Cory Graves
Pyramids Proves Worth The Wait, Lil Wayne Cosigns Two Dallas Rappers and Post Malone Keeps Shining.
On this New Music Tuesday, a rather prominent album from Denton officially earned its release. After a seven-year gap following its debut album, R. Loren's Pyramids outfit finally released a proper follow-up.
In a glowing write-up on Pitchfork, writer Andy O'Connor notes what the band's been up to these past few years: Hydra Head, the label that released the band's debut, shut down, prompting a move to Profound Love; Loren, meanwhile, turned his attention to his Handmade Birds label and side projects White Moth and Sailors With Wax Wings.
For O'Connor, the band's new A Northern Meadow LP was well worth the wait. He says it's the best thing the band's ever done. Or as he put it in his 8.0-scoring review: “Here, they've developed a front-to-back sound that pushes their metal leanings to the forefront, while also upping the enigmatic glow of their debut. This consistency leads to their strongest effort yet.” See if you agree by hitting play on the below embed.
On a smaller scale, the likewise Denton-based A.M. Ramblers too just released its own sophomore effort seven years after its debut. Recorded at various points during that time by Justin Collins and later by the band's ex-fiddler Mark Moncrieff, the album also features many former members that have had stints in the band over the years. Check it out.
Moving on, the hip-hop blogosphere's been talking about the latest cypher from the Young Money crew, in which label boss Lil Wayne disses Cash Money headman Birdman, who Wayne's suing so he can break his old deal with his former label home. Raps Weezy in his freestyle: “I sing 'Dear Mama' to my dear mama and sing 'Hit 'Em Up' to my daddy bitch ass.” Sick burn? I guess. Anyhow, there's a reason why you need to care about this. And that would be the fact that two Dallasites kick off the 13-minute clip, which is meant to showcase the label's next generation of talent: Lil Twist and a second rapper named Boss, who sometimes goes as Super Hood and sometimes as Big Hood Boss. Hood's verse is especially interesting in that it features him rhyming over the beat from Big Tuck's “Southside Da Realist.” Check it out.
Next up, is another emotional cut from soon-to-be breakout North Texas ex-pat Post Malone. Those that have been wearing out “White Iverson” on the Mid Cities-bred emcee's sparsely populated SoundCloud page will surely welcome the even poppier vibes of “Tear$,” which can be found below. Listen to it and tell us with a straight face that this guy's not primed for a bunch of post-SXSW hype. (Spoiler: You won't be able to.)
Meanwhile, Brian Smith (Maleveller) and Blake McWhorter (Black Tie Dynasty) are currently putting together a heavy new project called Dunes. Currently, the band's posted a trio of songs to its SoundCloud page that were recorded with drummer TJ Prendergast, who will not be a permanent member of the band. Anyway, check out one of the band's new tunes below, and maybe hit them up if it sounds like something you'd be interested in drumming on.
Then there's Valise, which recently debuted its “Charlie Gray” video via MTVu's The Freshmen program. It's the first single from the band's upcoming Young Bloomer LP that earns its release later this month. They'll celebrate the new album with a March 28 release show at Three Links where Sudie and Tony Q & Plain Jane Francis will open.
Another new video that debuted recently is Larry g(EE)'s change-of-direction single “Days Like This.” Here's that one.
Still more visual music accompaniment comes from Fishboy, whose “Thomas Alva Waiting” clip features animated cels from the comic book that accompanies physical copies of his latest album. You can also read an online version of the comic here.
Finally on the video front, Chudi tromps through a forest of murdered bodies in the new clip for his song “D.O.D.,” an anti-gang, anti-violence track that's much less campy than the clip it accompanies. Either way, it's worth another listen, which you can do below.
Another note of interest this week comes from Wunderground, a sort of EDM answer to The Onion, which namedropped former Dallas DJ Maceo Plex in a parody piece about how he was being paid $60K per session to teach Steve Aoki to be a “credible DJ.”
Per that fake piece, Maceo Plex had little luck in this effort: “Unfortunately, it's not going well,” he didn't really say. “I try to tell him to just mix one track into the other but he just looks at me with the blank look of a baby to whom you've just tried to explain quantum mechanics. The entire concept of performing a mix live is foreign to the typical EDM DJ as it requires attention that is otherwise spent gurning at the crowd or riding a raft.'”
Elsewhere: Gladys Knight has been tweeting pics of her time in the studio with Symbolyc One, with whom she's recording her new album; set times for this Sunday's Spillover festival have been announced here; and the list of performers playing April's fourth annual Big Folkin' Fest were announced here.
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