Welcome back to a brand new edition of Tuesdays With Lazerbeak! Man oh man, there’s been a lot going on around Doomtree HQ as of late. As you may have heard via ESPN and other sports authorities, Dessa sang the Star Spangled Banner at the Minnesota Twins home opener against the Seattle Mariners last Thursday and it was something else. The game was nearly cancelled due to snowstorms throughout the week and temps in the 30s, but Minnesotans are resilient and we just shoveled that stuff up and threw on an extra layer. Dessa absolutely crushed her performance, and completely held her composure throughout the final seconds of the song when four fighter jets flew overhead and Challenger the Bald Eagle descended from center field, missed his landing cure, and nearly blinded the Mariners’ pitcher standing in left field. I’ve never witnessed this level of nailbiting tension, drama, and triumph at a baseball game in my entire life. Check out the full 360 video of the entire thing below courtesy of MPR.
Dessa popped up all over the place last week as she continues her Chime World Tour and press takeover dominance. Here’s a really insightful interview with Billboard Magazine’s Soul Sisters podcast.
Dessa – Billboard Soul Sisters Interview
And a great hang with Jesse Menendez of Vocalo, one of my favorite interviewers in the game.
Dessa – Vocalo Interview
And here’s a live performance of “Half of You” from her recent appearance on Chris Thile’s Live From Here show (formerly Prairie Home Companion). You can listen to the entire performance right HERE.
Dessa – Live From Here “Half of You” Performance
Now for a few more tour recap videos from Detroit and Rochester, courtesy of video guy extraordinaire Keegan Burckhard.
Dessa capped off the weekend with a monstrously epic sold-out homecoming show at Minneapolis’ legendary First Avenue venue. All I can say is, Dessa and the band are already insanely tour tight and not to be missed at any cost. These new songs sound so crushing live. Check out the full list of currently announced dates and make sure to grab your tickets right HERE before they sell out. She’ll be in Europe and the UK for the next two weeks before picking things up back home on the West Coast. Do it!
And in case you missed it last week, we’re now offering Dessa’s debut hardcover memoir My Own Devices for pre-order on the Doomtree Webstore. That’s the beautiful cover below. Grab a standard or deluxe copy HERE with all sorts of cool extras.
Speaking of cool tours (SEGUE!!!), P.O.S, Sims, Paper Tiger, and myself will be heading down to sunny Texas next weekend for a quick three-day Shredders stand in that fine state. We’ll be in Denton on 4/20 (bro) for Thin Line Fest, San Antonio at Paper Tiger on 4/21, and Austin at Barracuda on 4/22. Grab your tickets HERE and come out and party with us!
We also made a Shredders curated Spotify playlist for this Texas run with all the latest songs that each of us have been feeling. See if you can guess which 4-5 song chunk is whose and enjoy! Hint: I’m the only one who obsessively listens to Kacey Musgraves.
We’ve also put up some limited quantities of this latest Shredders tour merch up on the Doomtree Webstore. You can grab the white Skate shirt or the black Dad Hat for a limited time right HERE, fresh for the summer.
Now for a little shine time on the Shredders rhythm section. Paper Tiger and I will be performing at Soundset on May 27th under our production/DJ duo alias Sick Trim. It’s our first hometown show ever and should be a total blast. The lineup this year is stacked beyond belief (KAMAIYAH!!!), and I can’t wait to crank out some devastating heat knockers in the sun. Grab your tickets for the festival right HERE.
Tomorrow night (Wed 4/11), the Timberwolves will be fighting the battle of their lives trying to get into the NBA playoffs for the first time in 14 years. It all comes down to this. Win and get in. Our very own P.O.S will be on hand to cheer on the Wolves and get the crowd amped up for the halftime performance. As a life long Wolves fan I’m already sick to my stomach thinking about this game, but knowing Stef will be there running around on the court makes me feel supremely confident in our chances. See you there!
And speaking of P.O.S (double segue!), he’s just contributed a guest verse to the new Bones & Beeker remix EP. Check out the “Each Time I Die” re-edit below, one of my favs off their self-titled debut, now complete with some fire hot bars from P.O.S.
Bones & Beeker – “Each Time I Die” (Re-Edit) ft. P.O.S
In final Doomtree-related news, I’ve teamed up with rap station Go 95.3 and a slew of other Twin Cities artists to revive the lost classic video game Def Jam Vendetta (think Street Fighter 2 but with early 2000’s Def Jam artists). Last Friday I took on St. Paul’s finest Maria Isa in the first round. Side note: I haven’t played a console video game since Goldeneye in 11th grade. Check out the video recap of our match right HERE. I had to take it back and rep Joe Budden and Jersey City.
I barely got through, but I’m happy to say I’ll be moving onto the semi-finals in a few weeks. And just so you know it’s still all love, here’s a picture of me and Maria (and Robyn Robinson!) at last week’s #AllAreWelcomeBeer ACLU benefit.
OK! Time for some sweet Bonus Jams. This new Cardi B Invasion of Privacy album is PHENOMENAL. It has been such a joyous experience watching her insane rise to the top over the past year, and she couldn’t have knocked this one out of the park any harder. Reminds me of when 50 Cent dropped Get Rich Or Die Trying. Hit after hit after hit. Highly recommended. Here’s standout “I Like It” below for a taste.
Cardi B – “I Like It” ft. Bad Bunny and J Balvin
As if my Drake allegiance couldn’t get any more out of hand, he went ahead and dropped this “Nice For What” track complete with Lauryn Hill samples and everything. Greatest of all time. Dead or alive. He just can’t miss.
Drake – “Nice For What”
I recently got put up on British house artist Ten Ven and I’m all in. Loving the absolute hell out of this “Turn It Up” track. Serious song of the summer contender right here.
Ten Ven – “Turn It Up”
Lophiile is one of my favorite up and coming producers, and he’s been on a tear lately with his remix treatments. This Bruno Major flip is an absolute beast. Check it out below.
Bruno Major – “Cold Blood” (Lophiile Remix)
Getting very excited for the upcoming Sabrina Claudio album. This new single with Khalid is suuuuuper chill and atmospheric in the best way. Reminds me a bit of a modern day Sade.
Sabrina Claudio – “Don’t Let Me Down” ft. Khalid
Now for some Local Bonus Jams. Roma di Luna are back with a brand new album after a long hiatus! The group, fronted by Poliça’s Channy Leaneagh and Kill The Vultures’ Alexei Casselle, just released an excellent full-length called We Were Made To Forgive (great album title) and you can grab a copy right HERE. Check out this beautifully simple video for the closing Roy Orbison cover “Crying” below.
Roma di Luna – “Crying”
Izell Pyramid is back with another SMASH. This “Bible” track is my favorite thing I’ve heard from them yet. V highly recommended. Keep it coming!
Izell Pyramid – “Bible”
Loving this new song and video from Javier Santiago and astralblak’s Proper-T. Such a feel good Spring vibe to this one.
Javier Santiago – “Yesterday” ft. Proper-T
Allan Kingdom has been popping up all over the place with new songs as of late. This “Life” track is a super feel-good anthem and one of my favorite things he’s ever put out. Excited to hear more.
Allan Kingdom – “Life”
And lastly, here’s a brand new Psymun remix of Bobby Raps “BeLikeThat” track. I love this song. Simple as that.
Bobby Raps – “BeLikeThat” (Psymun Remix)
OK! That does it for this post. I hope you all have a glorious week rooting the Timberwolves onto the NBA Playoffs. I’ll see you back here next Tuesday for another round of TWL!
— Beak
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