The New Hotness Vol. 10

The New Hotness YouTube playlist is looking good these days...

1. Princess Nokia - "FLAVA" 2017  I'm very happy to link you to a review of this album on Mass Appeal written by Seattle's very own, Andrew Matson. He's been putting me onto good music since before I started this website eight years ago and it's great to see him progress. This album has been on repeat ever since I first hit play; Princess Nokia is Queen Bee of my world at this time... no question.




2. Mr. Lif + Akrobatik (The Perceptionists) - "Dirty Drumz" 2017  Mr. Lif speaks the truth, dirty ass drumz really are what it's all about; that said, health insurance would be tight.




3. Everything Is Recorded feat. Sampha, Ibeyi, Wiki, + Kamasi Washington - "Mountains Of Gold" 2017  Whoever picked this team knows what's up. Maybe it was Quincy Jones?




4. Leikeli47 - "2nd fiddle" 2017  Leikeli47 amazes me and I can't wait to see what she does next.




5. Liv.e - "FRANK" 2017  This artist is infuriatingly hard to google but there is a trail to follow via her Bandcamp page and Soundcloud pages. This album was released via the team at Dolfin Records (alongside Jon Bap, see below).




We were all wondering...

okay so my name is pronounced (LIV).e like i'm LIVING or like O(LIV)IA :-) not live like live music streaming 😜✨✨

— (liv).e (@oliveosun) September 12, 2017

6. Jon Bap - "You Got It" 2017  I love that the internet unearthed Jon Bap to me; see below the visuals for some recent Soundcloud action.







7. Ibeyi feat. Kamasi Washington - "Deathless" 2017  Wicked awesome special effects; if you've been paying attention, you know I love those.




8. Magna Carda - "Joccin'" 2017  Magna Carda is one of the last shows I booked at The Crocodile Back Bar, they were on time, had great manners, and put on a great performance. This will get them everywhere.




9. HTMLflowers feat. Banoffee - "Chrome Halo" 2017  Banoffee first appeared on my site back in February 2014 following the release of "Reign Down" but came back up on my radar lately when Andrew Matson (from the Princess Nokia article above) posted this video on Twitter. When I first researched Banoffee, I found out that in addition to being an Australian musician, Banoffee is also a dessert pie made of bananas... so that's tight.




10. King Krule - "Dum Surfer" 2017  The new album is due out October 13, here's what Fader has to say about it. Here's hoping I'll be able to catch one of the tour dates. Mike Ramos wrote an incredible piece about 6 Feet Beneath The Moon for The Stranger that documented how the album helped people get through difficult times in their lives; I remain very impressed by both the album and the article.




11.  Kali Uchis X Princess Nokia as interpreted by MassHendrix - "Corsa" 2017  Still can't figure out if these Mass Hendrix videos are endorsed by the musicians but the end result is awesome. Whatever is going on there, Mass Hendrix has built up quite a collection of YouTube videos and I respect that. #props




12. Ladi6 - "GURU" 2017  If you follow the directions in this video by the New Zealand artist, you'll likely be a more well-rounded and positive person. Give it a shot, are you happy now?




13. L'Orange - "The Ordinary Man" 2017  The full album will be released on October 27 but we are blessed with this Oddisee collaboration to tie us over until we hear the rest. If you haven't heard the Adult Swim released album he did with Mr. Lif, there's still time; that's one of the wicked awesome things about music.




14. Radiohead - "Lift" 2017  If I act on all my creative impulses, I'll eventually recreate this video  (and "Daydreaming") w/ @TheRingOfDOOM and laugh my way through the entire process. My love for music drives me to do such weird things these days and I'm more than okay with it.




15. Blockhead - "Funeral Balloons" 2017  I found out about this project by subscribing to the Phat Friend email list because hearing about music from the artist themselves is where it's at... and sometimes the only way.



Here's a video of the vinyl pressing...




16. Nekubi - "NEK048: creative native" 2017  A weird and wonderful beat tape for your consideration...

The New Hotness Vol. 8

1. SZA - "Go Gina" 2017  Queen SZA is killing the game right now. I love that she "conquered self doubt and took Ctrl" because I'm definitely tryna do that shit too. I recently found out that SZA and I share the same last name so I must be genetically predisposed to take Ctrl.(?)




2. DoNormaal - "Third Daughter" 2017  SEATTLE MUSIC  I can't say enough good things about this Earth Goddess. Her artistic journey is already the stuff of legends and she's just getting going. Here's hoping we get to see some visuals from this album very soon.




3. Ravyn Lenae feat. Appleby - "Free Room" 2016  I found Ravyn Lenae via the Spotify algorithms a few weeks ago, shout out to technology. I tried googling Appleby for 5 minutes but came up empty so I can't link you to their work; learn from this musician friends.




4. Mali Music - "Gonna Be Alright" 2017  No relation to the Mali Music side project by Damon Albarn that I mentioned in the 10th post on this website back in 2009. My respect for Mr. Albarn and his art runs deep but this guy is dope too. If you're freaking out about life again, listen to this on repeat and everything will be alright.




5. Kendrick Lamar - "ELEMENT" 2017  For a few weeks after hearing this song for the first time, I couldn't stop Weird Al-ing the lyrics and making all kinds of weird shit look sexy. Its normal I think. Full disclosure, I do it for the gram sometimes but I've never been to Compton.




6. Sudan Archives - "Come Meh Way" 2017  STONES THROW  Stringed instruments in Hip Hop are a do. Sudan Archives is wearing it better than most.




7. VanJess feat. Masego - "Touch The Floor" 2017  It's almost too poppy sweet for me but the ladies got skillz and are more than worthy of your attention.




8. Leikeli47 - "Miss Me" 2017  Lesson Learned: Never pre-judge a music video/artist by their mask and gold teeth. The details in this video really get me; she's got her own swag sauce and everything.




9. Everything Is Recorded feat. Sampha - "Close But Not Quite" 2017  Due to the mind-blowingly awesome art in this video, I added it to the New Hotness YouTube Playlist AND the Special Effects Playlist (Better than Netflix, seriously). It felt like this XL Recordings artist just popped out of nowhere but they were hiding on the internet this whole time.



10. Jehst - "44th Floor" 2017  UK HIP HOP  One of my biggest regrets is not trying my hardest to get into the Bristol New Year's show this past year to see Jehst etc. when I was just an hour away. Regrets are bullshit so I'm gonna have to take care of that issue ASAP.




11. Jesse Boykins III - "B4 The Night Is Thru" 2012  I just discovered this five year old song but it has remained so damn fresh that it still qualifies for The New Hotness cuz I make the rules here.



12. Onry Ozzborn - "Black Phillip" 2017  SEATTLE MUSIC  Onry gave us a present on July 17...




13. Action Bronson - "Let Me Breathe" 2017  Pretty sure we're all tryna live like Action Bronson right now. I'm literally typing this now so that one day soon I'll get paid to travel around the world with dope producers and videographers eating the best food in the universe. Dude in the still looks like a super dehydrated Dog The Bounty Hunter.



14. Jon Bap - "Queen Chimera Pt.1) 2017  Word on the street is that this is Jon Bap's tribute to New Jack Swing (Shoutout to the Don Teddy Riley); I fux with that.



If you wanna re-Bap, here's his What Now album from 2016.




15. Myke Bogan feat. Blossom - "Take The Nite Off" 2017  EYRST/PORTLAND It warms my caffeinated heart to see male rappers collaborate with female artists; some of the best songs in the history of the (my) universe are duets. Example: Method Man & Mary J Blige - "You're All I Need To Get By" (Bad Boy Remix) (of course, duh)



16. Little Dragon - "Strobe Light" 2017  It's been awhile since Little Dragon made me feel the way it did that first hit I took years ago of "Feather" but I'll keep chasing the Swedish dragons for life to feed my music addiction.



17. Toro Y Moi - "Boo Boo (Album Stream)" 2017  An album stream video like this masterpiece would launch a Soundcloud artist into another dimension. Try harder, it works. For real though, I've been fucking with Toro Y Moi since I heard he was into collecting random pieces of wood.