Browsing Tag

Alt Hip Hop

Lolo GB is On Flex in his latest alt-hip hop single.

Posted on 4 November 2021
https://youtu.be/m1zMQ-tPUi4

Southside Chicago rap artist, Lolo GB, dropped his atmospheric drill track, On Flex, on October 23rd; prepare your vibe-out playlists for an immersively arresting addition.

The short and trippy track grooves through an ambiently wavy production through the bass-heavy 808 hits and reverb-drenched notes under Lolo GB’s deadpan yet dynamic rap bars. The production may not be the cleanest or the most robust, but that works in Lolo GB’s favour with the catharsis that this firecracker of an alt-hip hop can deliver as it works through its spacey lo-fi grooves.

On Flex is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Pan!c Pete delivers absorbing discord in his latest industrial hip hop track, Metallic Taste.

Posted on 4 November 2021

Any fans of Bob Vylan and Saul Williams will want to cut their teeth on Pan!c Pete’s electro-industrial hip hop sonic palette through his latest instrumental mix, Metallic Taste.

With gothy darkwave synth-carved melodies bringing bright polyphonic texture to the harsh and caustic bass lines and solid rattle of glitchy beats, Metallic Taste is an energetically dystopic track like no other. You’re left hooked right the way through the indulgently caustic single; it’s impossible not to be left absorbed by the discord in the fiery release.

We can’t wait to hear what Pan!c Pete serves up from the deep end of the south next.

Metallic Taste is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Get high with Adubs’ debut alt-hip hop album, The Come Up.

Posted on 3 November 2021

After his successful Halloween debut, the alt hip-hop luminary Adubs has dropped his dynamic debut album, The Come Up. In the opening track, Any Means, his relentlessly enigmatic rap bars groove to dark drill beats. The release takes a melancholic turn with track two, Baddie, which delivers pure spoken-word indie hip hop poetry over mellow RnB melodies.

Track three, featuring Gutta, brings the tempo back up and infuses hard-hitting electronica elements – showing yet another facet to Adubs’ endless stream of ingenuity that flows right through the album. The Come Up reaches visceral heights in the confrontationally direct track, I Promise, which exhibits the best of Adubs’ dynamic flow and ability to squeeze new meanings from words in a time when they can feel so meaningless.

The Come Up is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Vincent Tesoro extends salvation in his alt-hip hop track, Fix Me.

Posted on 2 November 2021

Vincent Tesoro has released his indie emo alt-hip hop debut album, Shooting Stars & Broken Halos, which deserves to be as revered as Lil Peep’s legacy of a back catalogue for the way it effortlessly obliterates genre by putting cutting emotion to the forefront. Outliers or anyone that has been down beaten and found the light from the gutter will be sucked in by the standout single, Fix Me.

Fix Me is a hooky call for salvation that comes with sniping Blink 182-style pop-punk tendencies, contemporary hip hop beats and vocals that compel you to verse the lyrics before you have even memorised them.

Along with his ability to bring resonant panache to hip hop, Vincent Tesoro is also a mental health advocate and a certified substance abuse counsellor after years of recovery between his overdose in 2014. It all comes together in his compassionate wisdom-packed tracks that we can’t wait to hear more of.

Fix Me is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Sham Parker has made his bruisingly confessional debut with his alt-trap track, XIX.

Posted on 28 October 2021

“Someone told me I wouldn’t reach 19, I’m trying to guess who it was, I guess it was probably me” is potentially the hardest hitting opening lyric in hip hop history. Even more impressively, it features in the debut single, XIX, by London-based alternative artist Sham Parker.

Despite the confessional candour that runs through thoughts that most would be too afraid to proclaim, there’s a sense of warmth and nihilist playfulness that instantly leaves you endeared. Sham Parker deserves to blow up for the same reason Lil Peep did; XIX exposes you to the artist’s demons as much as his sweet, creative sound that we hope to hear plenty more of.

You can stream the alt trap track for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

PARTYNXISE has released his pitch-black Avant Garde trap track, iREMEMBERu.

Posted on 26 October 2021

After making his 2021 debut, alt independent artist, PARTYNXISE, has continued to douse the airwaves with ethereal experimentalism; his latest single, iREMEMBERu, is a psychedelically dark feat of avant-garde trap pop that uses its extended prelude to set a chillingly sombre tone.

After the phantasmal whispers and droning ambient electronica, iREMEMBERu breaks into a glitchy feat of polyphonic trip-hop filled with modern trap textures and visceral emotion as PARTYNXISE runs through pained memories. Breakups can take us to pretty dark places, but the pitch-black atmosphere in iREMEBERu is matchless.

iREMEMBERu is available to stream on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Indie alt-rock meets hip hop in TREELOCK’s latest single, Hide Your Feelings.

Posted on 23 October 2021

As more rap artists become bolder and increasingly more honest in their lyrics, Maine, US-hailing alt-hip hop artist, TREELOCK, switched the narrative by serving a reminder of the dangers of candour with his latest single, Hide Your Feelings.

Any fans of Blue October will instantly find themselves drawn in by the melancholic indie instrumentals and raw vocals. As the single progresses, discordance starts to amass in the production until the track reaches its evocative peak and TREELOCK breaks into guttural alt-rock screams and lyrically, you couldn’t ask for more urban poetry with cutting lines such as “I feel like I don’t feel”.

Hide Your Feelings is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Baby Tregz delivers emotionally vulnerable aggression in his standout single, The A.

Posted on 19 October 2021

‘The A’ is the standout new wave trap track from the up and coming Lewisville, Texas-residing rapper Baby Tregz’s debut mixtape, PAIN B4 Love. His volatile rap bars mixed with the trippy electronica beats and ethereal female vocal samples pull together to offer an arresting amount of artistic distinction.

In a world full of assimilators, Baby Tregz was bold enough to establish himself as an urban alchemist straight off the bat. The A gives you plenty of layers to get lost in as the fiery yet emotionally vulnerable hit unfolds. We can’t wait to hear what he has in the pipeline after this unforgettable release.

The A was officially released on September 7th; you can check it out for yourselves by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Juice Patrol squeezed plenty of extra soul into his latest single, Timeline.

Posted on 2 October 2021

Before the grips of winter sink their teeth, get a taste of the Caribbean sun in the up and coming alt hip hop artist Juice Patrol’s third single, Timeline. The ambient grind and the hazy layers construct a mellifluously soothing platform for Juice Patrol’s soft, gentle and endlessly magnetic vocals to dominate as they work through the spoken word urban poetry.

The Ugandan-based solo artist used his fusionist genre and border-spanning sound to prove that soul can spark from the most emotionally fraught experiences. Timeline was inspired by a revolving door relationship and our tendency to turn a blind eye to red flags when affection and history are involved. Instead of giving it all in black and white, Juice Patrol added to the conversation in warm tones and kaleidoscopic colour.

With the depth and wit in the lyrics, Timeline makes you realise just how little nuance there is when it comes to lyrical introspection on toxic relationships. As for the chillwave vibe, you couldn’t ask for a sweeter vibe-out playlist staple.

Timeline is now available to stream on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

MoonLee brings the funk in his hip hop track, Lights Camera Action.

Posted on 28 September 2021

Any artist taking inspiration from the vastness of the universe is worth taking a chance on; we’re all too glad that we delved into MoonLee’s standout single, Lights Camera Action, from his latest album Moonrise.

With his intellectual approach to hip hop that makes reclamations from the darkness to bring vibrance, Lights Camera Action is as infectious as a dance hit as it is soulful. It is all too easy to quote good vibe tropes in lyrics but you immediately get the sense that the single came from an infinitely more mindful place that acknowledges the darkness before defiantly resisting it with a euphoric track that brings the soul around the romantically inclined sticky-sweet sentiment.

Lights Camera Action is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast