Hello and welcome back to another jam-packed edition of Tuesdays With Lazerbeak! Sending so much light and love to you and yours right now. I hope you’re staying safe and healthy and semi-sane as we all keep pushing through this. Wanted to start things off this week by talking more about #DoomtreeTV!!! We’re now two episodes into our weekly variety show and it’s starting to feel like when I was first starting to make beats and Doomtree was just getting started. None of us really know what we’re doing but we’re learning from each other constantly to pull this thing off. It rules. Getting to see new creative sides of my crew after 20 years in the game is a total joy. I’ll spare you anymore of the feels this morning, but I highly recommend catching up on the first two episodes before this Friday’s #DoomtreeTV drop. Major shouts to our main presenter Century Link Fiber for helping us pull all this off, as well as this past week’s sponsors Coloring Books For A Cause and Twin City Tees. ENJOY!!!
We’ll be back this Friday at 8pm CT for the third episode of #DoomtreeTV. You can watch new and previous episodes all at doomtree.net/tv right HERE. Don’t forget to pop into the live chat on YouTube also to talk with members of the crew.
Insanely pumped to debut another new track from this upcoming Night Stone album. To catch you up to speed, Night Stone is the new collaborative project between myself and producer ICETEP (Sims, Air Credits, Four Fists, Dessa, Psalm One). We both love house music and decided to try making something in the vein of a lot of our favorite artists like Justice, Daft Punk, Cassius, Basement Jaxx, and Classixx. This third single is called “Echo Love” and features the absolutely stunning vocals of Minnesota’s own Lady Midnight. Lady Midnight put out my favorite album of 2019 and remains one of my all-time favorite artists out of this great state. She absolutely crushed this song. To me “Echo Love” is the centerpiece of the entire album and I’m so pleased to share it with you now. You can now listen to it wherever you stream or purchase digital music right HERE. Make sure to pass it around if you get a chance this week. Thank you!
Night Stone (LAZERBEAK + ICETEP) – “Echo Love” ft. Lady Midnight
The self-titled debut album from Night Stone officially comes out on May 15th via the mighty Doomtree Records, and you can order a very special limited-edition Deluxe Pre-Order package from the Doomtree Webstore right HERE. You’ll get a signed digipak CD, limited Night Stone t-shirt, enamel pin, sticker, and access to a private Q&A with ICETEP and myself around album release. Doooooooooooooooit.
And if you missed the first two drops, you can check out “Be Loved” and “Conquer Time” from the Night Stone album below. Huge shouts to MMYYKK and Sophia Eris for lacing them up with their awesome respective vocals.
Night Stone (LAZERBEAK + ICETEP) – “Be Loved” ft. MMYYKK
Night Stone (LAZERBEAK + ICETEP) – “Conquer Time” ft. Sophia Eris
It’s been only three weeks since Longshot and I released the music video for our Parades title track, and already we’re over 20,000 views! Enormous thanks to everyone sharing this incredibly moving and important visual. Directed, edited, and photographed by the great Mercies May and taken from his upcoming short film “O’Sorrows,” the video stars an amazing cast of Minneapolis community members who all donated their valuable time and energy to pull this thing off. Their displays of pain, emotion, and perseverance reflect the song’s subject matter as we equally mourn and celebrate the lives lost at the hands of police brutality and racial profiling. I want to say an earth-shattering thank you to Antonio Kelly Jr, Shay Webbie, Jew DreamFirstBorn, DaMarkus Ross-Webb, Sarae Boone, Lee Henry Jordan, Dante Jamar Pirtle, Gino Terrell, Rocethia Pearl, Anthony Boone, Iyana Kelly, Kash Bryant, Jamie Stumpf, Kenna Cottman, Alonzo Hester, Nekima Levy Pounds, Yari Bell, Charla Marie Bailey, and Tanaya E. Walker for being willing to be filmed in these vulnerable poses. A very special thanks to Tess, Benson and the whole Benson family, Longfellow Family Foods Market, AC Vader, Rissa Mae, Rachel Bryant, Angela Boone, Walter Chancellor Jr., Jason “So Supreme” Sanders, and James “Afropreacher” Porter as well. And thank you Mercies May for bringing this whole thing to life. Please pass this video around if you can and let’s continue to talk and listen and learn from one another. It’s the only way. LOVE.
Longshot and Lazerbeak – “Parades” (Directed by Mercies May)
Last week we released the TWENTIETH EPISODE of the Tuesdays With Lazerbeak podcast, and to celebrate we brought in one of my favorite people in the whole world: Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Big Red Machine, Volcano Choir, and a million other great bands. Justin, Jeyca, and I sat down back in January (pre-social distancing) and chopped it up for nearly two hours talking about Justin’s entire life and musical upbringing. One of my fav conversations ever. Check it out right HERE. And speaking of podcasts (SEGUE!!!!), tonight (4/28) Jeyca and I will be recording our next episode of the podcast live on Instagram if you want to pop in and check it out. We’ll be going live from my Instagram (@lazerbeak) at 8pm CT for a quarantine catch-up. See you there!
Alright, that does it for the news, so let’s get into the Bonus Jams! To keep with the podcast theme, I’m gonna kick things off with this excellent new song from Bon Iver. One of my fav things that Vernon has ever done.
Bon Iver – “PDILF”
I’m so geeked for the new album from Naeem (fka Spank Rock). Here’s the second song from his upcoming PEOPLE debut and it features both Swamp Dogg AND Justin Vernon. Plus the video is fantastic.
Naeem – “Simulation” ft. Swamp Dogg and Justin Vernon
There is no question in my mind that the new album from Toronto R&B duo dvsn will be my favorite album of 2020. It is absolutely masterful – a dream come true for an old R&B head such as myself. Check out “Between Us” below featuring an incredible guest verse from Snoh Aalegra.
dvsn – “Between Us” ft. Snoh Aalegra
Kehlani just announced that her new album will drop NEXT FRIDAY!!! OMG I’m so excited. Here’s the new single “Everybody Business” to tide us over while we wait.
Kehlani – “Everybody Business”
Absolutely loving this new Odyssey album from producer Amtrac. So great from front to back. Highly recommended zone out or cooking music.
Amtrac – “Between The Lines”
Can’t wait for this new album from Westermand to drop! Love this “Blue Comanche” song.
Westerman – “Blue Comanche”
Speaking of chill-out music, this new album from Imaginary Softwoods is fantastic if you’re looking for some really pretty and droney synth music to have on before you go to bed or while you’re working. Absolutely fantastic.
Imaginary Softwoods – “Coconut Serenade”
Loving this newish “King’s Rant” single from my guy Masego. He can’t miss!
Masego – “King’s Rant”
And I’m way into this new mixtape from UK rapper Headie One and producer Fred again…. Especially this “GANG” song.
Headie One x Fred again… – “GANG”
Ditto for this new one from Alabama rapper Chika. Excited to check out much more from her.
Chika – “Industry Games”
Now for a handful of excellent Minnesota Bonus Jams. Dua Saleh is back with an absolute smash in this song “umbrellar.” Shouts to the Franconia Sculpture Garden where the video was shot, and to Psymun and BRODER on the production. Loving it.
Dua Saleh – “umbrellar”
So excited about this new Are You There? album by Javier Santiago, Taylor Johnson, and Miguel Hurtado. 100% INCREDIBLE. Can’t recommend this more. Check out the title track below.
Javier Santiago, Miguel Hurtado, and Taylor Johnson – “Are You There?”
Tons of love to our great Chicago via Minneapolis friends Psalm One and Angel Davanport. They’ve just joined forces to form the group Big $ilky and the first mixtape is absolute HEAT. Get on it.
Psalm One & Angel Davanport – Big $ilky Vol. 1
Kara Laudon just released a new song c0-written with John Mark Nelson out in LA and I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever heard from her. Loving this vibe.
Kara Laudon – “Alone”
Our homie Sean Anonymous released the sweet video for his new single “ANTI/SOCIAL” produced by Big Cats. Check it out below.
Sean Anonymous – “ANTI/SOCIAL” (prod. by Big Cats!)
Nur-D has been staying extra busy during quarantine life. Aside from all the live streams, he also made an entire album while social distancing. Check out the full Trapped In My Room project below.
Nur-D – Trapped In My Room
Same goes for rapper OKnice! and producer Hex, who just released this nice new collaborative Social Distance EP created while holed up inside. Check out the whole thing below.
OKnice! x Hex – Social Distance EP
And lastly, here’s a new one from Royal Family Music Group artist Huncho Nemoh. He absolutely bodies this beat – bonus points for the Mr. & Mrs. Smith artwork haha. Excited to hear more.
Huncho Nemoh – “Better As Friends”
Alright, that does it for Bonus Jams! I gotta go run and make some more #CONTENT for Week 3 of #DoomtreeTV, but I’ll leave you with this new Night Stone jam in case you missed it up top. I hope you all have a wonderful week. If I don’t see you Friday night on YouTube, I’ll most definitely catch you back here next Tuesday for another round of TWL. Keep on hanging in there!
— Beak
Twitter: @_LAZERBEAK_
Instagram: @lazerbeak
