OH. MAN. Welcome back to one of theeee most jam-packed Tuesdays With Lazerbeak this world has ever seen. I just got back last night from the fourth run of this Shredders tour and there is a whole slew of stuff we need to talk about. First off, last week we released a brand new Dessa single off of her upcoming Chime album that drops on February 23rd (SO SOON!). It’s called “5 out of 6” and it is an absolute heat rock. The track was produced by winning combination of Chance Lewis, Andy Thompson, Dessa, and myself, and it is without dobut one of my favorite Dessa songs of all time. Check it out below and make sure to spread the word far and wide if you get a second this week.
Dessa – “5 out of 6” (produced by Chance Lewis, Lazerbeak, Andy Thompson, and Dessa)
To celebrate the release of the song, we’ve decided to create a lyric video for the track sourced solely from Team The Best Team. That’s right, it’s a good old-fashioned Doomtree arts and crafts project. Here’s all the details from Dessa herself.
ARTS (AND RAP) AND CRAFTS
Are you good at cross-stitch? Chalk art? Calligraphy? Writing in frosting?
We’re aiming to make a lyric video for the song “5 out of 6” with your images. If you’d like to participate, here’s the plan:
1. Pick a line or two from the lyrics. (You can find those HERE)
2. Render that line in your medium of choice and take a hi-res, well-lit photo of your handwork.
3. Submit the photo to [email protected], using the lyric as the subject line.
4. Post the pic to the social media platform of your choice (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest—or LinkedIn for you professional types) with the hashtag #5OutOf6 and tag @dessa (IG) or @dessadarling (Twitter/Facebook) or @dessadoomtree (Pinterest).
We’ll pull from these images to create the lyric video for the song. To be considered for inclusion, please submit and post your work by midnight Central Time on February 21st.
Ready, set, QUILT.
Shouts to our friend Sarah Renee for legitimately EMBROIDERING the above lyrics and kicking the submission process off with a bang. Now’s a good of time as any to remind you that Chime will be released into the world in less than two weeks! Things at the Doomtree Webstore are kicking into high gear in order to start fulfilling all of the pre-orders. If you’re still on the fence, you’ve got until the end of the day this Friday (2/16) to receive the guaranteed early shipping next week. Check out all the details on the Standard and Deluxe pre-order options right HERE and thanks to everyone whose already grabbed one for all of your early support with this project.
To prove this album is actually real and officially in our hands, here’s Dessa holding up one of the limited autographed copies that every Deluxe Pre-Order will receive.
And here’s a pic of the back of Sims’ full van after I picked these bad boys up from Copycats last week. A small portion of all pre-orders will also be going to help pay my future chiropractic bills.
Security guard Becky making sure no bootleggers get to this thing before street date.
Spines on spines on spines.
And here’s the stack of one-of-a-kind Polaroids that will be going out to the 50 Collectors Edition pre-orderers.
Once Chime has made its way out into the world Dessa will begin embarking on a major wordwide tour that will see her on the road for most of 2018. We’ve announced the initial Midwest and European dates below. Check all the details out and grab your tickets right HERE. It’s gonna be a crazy one.
If that weren’t enough, yesterday the New York Times announced the details of Dessa’s first-ever hardcover book releasing September 18th from Penguin imprint Dutton Books. The book is a collection of Dessa’s personal essays on music, travel, science, and love. You can pre-order a physical copy from Barnes and Noble right HERE.
In Shredders news, we just completed our first-ever North American tour behind our debut album Dangerous Jumps. I can’t thank everybody enough for coming out in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Madison, Duluth, St. Paul, Columbus, Toronto, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Boston, Philly, NYC, and DC over the last few months. That was such a complete and total blast. P.O.S, Sims, Paper Tiger, and I had the time of our lives and I can’t wait to announce more shows later this year. Here’s a few ridiculous shots from the last few weeks out on the road, along with a video of our new pre-show ritual at the bottom. It’s all coming together.
And here’s the latest episode of Shredders’ mini-podcast “Does It Shred?”, where the four of us discuss whatever the hell we want and whether or not that particular thing actually shreds. This week: Luther Vandross. You already know where this one is gonna end up. As always, big time shouts to Adam Dunn for putting these together in all of their 360 VR glory. Click and drag on the video below to navigate through the room while we break things down.
SHREDDERS – “Does It Shred?” Season 2 Episode 4
And don’t forget about this crazy Shredders Remix Contest we’ve got going on. Submissions are already coming in and sounding awesome. You’ve got until March 2nd to turn yours in before we make everything public and begin the voting process. Check out all the acapellas, instrumentals, and contest details right HERE.
In new music news, last Friday Sims dropped a brand new collabo track with the bonkers Minneapolis production collective known as Ultra Suede, consisting of the homies Mark McGee, Aaron Baum, Keith Millions, and DJ Fundo. The song is called “CALDERA” and it is a certified thumper. Check it out below. BARS.
Ultra Suede ft. Sims – “CALDERA”
And our very own Paper Tiger contributed a slamming remix to the new expanded WHY? album. Check out “January February March / One Mississippi” below.
WHY? – “January February March / One Mississippi” (Paper Tiger Remix)
Holy god. Alright, that does it for this week’s Doomtree-related news. It’s been a hot minute since I got to hit you with some Bonus Jams, so here’s what I’ve been bumping as of late. The new collaborative album from POLIÇA + stargaze is out THIS FRIDAY (2/16), and the groups have just released an incredible music video for single “Agree” courtesy of awesome friend and visionary director Maria Juranic. Full disclosure: I manage POLIÇA and this musical project has consumed the last 16 months of all of our lives. So excited to see it get to this point. You can pre-order the album HERE and check out all the upcoming tour dates HERE.
POLIÇA + s t a r g a z e – “Agree” (directed by Maria Juranic)
The homie Longshot just released a great one-off single all about and all for his grandmother. It was produced by Afrokeys and all Bandcamp proceeds from the song will go to help Shot’s granny raise money in order to keep her family house. Check out the track below and donate HERE.
Longshot – “Grandma” (produced by Afrokeys)
One of my favorite Minneapolis artists, Dizzy Fae, just dropped her debut project recently and it is soooooo gooooood. For real, this is an absolute must listen. Shouts to Su Na and Psymun on the crazy production. So pumped for Dizzy. One of the best out right now. Highly recommended.
Dizzy Fae – Free Form
Speaking of my favorite artists (SEGUE STREAK!), the dudes in ZULUZULUU recently announced a name change to Astralblak and dropped this new heater on us. Check out “Dues” below. Excited for this new part of the journey and can’t wait to hear and see what they do next.
Astralblak – “Dues”
The trio of J. Plaza, Daddy Dinero, and Angelo Bombay just dropped their debut album under the crew name FREEWIFI. I haven’t gotten to check out the full project yet, but all the singles have been straight flames. Pumped to get into it this week.
FREEWIFI – Connected
One of my favorite musical discoveries over the last few years has been Nigeria’s own Burna Boy. Fell in love with his last EP and now he’s got a brand new full-length that he just released last week. Can’t wait to dive in. Check out the whole thing below.
Burna Boy – Outside
Kehlani has been on fire for the last two years and she keeps dropping new hits at a steady pace (not to mention she absolutely destroyed Fashion Week in NYC last week). Check out “Again” below.
Kehlani – “Again”
If you’ve ever read this blog before, you’re well aware of my next level Drake fandom. This guy just doesn’t miss. Here’s his new track with recent OVO Sound signee Blocboy JP called “Look Alive.” Another anthem. So tight.
Blocboy JP ft. Drake – “Look Alive”
Huge shouts to Astronautalis for not only being an incredible joy to tour with these past few months, but also putting me up on electronic producer Stephan Bodzin. This Powers of Ten album has rocked my whole entire world. Can’t recommend it enough.
Stephan Bodzin – Powers of Ten
Also getting way into Berlin-based producer and DJ Dustin Zahn. This Monoliths album totally crushes.
Dustin Zahn – Monoliths
Multi-instrumentalist and jack of all trades BOOTS just released a new EP today to coincide with his 31st birthday. This thing covers so much ground in just 20 minutes. Plus there’s a completely nutzo feature from Run The Jewels. Check the whole project out below.
BOOTS – #DARKDAZE
And lastly, I’ll leave you with some indie rock from the Godfather himself. I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about the possibility of a new Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks album in 2018. Check out teaser single “Middle America” below. The best.
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – “Middle America”
BOOOOM! That does it for Bonus Jams. I’ll leave you with a couple Bonus Baby Pics since it’s been a little while since I reported on the collective insanity that is Luther, Cameron, and Penelope Mader. Penny figured out how to use Snapchat filters and it’s officially a wrap.
Here she is in a more normal setting hard at work plugging the new Dessa album, along with her new line of boutique bear paper plates.
#DIVA.
Lou and Cam are finally best friends and nothing has ever made me so happy. Here they are constructing a house for their various My Little Ponies (Lou) and Cars 3 figurines (Cam).
And here they are hard at work washing the windows. God bless them.
Cam getting buck with the art supplies.
Lou rocking his patented Lunch Lady / Terrifying Toupee look.
And Penny doing lord knows what.
Not really sure what to tell you about this last photo. Safe to say we’re probably not gonna retire off any of these little dummies’ Olympic abilities. Still love them though. For now at least.
Alright! That wraps up possibly the longest Tuesdays With Lazerbeak of all time. If you made it this far, I applaud your stamina. I hope you all have an absolutely wonderful week and I’ll see you next Tuesday!
— Beak
Twitter: @_LAZERBEAK_
Instagram: @lazerbeak
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