Off the upcoming Modern Vampires of the City. These sound good to me.

baths obsidian

Feels like almost three years since I last heard a new BATHS song. Makes sense. Been almost three years. Well Will Weisenfeld just dropped the first single off Obsidian (out May 28 on Anticon).”Miasma Sky” is electric dance-pop at its finest, reminiscent of the Chillwave that dominated 2009 with a little more 8-bit bent. This track is pure bliss. Perfect for the transition to Spring we’re all about to experience. BATHS always had a knack for constructing infectious melodies, but this is like a whole new level. I also have to point out how hard this beat swags. Going to dance to this real hard when I see him live. This song is way up there. If it’s any indication, so may be this Obsidian album.

GLASSPOPCORN: 35 Pounds of Vomit

By the age of 15, GLASSPOPCORN, the rapper, producer and conceptual net artist out of Arizona already had a MoMA PS1 performance, a couple 5s on his AP Exams, and “produced by LEX LUGER” on his resume. Pretty big beginnings for an artist once referred to as the Art World’s Justin Bieber. Now 16, and already reflective on his short career, GPC appears to be in the midst of a musical tidal shift. Gone are the uber aggressive trap beats of yesteryear. In their place, a dead-beated pop track, fun in a somber way, hot and progressive. The raps are abandoned on “35 Pounds of Vomit;” DAN DEACONesque pop harmonies take their place. If you sit and focus on the background noise, you might find yourself feeling like an old person. This is new. Kinda low and wild in the background, hot and sweaty in the foreground. And dragged out. We’re left with an ear-worm of a Winter-to-Spring dance cut, busting its way toward the Summer, produced by an artist you can be sure will continue to grow before your eyes. Literally.

[video] JILLIAN MAYER: MegaMega Upload

↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓ You may remember Jillian from “I Am Your Grandma” ↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓

EARL SWEATSHIRT: “Chum”

For real? Been a while since a buzzy hip hop act flooded the blogs without much of a reason to. EARL SWEATSHIRT been a media darling for a minute because of his personal issues and temporary exile to a school or treatment center or whatever. That’s never been too important to me. I could care less how you stumble. I just want that good music, so I won’t talk just to talk if you haven’t given me a real reason with your product. I have too many good friends to spend time worrying about what’s going on in your life, someone I’ll never meet. I just want to know about your music.

A lot of times the fascination actually IS that shallow, limited to an intrigue in the artist’s life, the great distraction in celebrity. Not this time. People be giving a shit about EARL’s private life because he’s the truth. And with “Chum” being his catchiest release to date, a sobering, gravelly flow about his childhood, fatherless, drunk in his teens, pissing on people’s lawns, looking to fuck and finding Tyler for guidance. And he’s got this N.O.R.E./AESOP ROCK thing about him, but more patient; more deliberate. EARL good at this game, laying his vocals steadily over a beautifully sparse, tumbling beat and piano line. This is a seriously refreshing track that 1: comes out of ODD FUTURE (they haven’t really blown me away much sry) and 2: drops on 2012, a year in rap that’s been dominated by CHIEF KEEF and his to the 10s guns-up 300 swag. This decidedly different, more subdued introspection is a welcome balance to where the genre is moving. And EARL just may actually deserve this role he’s earned as an integral piece going forward.