Jessica Hernandez understands better than most how to craft a vision through sound. Each track we’ve heard from her, especially those off the five-song EP Demons from last year, is a musical universe entirely unto itself. She makes magic with her songwriting, striking vocals, and backing band’s arrangements — Demons draws much of…
In case the recent torrential downpours were not a sufficient cleansing for the Motor City, Detroit hip-hop duo Passalacqua have sent forth their own ritual purification — except this one is more visual than it is diluvial. Ahead of the August 19 release of their second full-length album CHURCH, Blaksmith (Brent Smith) and Mister (Bryan Lackner) joined forces with The Right…
At the beginning of the year, Detroit-born singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens indicated via a website post that he would be contributing to a long-awaited Arthur Russell tribute compilation from the Red Hot Organization. The album, Master Mix: Red Hot + Arthur Russell, now has an official release date of October 21 via Yep Roc. In addition, Stevens’…
In the early aughts, two musicians — separated both by genre and geography — decided to collaborate on a set of tracks that would eventually comprise a full-length album. Painstakingly created over ten months through a process of mailing CD-Rs back and forth, the project eventually adopted the name The Postal Service after the organization that assisted in…
He is an icon of Detroit techno’s second wave, yet that statement alone not only obscures, but also misrepresents, the truth about Richie Hawtin. To start, he isn’t truly from Detroit, but rather Windsor; moreover, his background reads like a travelogue, with stops in England, New York, and Berlin. Nevertheless, Hawtin’s mind-bending, minimalist…
Philadelphia-based Freeway’s reputation had been in dire need of a rehabilitation since 2007, when the rapper parted ways with Roc-A-Fella: enter a collaboration with Gregg Gillis, a.k.a Girl Talk. At first glance, their partnership on this year’s Broken Ankles EP might not have seemed like a natural fit, but Girl Talk’s vibrant take on pop’s…
Busta Rhymes joins forces with Detroit’s hip-hop bad boy Eminem on the Brooklyn-based, gravel-voiced rapper’s track “Calm Down,” though judging from the comic book-inspired artwork on the single’s cover, the collaboration is less about teaming up than it is about settling scores. The track — our first taste from Busta Rhymes’ forthcoming…
On “Critical,” the last track on his Yung Archetype EP, Tunde Olaniran sounded both out of sorts but also totally in control as he offered his own twist on the personal-as-political screed, crooning that “They can’t guarantee the ending won’t begin in me.” This knowing statement may have been delivered on a cut whose lyrics only obliquely made reference to Olaniran’s marginalized identity and his work with Planned…
Michigan-based creative collective Never Say Die has released the final piece of their March recording project “The Living Room Sessions Vol. 2” with the premiere of a live recording of Jamaican Queens’ Wormfood track “Water.” The trap-pop group recorded multiple songs during their LRS set, and the final project included a live visual accompaniment…
The Midwest meets the West Coast on the latest single from L.A. speed-rap extraordinaire Busdriver’s upcoming LP Perfect Hair, but everything — from the torrential flow to the scampering beats — remains buried deep underground. That’s fitting for a song entitled “Ego Death,” which also includes appearances by Detroit’s Danny Brown and San Francisco’s Aesop Rock. As a voice continually exhorts, “We can…