Video: TEEN “Electric”
Timing is a strange beast. As I was finishing up today’s post on TEEN’S Rumblette Mix Tape, somewhere in another part of the internet, Stereogum was releasing a video for the band’s new single “Electric.” The track is an early glimpse at their debut album In Limbo, due to drop on Carpark Records on August 28. The video, directed by Sam Fleischner, features the band in an homage to 60s-era psychedelic gogo-girls, popularly spoofed by Austin Powers’ “fembots.” Fleischner is the filmmaker behind Wah Do Dem, the award-winning, feature-length “slacker’s odyssey” starring Norah Jones. The video pairs well with TEEN’s hypnotic, hook-driven vocals on “Electric.” Even the video’s lighting mimics the prism-like design of In Limbo‘s cover art. Enjoy today’s TEEN two-fer, and grab a free download of the track below.
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Written by Rob Peoni
Fresh Tracks: TEEN “Rumblette Mix Tape”
One new project that has steadily seized a lion’s share of my attention in 2012 is Brooklyn’s TEEN. The all-female project led by former Here We Go Magic keyboardist Teeny Lieberson was the subject of a Band to Watch post earlier this summer. TEEN’s ambient, experimental brand of pop is one that I’ve been lapping up with increasing fervor with each subsequent taste in the run-up to the release of their August 28 debut LP In Limbo.
This month’s appetizer arrives in the form of The Rumblette Mix Tape, a six-track sample that finds TEEN affirming the age-old theory that opposites attract. The group mashes a mind-bending set of pairings that range from Pavement to Outkast. For me, the mix really gains traction on TEEN’s cover of 1990s R&B deep cut “Not Gonna” by 702. Floating echo-laden vocals above a minimalist Aphex Twin backbeat gives the track a seriousness and beauty that the original was never able to accomplish. More than anything, The Rumblette Mix Tape confirms what we may have already suspected from TEEN: these chicks know how to stack sounds, however disparate they may appear at the surface.
Stream and download a free copy of The Rumblette Mix Tape below, courtesy of Carpark Records. The covers prove an interesting contrast to the first singles from In Limbo. Check out TEEN’s video for the album’s first single “Electric,” which debuted today. Aside from the song’s spaced-out ending, “Electric” feels tight and focused by comparison.
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Written by Rob Peoni
Video: Schoolboy Q “There He Go”
Rapper Schoolboy Q has been everywhere this year since releasing his accomplished sophomore album Habits & Contradictions back in January. The range of styles he displayed on the album made it my favorite Black Hippy release yet. “There He Go” was the song that immediately drew me in and has become probably my most played song of the year by any artist. Q’s charismatic flow and energetic, pitch-shifting delivery makes the simple instrumental sound majestic and turns the song into a sing-along anthem.
The song captures the feeling of indulging in newfound fame in a bottle, both on a personal level and on a larger scale. It’s the type of song that gives you the feeling that Q could have a long-term commercially viable career, and probably a big reason why Interscope felt comfortable including Q and the entire Black Hippy crew in their deal with Kendrick Lamar. This new video for “There He Go” was a needed opportunity for me to formally introduce Schoolboy Q to the Thought on Tracks audience, as he’ll be coming to Indy with A$VP Rocky and Danny Brown on October 9th at the Egyptian Room. Pick up Habits & Contradictions.
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Written by John Bugbee
Thought on Tracks 