Welcome back to another big-time edition of Tuesdays With Lazerbeak! I hope you all had a sweet and relaxing Memorial Day Weekend. Summer is finally here in full force, which means it’s time to unveil this new Summer of Sound residency I’ve been working on in secret with Surly Brewing Company. We’re taking the whole Tuesdays With Lazerbeak thing a step further by announcing a weekly DJ night every Tuesday at the Surly Beer Hall featuring a super wide range of Minnesotan artists from all different genres and styles. CHECK. THIS. OUT.
SO PUMPED. It all kicks off next Tuesday, June 5th, with our very own Sims holding down the tunes. The whole idea for this night is to give artists a chance to cut loose and play whatever the hell they want, while giving listeners an opportunity to learn a little more about their favorite musicians’ favorite musicians. And of course awesome beer and food to top it all off. Very excited to blast into the first month with Sims, John Munson (Semisonic/New Standards), Channy Leaneagh (POLIÇA), and Sophia Eris (Lizzo/Go Radio). Huge shout to Copycats Media and Go Radio for sponsoring. See you there!
This past weekend was the 11th-annual Soundset Festival here in the Twin Cities, and it was yet another massive party. Much respect and thanks to everyone at Rhymesayers and Rose Presents for throwing such a great event every year, and for inviting Paper Tiger and myself to debut our hometown DJ/production set as Sick Trim. Thank you to everyone who came out early and braved the heat to check it out. So much fun. #FilaDad was definitely repping the brand hard, still trying to work out this #YearOfTheEndorsementDeal situation. I gotta give a huge shout to my man Benj MN for lacing me with these new Fila shoes right before the set. What a guy.
And here’s the new #FilaDad jacket I just copped as well. It’s officially a problem.
Speaking of summer heat and awesome shows (SEGUE!), I could not be more excited to head out next week on yet another Shredders mini-tour. This time around we’re headed south with our good friend Astronautalis once again in the main support slot. Jacksonville, Chapel Hill, Atlanta, and New Orleans are all on deck. Last weekend we decided to make some (utterly ridiculous) promo videos to help get the word out. They should have never invented the camera phone. ENJOY!
Hahahaha ooooooooh man. If you live in any of these wonderful cities or know anyone in the general vicinity, please help us get the word out and encourage folks to come through. Guaranteed to be an absolute blast, plus this will be the last regional mini-tour we’re planning on doing before getting started on the next Shredders album. Check out all the dates below and grab your tickets HERE.
Dessa is wrapping up her time in China this week and bringing her journey throughout the country with Arts Midwest, Aby Wolf, and Matthew Santos to a close. The squad has been holding workshops, discussions, and performances all throughout that great country, and I’m so excited to hear every single little detail about the trip once they land back home. For now though, here’s a smattering of pictures form this past week overseas – including what appears to be Matt Santos getting the most back rubs ever.
The unrelenting Chime World Tour continues on this June as Dessa and the full band head through the South and the East Coast. Check out the remaining dates below and grab those tickets right HERE before they sell out.
BAM! That does it for Doomtree-related news this week. Last week I announced a new Bonus Jams Spotify Playlist to go along with the Tuesdays With Lazerbeak weekly Bonus Jams section of this blog. I’ll be updating this playlist every week with the songs that I’ve been bumping as of late, so now you can take them with you wherever you go. Click right HERE to subscribe to the ever-evolving mix.
I’m gonna kick things off this week with an absolutely stunning short film/music video that is extremely near and dear to my hear. About 18 months ago I started managing the Minneapolis electro-pop group POLIÇA and came on board right as they were finishing the recording of a wildly collaborative album with European orchestral ensemble stargaze. Their group album Music For The Long Emergency came out this past February and it has been a serious labor of love getting it all out into the world. Our great friend and director Ryan “Kron” Thompson and his co-workers at the amazing Santa Fe-based arts collective Meow Wolf went out and shot in over a dozen wilderness locations across the country to create a beautiful short film for the 10-minute epic track “How Is This Happening.” Big time shouts to Billboard for premiering the visual last Thursday. I highly recommend taking a little time out of your day to watch this from front to back. So good!
POLIÇA + s t a r g a z e – “How Is This Happening” (directed by KRON and Meow Wolf)
Now to pick up the pace a little bit. I get a lot of heat for it, but I love this guy Super Duper Kyle. His new Light of Mine album just came out a few weeks ago and it’s the perfect mix of polished production, pop rap, and great melodies that I’m such a sucker for. And of course, any time you throw Kehlani on a track it’s going to be a smash. Check out the ridiculous video for “Playinwitme” below.
Kyle – “Playinwitme” (ft. Kehlani)
While we’re on this happy piano beat vibe, I gotta throw it back to this “Patty Cake” Kodak Black song that I hadn’t heard in awhile. I think it came on at the end of one of the Atlanta episodes and has been stuck in my head ever since.
Kodak Black – “Patty Cake”
Just checked out the new video from recent Shady Records signee Boogie and it’s an instant classic. Great visuals. Excited to check out more from this dude.
Boogie – “Self Destruction”
Alright, let’s go there. Drake dropped yet another incredibly executed diss track last Friday in his arsenal that already includes some phenomenal knockouts. Unfortunately Pusha-T had to let off some more not-so subliminals on his new record and I am in awe at how quickly and efficiently Drake put this thing to bed. I’ll spare you the ranting and fanboying, because I’m pretty sure you all already know how I feel about Drake. This just elevated him to Untouchable Legend God status though. Check out “Duppy Freestyle” below.
Drake – “Duppy Freestyle”
Last week I posted that great Childish Gambino song and video for “This Is America.” Over the weekend I got put on to this remake from Nigerian artist Falz, and it is the best. He basically remixes the entire song and video and calls it “This Is Nigeria.” I’m so into this idea. Really hoping this trend continues and we get a similar treatment for several other countries as well.
Falz – “This Is Nigeria”
Minneapolis duo Now, Now released their new album a few weeks back and it’s quickly becoming one of my favorites of 2018. They’ve been dropping massive hit singles for the past year and the build up did not disappoint. This is perfect windows-down summer-vacation-before-senior-year-of-highschool music and I love it. Check out “SGL” below.
Now, Now – “SGL”
Still haven’t gotten around to checking out the full new album from Twin Shadow, but this “SATURDAYS” song featuring HAIM is an absolute smash. Shouts to BJ Burton who mixed and helped produce a lot of this. This song crushes.
Twin Shadow – “SATURDAYS” (ft. HAIM)
Don’t know a whole lot about LAUREL yet, but this “Lovesick” song is great and highly recommended. Pumped to hear more.
LAUREL – “Lovesick”
To be honest, I’ve never gotten into Courtney Barnett as much as everybody else and her debut album didn’t really grab me too much. She’s just released a new one though and it’s definitely growing on me. Check out “City Looks Pretty” below.
Courtney Barnett – “City Looks Pretty”
Chromatics are definitely back and heating up with a new banger in this “Black Walls” song.
Chromatics – “Black Wall”
Love this new Jon Hopkins song. His albums are always a little too cerebral for me, but this “Everything Connected” track THUMPS.
Jon Hopkins – “Everything Connected”
Really feeling the new album from DJ Koze as well. Tons of great stuff on here. “Pick Up” is definitely a highlight.
DJ Koze – “Pick Up”
And lastly, here’s the debut single from Trevor Powers – who formerly went by the Youth Lagoon handle. This “Playwright” song is a crazy and welcomed departure and the video is one of my favs this year. So beautiful.
Trevor Powers – “Playwright”
Alright! That does it for this post. I hope you all have an awesome week. Don’t forget that the Lazerbeak and Longshot Parades album drops in just ten days. You can still pre-order a copy by clicking the banner below. Definitely stay tuned cuz we’ll be letting loose a second single later this week. See you next Tuesday!
— Beak
Twitter: @_LAZERBEAK_
Instagram: @lazerbeak
SUPPORT THIS BLOG LYFE. TUESDAYS WITH LAZERBEAK SHIRTS AND POSTERS AVAILABLE NOW!!!
