News
Rising Florida rapper Wahid shares his new single “ILLUMINATED”, taken from his upcoming EP THEY ALL GO MAD!. Following his recent EP feast, by ravens, THEY ALL GO MAD! continues with Wahid’s gift in merging classic MC traditions with forward-thinking cadences and melodies. In his double-time acrobatic flows, he’s distinctly post-Kendrick Lamar, and Lil Wayne – blessed with a novelist’s eye for minor detail and a virtuoso’s gift for ransacking hidden pockets of a beat. He can turn a warped post-Dilla instrumental to ashes with 16 bars and croon a plaintive falsetto wail on the hook that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Jeremih album.
Speaking on his new single "ILLUMINATED!," Wahid shares, "This song probably has my favorite hook on the entire project. I loved how my producer Vitamn approached/wrote it. This song is just fun to me. It’s also piercing, lyrically. The verse I wrote on this was the first ‘I’m about to prove a point’ moment for this project. And that point is… no one can really f**k with me.”
Earlier this year saw the release of his EP, feast, by ravens, which saw him garner praise from Dazed’s Only Tracks You Need To Hear, COLORSxSTUDIOS, CLASH Magazine’s Astral Realm and landed him in Complex-Pigeons and Planes’ highly respected Best New Artists feature for their October edition.
Montreal’s Jonah Yano recruits frequent collaborator Clairo for the final offering ahead of his forthcoming album out this Friday, with new single “Snowpath.” Having toured together and collaborated several times over the past few years, Jonah and Clairo embody the nature of their collaborative relationship on the song. The song details the warmth of time spent with friends, bringing listeners into the setting in which it was recorded - a snowed-in studio in rural Ontario with two sets of fresh footprints in the snow.
Jonah’s new album, Jonah Yano & The Heavy Loop, came together with intimate collaboration in mind, as a departure from his previous two albums - both of which were intimate portraits of his personal and family life. His third album, out on October 4, 2024, is one open to improvisation and melding the collective visions of each member of his band, which has been years in the making: Christopher Edmonson, Benjamin Maclean, Leighton Harrell, Felix Fox-Pappas and Raiden Louis. Jonah remains at the helm as the record’s conductor and central figure, but draws on the strengths and inspirations of each member of the band to craft an album that still dives into personal experience through its tender lyrics, but evolves musically as the band feeds off of one another in the fruitful exchange of ideas in the studio and lively bouts of improvisation.
While remaining quite elusive to genre or category, a few of Blasucci’s deepest influences can still be spotted throughout the musical and lyrical shape of his new album. New literary and musical discoveries seem to be constant for Sam, but shades of Leonard Cohen, Prince, and Bjork peak out behind this batch of songs as well as the writings of Ariana Reines, John O’Donohue, and Edgar Allen Poe.
On the newest single, "Flower," from the forthcoming LP Real Life Thing - Blasucci notes: "Inspired by the harmony of Italian-American vocal groups from the 70s as well as a Motown feel, Flower is one of the more existential songs on the album. There are shades of Marvin Gaye in its rhythm and Frankie Valli in its vocal arrangements. It was originally written in an entirely different rhythm and style, almost more of an oldies song, but it evolved over time and slowed itself down a bit to feel more laid back. It seemed more and more evident that slowness and space were important in this song so that all of its parts could fully stretch out. With the addition of Randal Fisher on tenor saxophone and Andres Renteria on Congas, it morphed into a fusion of soul, jazz, and pop."
Iguana Death Cult are back with a new 7" and some new US tour dates. The A side to the upcoming 7" is called Tiny Tears and as the band explains: "I cry everyday. I cry over people telling other people what they can and can’t do with their own bodies. I cry over some dude getting crowned king over the simple fact he was born into a certain family. I cry over the atrocities brought forth by capitalism on my thousand euro phone. Necessary evil? Perhaps. Grotesque nonetheless. But I cry the loudest, when it’s Monday morning and my train is delayed, and I spilled coffee all over my shirt. Again, I do nothing. Poor old me."
Check the US tour dates below and pre-order & stream the new release here.
Oct 10 - Alex's Bar - Long Beach, CA
Oct 12 - Alta Sea (Berth 60) - San Pedro, CA
Oct 15 - Hi-Dive - Denver, CO
Oct 16 - The Black Sheep - Colorado Springs, CO**
Oct 18 - Thalia Hall - Chicago, IL**
Oct 19 - Thalia Hall - Chicago, IL**
Oct 20 - Beachland Ballroom - Cleveland, OH**
Oct 21 - Spirit Hall - Pittsburgh, PA**
Oct 23 - Quarry House - Washington, DC
Oct 24 - Mercury Lounge - New York, NY
Oct 25 - Fuzzy Cactus - Richmond, VA
Oct 26 - Snug Harbor - Charlotte, NC
Oct 28 - Woodlawn Theatre - Birmingham, AL~
Oct 29 - The Boneyard - Chattanooga, TN~
Oct 30 - The EARL - Atlanta, GA~
Nov 1 - Dan Electro's - Houston, TX~
Nov 2 - Levitation - Austin, TX~
Nov 4 - Surfside 7 - Fort Collins, CO
Nov 5 - International Bar - Salt Lake City, UT
Nov 6 - The Shrine - Boise, ID
Nov 8 - Freakout Fest - Seattle, WA
Nov 9 - Lollipop Shoppe - Portland, OR
Nov 11 - Kilowatt - San Francisco, CA
** w/ OSEES
~ w/ Wine Lips
“[Wahid’s] unique reference points and experiences provide nuance and taste that sets him apart.” - Pigeons & Planes, Best New Artist
“A true original who learned the rules first, just so that he could break them.” - CLASH
Orlando-based rapper Wahid announces his new EP, THEY ALL GO MAD!, out October 29th, and shares the lead single “GENESIS!” Following his recent EP feast, by ravens, THEY ALL GO MAD! continues with Wahid’s gift in merging classic MC traditions with forward-thinking cadences and melodies. In his double-time acrobatic flows, he’s distinctly post-Kendrick Lamar, and Lil Wayne – blessed with a novelist’s eye for minor detail and a virtuoso’s gift for ransacking hidden pockets of a beat. He can turn a warped post-Dilla instrumental to ashes with 16 bars and croon a plaintive falsetto wail on the hook that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Jeremih album.
“The mission statement with this EP was/is… ‘It’s time to prove a point,’” Wahid explains. “The title of the EP has a double meaning. We feel like all of the songs are ‘Mad’ or massive. Very dope, and dynamic batch of records. The second meaning kinda coincides with my temperament at the time, as I was definitely mad or upset about a few things happening in my life at that moment. Feelings of betrayal, feelings of being overlooked. I just used it as fuel to create this project. ‘It became personal with me’, as the great Michael Jordan would say.”
Nothing was a given in Orlando, Florida, a city best culturally known for its theme parks and boy bands. Wahid had lived here since the age of five, when his parents relocated the family from the Bronx. Throughout his childhood and adolescence, there were no real local role models for success. He and his best friend would try to find open mics and shows, but they were few and far between. It wasn’t until Wahid attended Florida A&M in Tallahassee when he became fully immersed in a flourishing hip-hop community. And by the time he returned home in the middle years of the last decade, Orlando had finally incubated a diverse scene that encompassed rap, folk, electronic music and indie-slanting guitar rock.
But as soon as Wahid co-founded the nine-person collective See You Soon in 2020, his star really started to ascend. A national tour with the band 99 Neighbors and an imminent major label deal ostensibly had them on the precipice of massive success. But the usual “creative differences” soon brought about their dissolution. The ensuing depression was all-consuming. There were days where Wahid didn’t budge from bed, drawing the blinds closed, dealing with false recriminations, and numbing the wounds with bottle after bottle of liquor. Despite his best efforts to salvage the wreckage, none of his attempts yielded anything positive. But through the duress, he discovered his inner resilience and perseverance, which led to the creation of his March 2024 EP, feast, by ravens. “In regard to feast…, that project felt more like journal/diary entries of a tumultuous period in my life. It was a bit more experimental in its approach as well,” Wahid explains. “While this new project contains some of those same elements, I believe it is a lot more accessible, and potentially more enjoyable, sonically.”
“What I’m most excited about for this project, or rather, hopeful for, is the feedback and reception from it. Vitamn and I took our time to make sure the lyricism was dense yet catchy, and the same goes for the production. I’m hopeful fans of blue collar hip-hop dig it. We’re trying to bring back the blog era feel,” says Wahid. If Wahid has learned to glide with humbleness and a sense of nobility, now, there is no mistaking what lies behind the curtain. Beginning his second chapter, we now see the serious artist with his head aimed towards the heavens, aware of a higher calling yet all too aware of the snakes lurking in the grass. Grateful for survival, incapable of surprise, ready for what’s next.