Recent News

Following the announcement of his debut album LESS IS MOOR due out March 20, multidisciplinary artist, rapper, producer, and performer Ojay Morgan who performs as Zebra Katz shares incendiary video for recent single “ISH”. The video is “a square-dance in darkness against oppression,” says Zebra. “With this visual, I wanted to capture and release the rage I’m constantly in as a Black artist. This is what happens when I lose it – in a non-threatening and sensual way. With only a day to rehearse and establish choreography with Tom Heyes, I felt confident knowing it was time to battle myself out of the white box, step back into the zone, and fully embrace my inner ISH.”

Zebra Katz is a first-generation Jamaican-American who burst onto the scene with the likes of Azealia Banks, Angel Haze and The House of Ladosha, when his runaway hit single “Ima Read” paved the way for his distinctive genre-defiant sound. The explosive, viral single was picked up by Diplo’s Mad Decent imprint Jeffree’s and garnered further popularity when it ran for 11 minutes on a Rick Owens runway at Paris Fashion Week. This spark leads to an avalanche of remixes from Busta Rhymes, Tricky, Azealia Banks and many more + genre-defying live performances at The Broad museum in Los Angeles, Art Basel in Switzerland as well as the New Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA PS1 and Brooklyn Museum in NYC.

Zebra Katz Tour Dates
3/31: Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade
4/1: Los Angeles @ El Cid
4/3: Oakland, CA @ Starline Social
4/4: Vancouver, BC @ Paradise

The video for Squarepusher’s new single Terminal Slam premiered earlier this year on one of the huge TV screens that populate Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing, probably the most recognizable intersection in Japan and thought to be the busiest in the world.

This was the perfect location to premiere the video to the new single, set in a very near-future Tokyo and sees a young protagonist don augmented reality glasses to subvert and corrupt the barrage of commercial advertising. One of the many highlights on Squarepusher’s celebrated upcoming album, Be Up a Hello, this new single piles on the acid breaks at huge velocity designed for the most hectic of dancefloors and was matched perfectly by the frenetic, collapsing dystopian world created here.

The video was helmed by longtime Squarepusher collaborator and world renowned visual artist, Daito Manabe. The director, artist and co-founder of the Rhizomatiks research group has won awards for the memorable Tokyo 2020 Olympics presentation they produced at the closing ceremony of the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics in Rio, using AR (Augmented Reality) Technology, and Rhizomatiks are also integral to the creation of this year’s Olympic opening ceremony in their hometown.

“The concept began with the idea of ​​implementing the near future, not the distant future, using modern technology. In the near future, It would be exciting to be able to rewrite ads as freely as is depicted in this music video while wearing such a device and wandering around the city.”

US TOUR DATES
April 09 Royale, Boston – live
April 11 Brooklyn Steel, NYC – live
April 14 SAT, Montreal – live
April 15 Danforth, Toronto, – live
April 16 St. Andrews, Detroit – live
April 17 Metro, Chicago – live
April 19 Bluebird Theater, Denver – live
April 22 Neumos, Seattle – live
April 23 Wonder Ballroom, Portland – live
April 24 The Midway, SF- live
April 25 1720, LA – live

Critically acclaimed Brooklyn duo Overcoats announce the March 6 release of their upcoming album The Fight today via Loma Vista Recordings. Tempering punk energy with vulnerable vitality and irresistible catchiness, The Fight is a ten-song battle-cry. It’s the kind of record that might inspire you to quit your job, run a marathon, divorce your my-drugs-blog, change your life in the way you always wanted to, but needed an extra push for. The Fight is the push.

The Fight was produced by Justin Raisen (Angel Olsen, Charli XCX, Santigold) and Yves Rothman (Yves Tumor, Empress Of, girl in red, Miya Folick). Overcoats have also today debuted a new song and video entitled “Fire & Fury.” The track is equal parts dark and brooding as well as hopeful and anthemic – a dichotomy which is mirrored in the its soaring chorus “there’s a fire, there’s a fury, the sky is falling, but we’ll get through it.”

Wajatta — the musical duo of Reggie Watts and John Tejada — will return with their second album, Don’t Let Get You Down, to be released by Brainfeeder on February 28.

Don’t Let Get You Down is said to build on the duo’s debut album, Casual High Technology, which hinted at the broad stylistic possibilities inherent in the marriage of Watts’ elastic, soul-stirring vocals and Tejada’s layered, melodically-inventive productions.

Wajatta, pronounced wa-HA-ta, is a mash-up of the artists’ last names. Having grown up with similar musical influences, Austrian-born Tejada and German-born Watts draw from their love of electronic music, exploring the intersection between influences and innovation. They describe their music as “electronic dance music with its roots in Detroit techno, Chicago house, ’70s funk, and New York hip-hop.”

They build most tracks from scratch, bouncing ideas off one another from initial spark to finished product. It’s all done face-to-face: “We never just share files,” Tejada notes. They also try to keep their sessions as spontaneous as possible, in a never-ending quest to, as Watts puts it, “capture the freshness.” As a result, the 11 tracks on Don’t Let Get You Down “crackle with the energy of fresh ideas captured at the moment of inspiration,” the label explains.

Ahead of the release, the duo have shared the album’s title-track. With its brightly pulsing synths and whistling hook, it’s “the poppiest song we’ve ever done,” Watts says.

OUT NOW – The Bongo Hop is a brilliant Afro-Caribbean project forged between France and Colombia by trumpeter Etienne Sevet. He teamed up with producer Patchworks (Voilaaa, Taggy Matcher, Uptown Funk Empire) to create, through his Satingarona album series, a musical travel diary celebrating his 8 years as a Cali resident. Featuring new collaborators, like Parisian impromptu MC Greg Frite, vocalists Kephny Eliacin (Haiti), Cindy Pooch (Cameroon) and fresh young Algerian Italian talent Laurene Pierre-Magnani, the record is a multicultural musical ocean of a new album that came out in 2019 with chunks of Caribbean funk, desert rock and soulful afro vibes. On stage, The Bongo Hop is the equivalent of a tropical storm served with hot brass, infectious afro grooves, electric sounds, and heavenly vocals.

Iconic hip hop duo Atmosphere deliver new music with the single “Bde Maka Ska” and announces “The Wherever Tour – North America.” “Bde Maka Ska” marks the first new release since 2018’s acclaimed Mi Vida Local album, and comes with a fresh visual from director Tomas Aksamit. “The Wherever Tour – North America” is set to kick off in Atmosphere’s hometown of Minneapolis, MN on January 13 before launching across the U.S. and Canada for a slate of 30+ dates.

This announcement comes hot on the heels of a busy summer and fall for the flagship Rhymesayers duo–Atmosphere spent the past several months performing at a slew of festivals and in September headlined back-to-back sold out performances at the Mission Ballroom in Denver, CO. Atmosphere’s live performances are legendary, and with support from ferocious Twin Cities rapper The Lioness, labelmate Nikki Jean who just released the new Beautiful Prison project on Rhymesayers, and certified party-starter DJ Keezy, the tour promises to be a can’t-miss event. –> TOUR DATES HERE!

HAAi (aka Teneil Throssell) is an Australian-born, London-based DJ. Rising from the ashes of a disbanded psych band – for which she was vocalist and guitar player – HAAi was inspired by a chance trip to Berghain and started DJing by digging into a wealth of music on the psychedelic spectrum from around the globe. Her Coconut Beats parties in London’s Dalston neighborhood led to shows on Rinse FM and Worldwide FM, eventually resulting in a prestigious residency at the London club Phonox where she played Saturday nights for two years (up until autumn 2018).

Signing to Mute is a dream come true for HAAi. She first came to Mute’s attention via a remix for Daniel Avery, from there the rest is history. In addition to the new EP, she is readying an album which she says will have a more modern and contemporary sound.

The new EP, Systems Up, Windows Down, feels like an evolution from the previous releases on her own label. With a more mature, dancefloor focused sound full of heavy basslines, breaks and crisp percussive electronics, she has experimented more and pushed the boundaries of her production.