Mixtapes : Yelawolf : Trunk Muzik Returns

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Who is Yelawolf?
Yelawolf is an underground rapper from a small town in the South who found major-label success in 2011. Born Michael Wayne Atha on December 30, 1979, in Gadsden, Alabama, he made his full-length album debut with the independent release Creekwater (2005). He subsequently made the jump to Sony BMG for the release of a promotional single, "Kickin'" (2007). Disillusioned with life on a major label, he returned to the underground rap scene. Newly inspired, he worked to build an audience for himself via MySpace and mixtapes. In 2010, an appearance on Bizarre's album Friday Night at St Andrews became an early sign that the rapper was aligning himself with Eminem's Shady label and its family of artists. His signing to the label was announced in 2011, and by the end of the year his official debut, Radioactive, had landed. Guest shots came from Eminem, Kid Rock, Lil Jon, and Gangsta Boo, while names like Diplo, Jim Jonsin, and the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League handled production. A year later he partnered with blink-182 drummer Travis Barker for the rap-rock EP Psycho White.

Trunk Muzik Review
Since the release of his major-label debut Radioactive, Yelawolf has slowly crept back into the underground hip-hop scene. The idea of crossing over for a larger commercial audience in hopes of scoring a hit weren’t met to his expectations. There were certainly contenders, “Let’s Roll” and “Hard White (Up in the Club)” contributed to the album’s chart success. But Yela openly expressed frustrations with how the album turned out, and those frustrations have been reflected in his musical output since. Trunk Muzik Returns is a return to the form that won his fans over. Unlike some of the uncomfortable attempts at pop songs found on Radioactive, Yelawolf is raw and uncut here, which has always been the basis of his appeal.

The original Trunk Muzik, later re-released as Trunk Muzik 0-60 based on its success, established Yelawolf as the other white rapper with a quick-fast tongue and unfiltered rhymes. The sequel’s singles (“Way Out” and “F.A.S.T. Ride”) are some of his best work, containing the right ingredients of vintage Yelawolf with a sleek new twist. The now bearded Alabama MC showcases relatable moments throughout—with a certain country back-roads mystique—over experimental production and funky grooves. There’s a clear artistic progression upon listening to the tape, and on Trunk Muzik Returns’ opening track, he makes it known that “this fire in me ain’t going out.”

The biggest change in Yelawolf appears on “Box Chevy Part 4,” a five-minute track that sees him crooning over his love for his Chevy. Although it contains lyrics about turning to drugs to escape internal pain, there’s a personal stamp here that makes it worthwhile. Yelawolf could have easily laced up a “Box Chevy Part 3.5” of sorts, but instead delivers a proper ode that finds a balance between rock and hip-hop. It’s the type of direction we’ve encountered in his previous releases, and these attempts continue to push a new persona, one more evolved from the typically hard-partying and trash-talking rapper from before.

Yelawolf has a penchant for lyricism and brings along rappers like Raekwon, Killer Mike and A$AP Rocky on the tape. Paul Wall makes a surprising return on “Hustle,” where he raps about holding down a few side jobs, while steadily getting money through any means necessary. On “Gangster,” a cut that’s reflects Yelawolf’s trunk rattling past, he details his upbringing through a truth-telling lens. It’s here he grasps the attention of longtime fans and shows he can still take it back to his Slumerican ways.

The project isn’t without one or two missteps, though. Yelawolf isn’t exactly the type to hold anything back, and “Fame” is another chance for him to let some things off his chest. The song details his rise, from pushing his demo to taking meetings with label executives like L.A. Reid. Generally, these rags-to-riches stories are interesting, but it comes off as self-loathing here. “Tennessee Love,” a somber love story over woozy production, isn’t a song typically in his wheelhouse. On the one hand, it’s a fitting ending to the tape, but there’s an oversensitiveness to his confessions.

If Yelawolf had something to prove, it was that he’s still an adept rapper who stuck to his guns. Even if Radioactive cooled his buzz for a bit, there’s a sense of self-awareness of his mistakes here and he certainly sounds determined to impress fans and fuel the fire for his sophomore effort, Love Story. As he raps on “Rhyme Room,” “Catfish Billy, you can put Trunk Muzik in the picture frame/You ain’t gotta tell me that I made a mistake and some of that shit was lame/But all I wanna do is say “fuck that shit” and please accept my change/I was only tryna people please/So people please, know my name.”


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Videos : The Airborne Toxic Event : Timeless

Who Is The Airborne Toxic Event?
Formed by novelist Mikel Jollett during a tumultuous period in his life, the Airborne Toxic Event (named after a section in American author Don DeLillo's novel White Noise) combine literate indie rock with real literary cred. Formed in 2006, the group initially took shape as a Los Angeles-based duo, with Jollett and drummer Daren Taylor serving as the only members. A roster expansion was eventually needed; as a result, classically trained violinist Anna Bulbrook was brought in to play viola and keyboards, jazz bassist Noah Harmon joined up, and the empty guitar slot was filled by Steven Chen. The band's first show as the Airborne Toxic Event took place in fall of 2006, and was followed by a regional rise to stardom, attracting offers from indie labels and accolades from magazines like Rolling Stone.

Riding the wave of industry buzz, the Event released their first EP and accompanying single (both titled Does This Mean You're Moving On?) in 2007, which only helped to heighten the band's standing in the indie scene. They signed with Majordomo Records in 2008 and released their self-titled first album, The Airborne Toxic Event, later that year. "Sometime Around Midnight" became a Top Ten modern rock hit, prompting Island Records to sign the band in early 2009. Two years later, the Airborne Toxic Event — now signed to the same label as one of their major influences, U2 — issued their sophomore release, All at Once.


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News : Taylor Swift Is Hating On Hipsters But Will It Only Make Them Love Her More?

No matter the genre, hatred is the key to great, heartfelt songwriting. Just look at these offensively generalised facts: UK indie bands hate the Tories, rappers hate the police, emo bands hate their dads, and Taylor Swift – a genre all of her own – hates hipsters.

So when Swift's recent single 22 arrived, the internet was abuzz with the video's unabashed hipster-baiting. Its opening line "It feels like a perfect night to dress up like hipsters" was fully realised, with Swift in mocking lens-less black frame glasses and a slogan tee, all framed in an Instagram-like hue. The singer's dislike of edgy elitists was exposed for all to see.

Sadly for Taz, hipsters don't reciprocate this vitriol. The pretentious flock to Swift's music like a mothy David Cameron to a Smiths-shaped flame. Just this month, Minneapolis's avant-dance act Elite Gymnastics uploaded a mashed-up cover of Swift's Ours to his Tumblr, a gift for his girlfriend Grimes's birthday. That whole scenario couldn't get more hipster if you died its hair green and made it into a gif.

So why have 2013's hipsters chosen to adopt Swift as their official mascot? Why Taylor? Why not Conor Maynard? Why not Rita Ora? Why not the pink-haired one from Little Mix?

One reason why Taylor is so hip right now is that she is fundamentally a dork. Alongside her ever so slightly prominent teeth (facial quirk, tick), she spent her teens as a vastly successful country singer (niche musical past, tick), and writes songs really well (gifted, tick). She's also something of an outsider and doesn't particularly "belong" to any music scene (double tick, smiley face in gold pen).

Hipsters now wear their love of mainstream pop as a badge of honour. If you're listening to Taylor Swift, you're probably tweeting about listening to Taylor Swift. You can appreciate Kendrick Lamar, Death Grips and Taylor? Then of course your tastes are smart and eclectic. Additionally, tech-savvy hipsters claim their love for Swift comes via the immaculate pop production on her recent album Red, accredited largely to Max Martin. He's the Swedish writer-producer responsible for Britney's …Baby One More Time, and is the reason why on any night of the week you'll find a bearded part-time DJ in an east London pub muttering something along the lines of, "The production on Swift's tracks is probably on a par with anything J Dilla ever touched."

Taylor's hipster-mocking isn't working. In fact, it's only making them more determined to lasso her into their world instead. So she has two options: either fully surrender to those tattoo-adorned bastards; or, if she's really determined to push them away, add a few more Ed Sheeran collaborations on to the next album. Hipsters aren't ready for post-acoustic irony. Yet.


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Videos : Shawn Desman : Too young To Care

Who Is Shawn Desman?
Shawn Bosco Fernandes (born January 12, 1982), better known by his stage name Shawn Desman, is a Canadian pop/R&B singer. He is signed to Universal Music Canada.

Shawn Desman attended St. Francis of Assisi Elementary School in Toronto where he took part in many talent shows and events. In 1998, Shawn Fernandes was in the Boomtang Boys video for their song "Squeezetoy" as a dancer. He had a few recordings in English and Portuguese under his real name Shawn Fernandes before adopting the name Desman. According to his own account, he adopted the name Desman because in his youth his friends referred to him as "Dez, man" - thus creating his artistic pseudonym Desman.

His self-titled breakthrough album in 2002 featured three top ten singles ("Shook", "Spread My Wings" and "Get Ready") on the Canadian charts. The album went on to achieve gold certification in Canada. The single, "Spread My Wings", is a cover of the unreleased male group, Vega, featuring Chilli of TLC.

His follow-up album, Back for More garnered a Juno Award for Best R&B Recording which featured the number one hit single "Let's Go".

His recent album Fresh garnered 2 gold singles, 1 platinum single, Video of the Year at the Much Music Video Awards, Canadian Dance/Pop Song of the year at the Stylus Awards, as well as SOCAN #1 Award for Electric/Night Like This.

Shawn Desman is also a producer and has worked with various artists producing hit singles for Nick Carter, Kreesha Turner, Keshia Chante, Danny Fernandes, as well as contestants on YTV's The Next Star where he produced the song (One More First Chance) for Brock Zanrosso in 2009 and "It Might Be You" for contestant Parker Schmidt in 2011.

In 2013, Shawn Desman released his fourth studio album, Alive along with an accompanying short film of the same name. The album spawned two hit singles; "Nobody Does It Like You" and "Dum Da Dum". (Read More)


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Videos : Nikki Williams : Glowing

Who is Nikki Williams?
There's a kind of woman who just needs you to get the hell out of her way. You'll know her when you see her, smoldering with swagger and sex appeal. Holding her back would be like lassoing a supernova— good luck with that.

Spend even a few moments with Nikki Williams and you know that's exactly what you're dealing with: an unapologetic, balls-out truth-teller, an old soul at 24 with a killer set of pipes and the attitude to match. A natural born storyteller and a gifted singer-songwriter, Williams is the personification of Newtonian law: a body in motion will stay in motion. "I was born to do this," she says. "There is no Plan B. This is it. You don't ignore an instinct."

Williams' earliest memories as a young girl in bustling Port Elizabeth, South Africa, feature her performing—belting it out in church at four years old, providing the evening entertainment for her parents and their friends at age 7. But hers was hardly a picture-perfect youth. When post-apartheid crime ravaged her hometown, Williams' parents decided to pack it in and start anew elsewhere, in Nashville of all places. ("My family grew up listening to country music, so why not?") At 16, Williams found herself over 8,000 from home, a flame-haired Afrikaner in the land of the Grand Ole Opry. The transition was as tough as it sounds. "It took me a long time to adjust," she recalls. "Everything from the size of the fast food portions to the fact that people didn't understand what I was saying. I always had to repeat myself 10 times."

Not long after the move, her parents divorced—she and her kid sister stayed with her mom in Nashville, while her dad returned to South Africa. Williams took their split hard. Who can blame her for falling in with the wrong crowd? "I didn't see their divorce coming," she says. "I started rebelling, hanging out with an older crowd, drinking Southern Comfort, going out to bars."

In a city thick with teased-and-tousled glam-girls, Williams, a Ravenwood High School hellraiser, looked like she'd arrived to Nashville by way of CBGB with her heavy eyeliner, ripped tights and combat boots. But she found respite from her turbulent youth in writing. Every day after school, she'd deep-dive into marathon country songwriting sessions and quickly discovered she was brilliant at it. Influenced by a gamut of old-school and contemporary country-Western icons, from Alan Jackson to the Rascal Flatts, Dolly Parton to Taylor Swift, Williams poured her restlessness and soul-searching into her lyrics. By her junior year in high school, she'd locked up a publishing deal with Sony ATV. By 18, Williams was supporting herself. Her song "Fly Again", which was featured in Country Song (starring Gwyneth Paltrow), was inspired by an older boyfriend who helped foster her career and confidence. She co-wrote "Like My Mother Does," which was performed in 2011 by American Idol finalist Laura Alaina. Over and over again Williams was approached by Nashville heavyweights eager to cut a deal. She rebuffed them all. "I never wanted to be a country artist," she says plainly.

Williams relocated to Los Angeles when she was 21, and shortly after signed with Breyon Prescott of Chameleon Entertainment (a joint venture with the Island Def Jam Music Group). "Working with Breyon Prescott along with Aaron Phillips is literally the best thing that's ever happened to me," Williams says. Under their guidance, she has emerged as a sultry new voice on the pop-rock scene. She has already notched collaborations with a string of Grammy-winning hitmakers including Sandy Vee, Dallas Austin, and Rodney Jerkins.

Typical of many young women, Nikki has been through some personal challenges and bad relationships. Nikki used those experiences as motivation to truly express herself as an artist. Williams throws herself into her work, exorcising her pain and sadness in the recording studio. The results are achingly beautiful. She first released "Kill, Fuck, Marry," a haunting single by Sia and produced by Stargate, which has already captured the attention of critics and fans alike. ("Nikki Williams…is poised to be a breakout star," declared Cosmopolitan Magazine.) Her as-yet-untitled album, slated for release this spring, is already generating buzz among critics and music bloggers as one of the mostly hotly anticipated new releases of the year. "Glowing", her first single, is a chest-thumping dance floor anthem that showcases the many sides and powerful vocals of Nikki Williams!

Williams is currently on the road, sampling her music before a voracious crowd hungry for her trademark candor and explosive stage presence. She'll be hard to pin down for a while, she says, but that's a good thing. "I'm still working stuff out," Williams confesses. "But if you want to find me, I'll be in the diviest bar of whichever city I'm in."


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Albums : Wavves : Afraid Of Heights

Listen To Wavves : Afraid Of Heights

Who is Wavves?
Named for his fear of the ocean, Wavves, the skuzzy project of San Diego slacker Nathan Williams, is a blend of distorted no-fi and refined sunshiny melodies. Charmingly messy, most of his lyrics, while difficult to decipher, generally revolve around the subjects of weed, boredom, and the beach — when he isn't poking jabs at the gloomy subculture of goth rock (a common theme, found in "Goth Girls," "California Goths," "Summer Goths," "Surf Goths," and "Beach Goths"). Wavves was conceived just after Williams, at age 21, quit his job as a clerk at Music Trader, while he was dividing his free time between skateboarding, writing for his hip-hop blog, Ghost Ramp, and making music using an '80s Tascam cassette recorder and Garage Band software. Due to his inexperience with the program, the result of one month's worth of bedroom recording sessions was two full albums of songs: all completely mangled by overdriven inputs. Rather than scrapping the material, he embraced the in-the-red aesthetic and started promoting the songs online. Wavves was quickly embraced and touted as "the next big thing" by Internet music critics and fellow bloggers.

Many praised the immediacy and D.I.Y. nature of his work, and Williams capitalized on those aspects, continuously uploading free digital versions of his music — including two 7" singles, a cassette, and an EP — all with simple self-drawn artwork or scanned photos for cover art. Wavves' first LP, simply titled Wavves, became available around this time as well, and it was released in a limited run by Woodsist. The more confusingly titled Wavvves (note the third "V") followed just after, and was planned for release by De Stijl before Williams jumped ship to Fat Possum. After the track list was revamped, the release date was pushed back a month and Wavvves was officially made available on March 17, 2009. After receiving mostly glowing reviews in April, Wavves got his share of bad press in late May. While performing live at the Primavera Sound Festival, assisted by drummer Ryan Ulsh, Williams had a minor meltdown and walked offstage. Later, he issued an apology, chalking up the incident to poor decision-making and a drug concoction of ecstasy, Valium, and Xanax.

In 2010, after recording a few tracks with indie drummer extraordinaire Zach Hill, Williams entered the studio with Grammy-winning producer Dennis Herring to record a straightforward and surprisingly polished album. Following the August release of King of the Beach, Wavves toured as a trio with Williams assisted by former bandmates of the late Jay Reatard, bassist Stephen Pope and drummer Billy Hayes. After parting with Fat Possum, Williams released a new EP in the fall of 2011 under the Wavves name, titled Life Sux, featuring guest appearances by Best Coast and F****d Up. He and Pope then began recording a new album with the production help of John Hill (Rihanna, Santigold), using their own money to finance the project. Mom + Pop signed the band and released the slickly produced, very '90s-influenced Afraid of Heights in early spring of 2013.

Afraid Of Heights Review
The chatter surrounding Nathan Williams' activities has occasionally overshadowed the music itself. It's been five years since Williams' self-titled debut long-player as Wavves, so it's a fine time to step back and re-direct the conversation. Wavves and 2009's triple-v'd follow-up featured monochromatic garage grinders buried under blown-out production-- not exactly the work you'd expect from someone who'd later write a Christmas song for Target with his girlfriend. It's possible that many present-day Wavves fans are unaware that those albums and his sound has changed accordingly. The beery, brawny King of the Beach from 2010 featured improved production and sharp, sticky hooks that were perfectly suited to soundtrack shows on MTV (which they eventually did.)

Following some label drama that almost derailed that album's creation, Williams took the DIY approach by self-releasing 2011's guest-laden Life Sux EP; two years later, he and current musical co-conspirator Stephen Pope have returned with the proper follow-up to Beach, Afraid of Heights. The record is Williams' first for Warner Bros. and Sony-affiliated imprint Mom + Pop, but Williams self-financed the album's recording over the course of a year. It's a big-ticket record made with indie-minded ethos, and the album's tangle of contradictions befits a guy with such a history of contrarianism.

King of the Beach had real-deal rock guy Dennis Herring (Elvis Costello, Modest Mouse) behind the boards; Afraid of Heights features John Hill, a producer with modern pop bonafides from Rihanna to M.I.A. You can hear his touch in the pretty-sounding keyboard-mellotron loop that's interrupted by a low, persistent inner-ear thud in the opening of the typically bratty "Sail to the Sun", and Afraid of Heights as a whole is truly a headphones album, a luxuriously produced record tempered with a few moments of noisy studio trickery (notably, the scuzzy rumble of "Mystic") for contrast. Five songs feature strings; one features slide guitar.

As for the songwriting, Afraid of Heights finds Williams taking these new elements-- including guest vocalist Jenny Lewis' contributions, only barely heard on the album's melodically winding title track-- and rolling them up tightly in his familiar forward churn. King of the Beach's self-loathing-as-swag anthem "Idiot"-- one of the most straightforwardly ear-catching songs on that album-- is a jumping-off point. This means that there's less of the formless, small-scale exercises that largely made up Beach's back half; some will miss the eccentricity, but Afraid of Heights' energizing consistency makes for a fair trade.

Williams' lyrics are still dripping with self-loathing. Life Sux's "I Wanna Meet Dave Grohl" drew sneers based on the title alone, but the sentiment never seemed explicitly careerist; at some point, you'd have to assume that this guy would rather do anything else rather than continue to address his own personal insufficiencies. Here, "Dog" and "Beat Me Up" deal with subservience in relationships, while the sprightly "Lunge Forward" ends with a wish for the end of humanity. There's talk of graves, death, bruises, and the eventuality of being alone. The negativity is sometimes so pronounced it's almost funny: "Gimme a Knife" closes with, "I loved you, Jesus/ You raped the world/ I feel defeated/ Guess I'll go surf."

The album's most enjoyably surprising moment arrives when he turns his attention outward. "Cop" is a love song, albeit a strange one: it's written from the perspective of the gay lover of protagonist John, who's just killed a policeman. "Sit back and relax, John, just go home and quickly wash your hair/ Lay back in my arms," Williams sweetly sings, backed by a distant acoustic shuffle reminiscent of Jay Reatard's cover of Chris Knox's "Turn Down the Shades". Some strings and stray whistling enter, and the song swells into a big, beatific wash of light before the hook comes in again. It is, without doubt, the most lovely and affecting piece of music Williams has written.

Afraid of Heights is the first Wavves album longer than 40-minutes and sometimes it drags. Williams is an avowed Weezer disciple, and accordingly his more dirge-y creations have always reminded me of the sluggishness found on mid-period Weezer albums like Maladroit. Although he mostly does the the more low-key material right here, "Everything Is My Fault" is a real momentum-killer, especially when you realize there's still 10 minutes of album material to get through. Still, Afraid of Heights provides plenty of bummed-out pleasures and Williams' obvious talent is easy to take for granted. At "Lunge Forward"'s chaotic peak, he cries, "None of you will ever understand me" and that may be true, but his music continues to make perfect sense.


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Videos : Jay Sean : Where You Are

Who Is Jay Sean?
British R&B singer/songwriter Jay Sean is notable for being one of the first British-Asian crossover stars and also for his international popularity, including five consecutive Top 40 singles in America. Born Kamaljit Singh Jhooti on March 26, 1981, in the London borough of Hounslow, he began rapping at age 11 and eventually switched to R&B music, in part because of his Indian heritage, which made it difficult for him to break into the British rap scene. Sean was signed in 2003 by 2Point9, an all-in-one entertainment company whose roster is comprised of British-Asian artists such as Rishi Rich, and he made his recording debut late in the year with "Dance with You (Nachna Tere Naal)." Produced by Rishi Rich and featuring fellow 2Point9 artist Juggy D, "Dance with You (Nachna Tere Naal)" became a major hit in the United Kingdom, reaching number 12 on the singles chart. In the wake of his debut single's success, Sean was offered a lucrative major-label recording contract with Virgin Records. He accepted the offer and opted to drop out of Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, where he was studying to become a doctor. Me Against Myself (2004), his debut album, became a Top 30 hit in the U.K., spawning a pair of Top Ten hit singles ("Eyes on You," "Stolen"); plus, the album became an even bigger hit in India, where it was a chart-topping success and went multi-platinum, thanks in part to Sean's appearance in the Bollywood film Kya Kool Hain Hum (2005).

Despite his international success, Sean left Virgin Records and released his second album, My Own Way (2008), independently via 2Point9 Records. Though its release date was pushed back repeatedly, My Own Way debuted at number six on the U.K. albums chart, a significant improvement over his last album, which had been released by a major label. The album spawned a couple U.K. Top 20 hits, "Ride It" and "Maybe," the former of which also charted internationally in countries including Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Bulgaria. The focus would turn toward America in 2009 when Sean signed with the Cash Money label. The relationship kicked off with the single "Down," featuring special guest and labelmate Lil Wayne. The track would land on Sean's album All or Nothing released in November of that year. The single "2012 (It Ain't the End)," featuring Nicki Minaj, was released in late 2010 and was followed a year later by his mixtape The Mistress. His sophomore release for Cash Money was planned for 2012.


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