Metal Lungies

More abject balling from Chico, from his upcoming debut Homecoming.

S.L.O. is yet another permutation of Huntsville, Alabama rappers. It consists of ST 2 Lettaz, Bentley, S.L.A.S.H., and Kristmas. They take their sweet time on “Purple Onion,” slowly flaunting their international fan base over a haze of electric guitars. It’s almost a cliche to say it anymore, but HSV has the most interesting hip-hop scene around right now.

Download: S.L.O. – Purple Onion (produced by Caness)

via The FADER

Bonus: ST 2 Lettaz – Kiss The Sky (produced by Block Beattaz)

via Ballers Eve NYC

The makers of the two best rap albums of 2010 are making an EP together. Gangrene plus Marcberg equals (wait for it) Greneberg. Drops July 19. Real artists don’t play the supergroup waiting game. I’m looking at you, Center Edge Territory.

First non-music post! I found this great website today called Bless This Stuff that covers fashion, technology, vehicles, design and more. This bike addition caught my eye as a rider who has had issues trying to cart things back and forth if I’m caught without my backpack. Check it out, the writers for the site have a great eye for cool design and style.

Now that Freddie Gibbs has firmly established himself, it’s time for him to put his boys on. Meet the Str8 Slammin’ Click, who you may remember from the DJ Burn One-produced “O.G.” They buttress Freddie’s raging verse with tolerable to decent verses. It’s a dope track, but I don’t think we’re going to be yelling out “Str8 Slammin'” next year.

Download: Freddie Gibbs – Bad Attitude (ft. Str8 Slammin’ Click)

via Fake Shore Drive

Pitchfork Music Festival (July 15-17, 2011) is one of the things I look forward to every summer and this time around Metal Lungies gets to do it right. If you haven’t heard of Pitchfork, it’s a smaller (and more reasonably priced) music festival located in Chicago’s Grant Park that is known for showcasing both well known and emerging artists. The artists that I’m personally the most excited to see range from Hip Hop to Electronica to Folk so expect a pretty diverse review. Also, on top of being a great platform for experiencing new music, Pitchfork also houses the FLATSTOCK 30 poster show (in relation to the American Poster Institute) which I highly recommend checking out. Talented artists and design coalitions come together and showcase their work and you can see and buy some pretty amazing stuff. If you happen to be joining me at Pitchfork you should check out Delicious Design League’s booth where yours truly is interning this summer (a shameless plug, wUtEvR).

Be sure to check back on the blog next week for a final review and pictures. Also, assuming I have cell coverage (fingers crossed), you can follow me at @Meaghatron on Twitter for extra cool stuff.

Here are my picks (which are obviously the best, duh) but I’ll be stage hopping because Pitchfork is all about checking out artists you’ve never heard of:

F R I D A Y . J U L Y  1 5 . 2 0 1 1 – – – – –

RED STAGE

*3:30 EMA

5:30 Thurston Moore

7:20 Neko Case

BLUE STAGE

3:20 Gatekeeper

**4:30 tUnE-yArDs

*5:30 Curren$y

*6:30 Das Racist

*7:30 James Blake

GREEN STAGE

**4:35 Battles

6:25 Guided by Voices

*8:30 Animal Collective

S A T U R D A Y . J U L Y  1 6 . 2 0 1 1 – – – – –

RED STAGE

*1:45 Woods

*3:20 No Age

5:15 Destroyer

7:25 DJ Shadow

BLUE STAGE

1:00 Chrissy Murderbot Feat. MC Zulu

1:55 Sun Airway

2:50 G-Side

*3:45 Wild Nothing

4:45 Off!

*5:45 The Radio Dept.

*6:45 Twin Shadow

7:40 Zola Jesus

GREEN STAGE

1:00 Julianna Barwick

2:30 Cold Cave

*4:15 Gang Gang Dance

6:15 The Dismemberment Plan

*8:30 Fleet Foxes

S U N D A Y . J U L Y  1 7 . 2 0 1 1 – – – – –

RED STAGE

*1:45 Yuck

*3:20 OFWGKTA

5:15 Superchunk

*7:25 Cut Copy

BLUE STAGE

1:00 Darkstar

1:55 How to Dress Well

2:50 Twin Sister

3:45 Shabazz Palaces

4:45 Baths

5:45 Kylesa

*6:45 Toro y Moi

7:40 HEALTH

GREEN STAGE

1:00 The Fresh & Onlys

2:30 Kurt Vile and the Violators

*4:15 Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti

*6:15 Deerhunter

*8:30 TV on the Radio

White guys, blue collar raps, electric guitar licks. Apathy’s new single is a lot like Slaine’s cut with Statik Selektah from May. Honkey Kong drops August 23. Download the track below.

Bronsolino’s “Brunch” should be more disturbing. In the video, he meticulously disposes of a woman’s corpse, but there’s a strange levity to it. Maybe it’s the sunny weather or pristine lake where he dumps the body. Maybe it’s Bronson’s demeanor — the big doughy rapper is more Galifianakis than Lecter. Or maybe it’s just the easy-going soundtrack of casual raps and a cozy psych rock sample. Action Bronson is such a likeable murderer that it’s easy to laugh at his ‘whoop’ after the body hits the water.

It was my birthday, I was in Hawaii so I didn’t give a fuck. I was drinking Mai Tais and snorkeling, nigga. I put on that snorkeling gear and I instantly could swim. I was like, “What the fuck? I can breath underwater? Let’s go!” I was swimming with turtles, big ass eels, and stingrays and shit. Nigga, I was the black Jacques Cousteau that day, that’s for sure.

–Freddie Gibbs

“Double Barrel” is militant New York rap with a boom bap core of scratches and cries of “Mic check, mic checka.” An appearance by Method Man is a cause for celebration because of his scarcity nowadays. His last was an unfortunate Omarion collab.