Sound Check's Blog – August 2012 Archive (20)

The DIY scene in Nairobi is quickly becoming one of the most vibrant on the continent. A group of young bands, few older than 25, supporting each other making independent, badass, and just plain LOUD music. We've written about the scene before and I'm…

Between Melody Nelson, and now The Connectors, we definitely seem to be in the middle of a UK garage rock renaissance. Taking their cues as much from Nirvana and 90's garage as the Kinks, the two piece band consists of singer/guitarist Andy and drummer Danny. Their first single is “Naked,” a fist pumping garage anthem reminiscent of fellow two piece Local H. Built on a simple riff and repeating “just like everybody else / unlike anybody else,” the duo makes the most out of their…

After she enjoyed the Afropunk Fest performances like the rest of us, AP member Olivia Haynes got a chance to catch up with hilarious mad scientist Reggie Watts and Alexis Brown of Metal band Straight Line Stitch.

They told her about what Afropunk means to them and what they have in store for us in coming months. Check it out.



(Straight Line Stitch photo by wagz2it/TimeOut NY)…

Ready to kick off your week with another list of great tracks? Of course you are, so here we go!

Contributor: Elijah Watson

10. XXYYXX, "Lonely Sometimes:" This vowel-less producer from Orlando, Florida is definitely someone you should know about. The 16 year-old (yes he is 16) has made some enjoyable beats, and "Lonely Sometimes" is no different. Soaring with angelic vocal samples, the track gradually…

Twin Shadow's 2010 debut Forget was rightly hailed as one of the most exciting releases of the year. It's been 2 years and synth-pop lothario George Lewis Jr. is back with his breezy sleazy charm on the new Confess. The record is self-produced, Lewis channeling his inner (well, outer...) New Romantics era Niles Rodgers. The production is…

We've been repping the Skins for a while here, and hopefully by now you know why. This badass quintet of teenagers (siblings Bayli, Reef, and Kaya Mckeithan and not-siblings Daisy Spencer and Russell C) has recorded 2 EPs in the past year and hitting the road and playing shows whenever they have some downtime between school. (When I was 17 the best I got was playing Golden Eye whenever I had some downtime between school...)…

Our love for New York singer/songwriter Tess is no secret. Straddling the world of RnB and rock like the second coming of Tina Turner, Tess has spent the past few months kicking some serious ass. After dropping her debut EP…

Afropunk members Werebears just pushed out their new video for the track "Locals." The song is an acoustic+electronics driven folk-punk tune a bit like oneline drawing, except you know, consistently good. The song is brilliant in both the British and the American sense. And seriously, how can you not love a song with the lyrics "when you're on your fixie screaming aah?" This wins at the internet today.…

Durand Bernarr has dubbed his sound “freestyle soul”. It is an eclectic fusion of funk, neosoul, r&b, jazz, and pop. His voice is that of a soaring male soprano with multiple octaves that could easily rival Rahsaan Patterson or Maxwell. He has already released four albums on Bandcamp, he is part of Erykah Badu's band, and has performed internationally. I happened to catch him right after he completed his summer tour with Erykah Badu while he was taking a break visiting an…

Producer Flying Lotus revealed 'See Thru To U', a track from his upcoming album 'Until the Quiet Comes' (to be released October 2nd). On vocals: Ms. Erykah Badu. If you love Erykah, join us at this year's Afropunk Festival Aug 25-26 in Brooklyn, it's free honey bunny! Come over. - L C-D…

There's nothing new about musicians putting jokes into their songs. Hell, Mozart wrote multiple choral pieces with “lick my asshole” as the text. And comedians using music to tell a joke is about as old as the whole idea of telling jokes. But there's something rare about an artist who's able to transcend both labels to the point where he's neither a comedian singing songs, nor a musician telling jokes. Reggie Watts is his own special category of indefinable.…

Uh-oh, it's time for another weekly dose of jams from some of the latest acts in alternative black music. Here you go!



Contributor: Elijah Watson



10. Flying Lotus (Feat. Earl Sweatshirt & Captain Murphy), "Between Friends:" Luscious, raindrop keys and minimal percussion, Lotus' production grooves fluidly, providing the perfect background for Sweatshirt's slurred delivery. If you're a fan…

The absurdly prolific Chaz Bundick, better known to the world as Toro Y Moi, has somehow found time between Lollapalooza, a collaboration with Tyler the Creator, releasing a series of 7 inches in April, and of course Afropunk Fest 2012 to work on new material. Apparently already at work on Toro Y Moi's next album, Bundick and band debuted a handful of new songs at Lollapalooza last week.…

If you're a fan of apocalyptic punk/hip-hop sounds, this one's for ya. Death Grips confirmed that their next album, 'No Love Deep Web', is coming out this fall. They released their previous LP 'Money Store' earlier this year to critical acclaim. Here's what the band said about 'No Love Deep Web': "the release is scheduled for fall 2012. most likely late october.. we are in correspondence with Crispin Glover and working toward a video collaboration with him relating to this…

I first heard of Bad Rabbits in 2009 from my old roomate with the words “I just heard this band you'd love. They sound like Prince if he was a punk.” No more needed to be said. That sentence has New Favorite Band material written all over it.



At the time, Bad Rabbits were fresh from recording their 2nd EP the wall-to-wall fantastic Stick Up Kids. The Boston-based (yay hometown pride!) multi-cultural quintet had previously formed the brunt of the appropriately…

Body Language's not-so-secret weapon is the dueling lead vocals of Angela Bass and Matt Young. Though boy-girl vocals are kind of the thing these days in the indie pop world (see also: Gotye, Of Monsters and Men, and the XX), it's rare to see them just sound this sexy. Twee, playful, useful from a storytelling perspective, sure, but sexy? This is why we love Body Language.…

Alternative soul singer Lianne La Havas is already blowing up in the UK, where her debut album Is Your Love Big Enough? hit #4 a month ago. Afropunk has featured a few of her videos over the past few months, and now the record is finally available in the US.…

Science-fiction has always been the haven for misfits. You can create a world where the bullshit of our modern era is either mostly figured out, or has deteriorated to a point where there's no choice but to solve it immediately. And whether dystopian (The Matrix), utopian (Star Trek) or pragmatic (Foundation series), sci-fi enables those of us who never easily fit in anywhere to imagine a world in which we do fit. Or at least one in which we understand the rules. So it makes…

The coffin's been closed on the “are synths and samplers instruments or tools?” debate for a while but it's still rare to hear something that's primarily electronic that sounds handmade. The beats and glitchy synths on LA's Open Mike Eagle's new record by UK producer Awkward are the perfect compliment to self-proclaimed “art-rapper” Open Mike Eagle's idiosyncratic flow. The difficult to pronounce 4NML HSPTL is definitely not for everyone; this is the kind of record that people…

'Children of the Underground', Hussle Club's awesome debut EP is full of surprises. Mixing industrial, post-punk, and darkwave, the album strays pretty far from Santigold's pop-with-attitude. For an album by an artist known primarily as a drummer, it features little to no live drumming, giving up that position to the trusty 909. Because let's be honest, the 909 never shows up late to rehearsal, having forgotten how to play all your songs.…