious reverb and a constant drone of feedback. But underneath the paint-peeling guitar is something minimal, melodic, and even beautiful. The track has a post-punk propulsion…
Added by Sound Check on April 3, 2013 at 7:00am — 2 Comments
The New York snow's melting, and spring's finally here. Celebrate with some new music from Houston, TX's American Fangs (unless you're in a polar/glacial region, in which case the snow melting is obviously a very very bad thing and we're all doomed). We featured the lyric video before, and they've made their new single “Pomona” available as a free download.
Added by Sound Check on March 29, 2013 at 10:00am — No Comments
The thing that differentiates good prog from bad is whether the complex poly-rhythms and spontaneous key changes feel necessary or like the band is just sort of showing off. Galaxy of Tar's songs may be complex, and certainly Elias Diaz V.'s musicianship is on full display, but on their latest EP Barretta, they earn every atonal guitar solo and sudden drum breakdown.…
Added by Sound Check on March 25, 2013 at 10:30am — 1 Comment
I was 14 when I heard “Rebirth of Cool vol. 4” for the first time. I had just finished digesting the complete canon of Classic Rock. Zeppelin didn't thrill me anymore. Aerosmith never really did. I was dipping my toes into indie and punk, but hadn't quite found my way into that world (we didn't have the internet yet. I distinctly remember getting into an argument with someone that summer in which I took the position that “punk can't be dead, because The Dead Kennedys!” Not…
Added by Sound Check on March 20, 2013 at 10:04am — No Comments
Here's the thing that's awesome about the internet. It's also the thing that's terrible and maybe overwhelming: everything is preserved forever. That band that existed for a hot second and played a handful of shows to a handful of people before disappearing or re-forming into a much more influential band? They still exist in some ethereal form. Somehow immortal even if largely forgotten. (I'm looking at you Inside Out, whose best song was a cheery ditty called “Rage Against the…
Added by Sound Check on March 18, 2013 at 11:13am — 2 Comments
New music/free download from folk/soul singer, tattooist and Afropunk Fest alum Purple Ferdinand. Here's 'Define Me'. EP coming soon. Enjoy!…
Added by Sound Check on March 11, 2013 at 10:27am — 5 Comments
© 2013 Created by Matthew.
|
