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Es-K - "TAPEHEADED"
Posted by Justin Boland on Apr 30, 2023 | 0 Comments
I’ve been calling Vermont artist Es-K a “superproducer” in print for years now. Hyperbole is a proud part of music journalism, of course, but I do think I’m just offering an objective description of where he’s at. Like so many terms of trade, producer has been shattered into a kaleidoscope of different meanings and contexts.
Es-K’s diverse skillsets and immense accomplishments encompass all of them.
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El Michels Affair x Black Thought - "Glorious Game"
Posted by Justin Boland on Apr 26, 2023 | 0 Comments
This project was not at all what I expected, and better for it. As much as I wanted a huge, ornate monolith of full-band library music tribute funk, what I needed was a weird, idiosyncratic & unapologetic art rap project from one of the single greatest rappers breathing. This is very much that.
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August Fanon - "Possibilities Of The Humble"
Posted by Justin Boland on Apr 16, 2023 | 0 Comments
August Fanon is something special. The man is perhaps best known as an occasional contributor of standout beats to the Backwoodz Studioz family; he’s surely stolen the show on an Armand Hammer LP or three. But he is an absolutely shamanic force of nature in his own right, amassing a catalog of collaborations and beat tapes that, to my redneck ears, place him quite comfortably in the top tier. One of the best doing it, in other words.
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Chuck N Lock - "SEE XL"
Posted by Justin Boland on Apr 15, 2023 | 0 Comments
I’ve been digging everything I’ve heard from Delaware duo Chuck N Lock. Their taste in beats is both exemplary & filthy, and they construct some meticulous bars to match. Their latest release, “SEE XL,” feels like a breakthrough. They just work too hard to stay underground for much longer, and this nine song set is pure murder.
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"This is Probably a Mistake, But"
Posted by Justin Boland on Apr 14, 2023 | 0 Comments
Audible Hype began as just another music marketing blog, but it evolved into a much deeper dive. Along the way, it documented a lot of independent hip hop history, too.
It’s about time to bring it all back.
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Jason Griff & Alaska - "Pop Songs for the Apocalypse"
Posted by Justin Boland on Apr 14, 2023 | 0 Comments
Jason Griff is a Chicago producer who has been building an impressive catalog and Alaska is a rap legend who keeps getting better with age. “Pop Songs for the Apocalypse” is, impossibly, pretty much exactly what it sounds like: an urgent blast of bonkers ideas, all delivered at unsafe speeds. All of which is to say, pretty fuckin’ great, bud.
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2014: Improving Your Live Show
Posted by Justin Boland on Oct 07, 2014 | 0 Comments
In the course of re-booting Audible Hype, I’ve been asking everyone I know what they want to read about. It’s been an encouraging experiment: finally, nobody wants to know “How to Get Signed.” The most common question, by far, went a little something like “How can I make money playing shows?”
Well, there’s a lot of strategic and business details involved there, but let’s address the most important part first: you need to play really, really good shows. Rather than waste your time with my idiot advice, I’ve enlisted assistance from three seasoned professionals: Blueprint, Curly Castro and PremRock. This is science, dig it.
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Write Brothers: Strategy & Preparation
Posted by Justin Boland on Oct 05, 2014 | 0 Comments
This interview is a fortunate convergence: Write Brothers is an act that is just making the transition from the local to national level; they’re both interested in the mundane details of their ambitious careers; and best of all, I know them well enough to ask obnoxiously blunt questions.
Write Brothers are a Brooklyn - Los Angeles duo who just released a damn impressive debut project, Take Flight. During the preparation for that album, I got to talk shop with producer Dante DaVinci and rapper Learic about the process and planning behind a landmark in both of their careers.
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"Spend, Spend, Spend."
Posted by Zilla Rocca on Oct 04, 2014 | 0 Comments
Stop talking and start spending money.
We stopped paying for studio time, stopped paying for CDs and white label vinyl, stopped paying for posters and fliers to bomb the city, stopped paying for physical press kits and shipping tons of promo packets out. We’ve been seduced by the instant gratification of putting up music for free online minutes after the song is done. But in most cases, that’s not enough.
Now, everything is free, cheap, and fast. And everyone wants everything for nothing. How has music survived? Most of the old guards have not. The myth is that we all have a fair shot now, that the internet has provided a great democracy of choice, that having access to every song and video ever made with the touch of a smartphone screen makes it easier to make a career out of music. Not true.
