Chicago – The end of winter marks one of our favorite things: festival season! In your best Oprah voice, let me hear you say, “Bonnaroo!” Okay, now that you’ve gotten that of your system, Best New Bands is here to help weed through the line-up for some of the bands you might not be hip
New York – A$AP Rocky released his highly anticipated new album, At.Long.Last.A$AP, today (5/26) due to the album leaking a week prior to its scheduled June 2nd release date. The album is currently number one on iTunes in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Poland, Switzerland, Russia and more. A$AP Rocky’s sophomore album, the follow-up to the
Austin – SXSW officially ended Sunday, but that’s a mostly ceremonial date: Saturday night hosts the last of the big showcases. Whether SXSW was structured this way or we accidentally put together a theme, Best New Bands’ Saturday schedule was made up of loud, energetic, party-all-night sets from Joey Bada$$, Sweater Beats, and Earl
Austin – A lot of people say SXSW Music doesn’t really start until Wednesday, but those chumps missed out on day one. It was a little slower than usual as people waited in line to collect wristbands, but careful planners could have filled up their schedules. Or, just stayed at Spotify House. They had some
New York – We missed Heems. He put out two excellent mixtapes, Nehru Jackets and Wild Water Kingdom, in 2012, just before the official dissolution of his group Das Racist that December. Until Eat Pray Thug, his only musical endeavor since the breakup was a collaborative EP with London rapper Riz MC under the moniker
New York – Queens is the city’s best rap borough. The form was invented in the Bronx, dudes from Harlem and Brooklyn are best at flash and attention grabbing, and Staten Island is the Shaolin, but rappers from Queens are historically the most lyrical and have the most complex personalities. Back in the 90s, Nas
Chicago – Damian Ardestani, better known as XOV, is an extremely talented visual artist, filmmaker, photographer and musician. The Iranian born, Swedish-bred rapper turned pop artist has seen his fair share of troubles and turmoil. Through it all – running with gangs, losing his teeth in a violent, bloody fight, and losing his business, home,
With the release of PRhyme’s self-titled debut, 2014 will undoubtedly go down as the year of the rap “super-duo.” The two-piece hip-hop project joins critically acclaimed duo Run The Jewels in releasing one of this year’s most anticipated albums. Consisting of Royce Da 5’9” rapping over DJ Premier’s instrumental tracks, PRhyme, self-released this week, shows
Portland – If you had met the acclaimed poet-turned-rapper George Watsky back in high school, you might have expected he’d be the fast-talking chillbro who’d end up painting custom skateboards and performing spoken word at the local college campus. He’s a laidback kind of dude with a sharp wit for compelling wordplay, but the fact
Chicago – Sunday night the main floor of Chicago’s House of Blues was tightly packed with gaggles of girls. The last time I found myself in such close quarters with so many screaming teenagers, I was at NKOTB’s The Magic Summer Tour. This time around I wasn’t a crying tween excited to see my favorite