decolonize & reclaim! the latest afropunk mixtape is streaming now
Decolonize land. Decolonize thought. Decolonize bodies. Reclaim the narrative. What does it mean to decolonize? What does it take to reclaim? Those are the questions asked by our latest Mixtape: Decolonize & Reclaim. Songs from artists like Angelo Moore, Childish Gambino, Le Vice, DOOKOOM, Baloji & Shingai, and many more wrestle with these complex questions, and envision worlds free of internal and external colonial bullshit. Turn it up and take it back.
01. Le Vice – Boys & Girls
02. Interlude: Quetzala Carson (August 2017)
03. The Internet – Roll (Burbank Funk)
04. Aphrotek – River Styx Ride (ft. Mike Ladd)
05. Interlude: Decolonize This Place (April 2018)
06. Monoculture – Movement
07. All Cows Eat Grass – Air Castle
08. Ajo – Gotta Love It
09. MTA Interlude
10. Yuno – No Going Back
11. Pete Wilde – Lucy
12. Unlikely Heroes – Tazzy
13. Vodun – Spirits Past
14. DOOKOOM – Gangstaz
15. SCARLXRD – Burns
16. DUCKWRTH – Boy
17. Interlude: Now This / Decolonize the Brooklyn Museum
18. Angelo Moore & The Brand New Step – Inner City Blues (ft. Butterscotch)
19. Baloji – Soleil de Volt (Shingai Remix)
20. Childish Gambino – This Is America
Album artwork photography by Sammy Sampson / @Sammysampsonphotography
feel the bone shattering explosion of punk/hip-hop band samurai shotgun’s “the blast”
“We are many
There is no beating us”
Since their bone shattering appearance at the 2015 AFROPUNK Battle of the Bands in Atlanta, we’ve been all about Samurai Shotgun. The hip-hop / punk outfit’s last record Riptide took the explosive energy of their live show and bottled it. Their latest single “The Blast,” uncorks it and lets it do some damage. Featuring fiery vocals from Matteo, and some of Quey’s best turntable work to date, it’s the perfect encapsulation of what Samurai Shotgun is all about.
Samurai Shotgun call “The Blast” the first of many new singles and videos they’ll be dropping this year. Check them out at http://www.samuraishotgun.com/
video premiere: queer romance and beach fun illuminate punk-rockers the younger lovers new visual
The Younger Lovers are a punk-rock project that got their start in 2003 as part of the bedroom demo created by Brontez Purnell after moving to the Bay Area. Inspired by his love of all melody-based rock music, from indie, Blues, garage, surf, and more, the Younger Lovers brand of punk-rock is one that knows no bounds. You might even recognize Purnell as a member of the electro-clash riot-girl band, Gravy Train!!!! (hella hella hella nervous nervous).
Check out their new video, and an interview of Brontez by Osa Atoe of the Shotgun Seamstress zine.
1. What is it about California?
Basically everything. I’m answering these questions at my Uncles old club right now. He played Blues at this club 4 blocks up the street from me and the same neighborhood (save for the beach scenes – shoot at Ocean Beach in SF- lol @ “Ocean Beach”) that the video was shot in. I moved to Oakland when I was 19 cause I knew my Grandmothers brother had played Blues here since the 60s and I was a punk and I was like “ guess I’ll go play guitar in California too”. I mean don’t get me wrong- Oakland gets on my fucking nerves. Tech has taken over- certain dirty ass underachieving white punks wanna end my swag cause I’m too Wakanda BUT I don’t really wanna live in New York ( there’s no Black Boys playing rad garage in New York- how come all the niggas in New York play Emo hardcore? Barf.) I don’t really wanna live in LA. Guess I’m stuck in Oakland. My life in California is “sun bleached”.
2. Tell us more about the director, your relationship and how you came together to form a vision for the video.
Well it’s Jen Heard. Feminist director supreme! She’s rad, has a razor sharp aesthetic, and I’m god uncle to her two BEAUTIFUL children. I love that white woman.
3. Talk to me about the symbolism of hair and cutting it in particular. I think about a recent divorcée cutting her hair short or using hair in a ritual or Victorian hair art… I also think of the incidental sensuality & intimacy of visiting a barber and letting him change something very personal about you.
EXACTLY- it’s like when ur having a manic fit and the only thing you can change is your hair. Many cultures shaved their hair to go to war. (I just made that up actually) – what’s most important is I’m a total faggot- coincidentally I’m also Black so have to go to the Black boy barbershop. I basically chill on all my faggot shit until the barber is done cutting my hair- I do that fag thing where when I’m around a bunch of straight boys I try to talk with a deeper voice. They know I am carrying and usually give me a pass. I fear if i fag out too much at the Black boy barber shop my fade will be less than tight and I’m too fucking vein to take that chance. So I don’t….
4. Your lyrics are poems. Who are some of your favorite poets.
Azealia Banks, NIKKI MINAJ, Remy Ma, Tupac, Sylvia Plath, THE BEATNIKS, THE ROMANTICS, Nikki Giovanni, Sappho, THE HARLEM NIGGERATI, BILLY CHILDISH (except for that one racist poem where he called Frida Khalo a “spic whore”- I think I’m remembering this correctly), “ALL THEY WANT IS MY MONEY, MY PUSSY, MY BLOOD” by MORGAN PARKER, “SONG” by FRANK O’HARA”, “SOLITUDES CROWDED BY LONELINESS” by BOB KAUFMAN, “IF SO, WINTER” by ANNE CARSON, SUGARWALLS by Sheena Easton, THE SECRET LIFE. BY THE NEW BLOODS, “KISS ME AND ILL KISS YOU BACK” by DIGITAL UNDERGROUND, DRAKE, WEEZY, THAT ONE BLACK NEW YORK RAPPER THAT GOT LOCKED UP, BERNEDETTE MYERS “STUDYING HUNGER” + “ A TURN IN AIR: AN IMPOSSIBILITY”, “NIGGAS GOT PTSD”- I don’t remember who wrote this poem tbh, “HER KIND” by ANNE SEXTON, Harold Norse, Jim Morrison (EW- BARF- KIDDING), “TOMS DINER” by SUZANNE VEGA, “NO SHOOK HANDS” by LIL KIM, “ETher ” by NAS.
etc etc etc
5. Is there a difference between thick and thicc? Which term do you identify with more?
I’m thicc basically. I used to be a skinny good looking gay man but I got depressed when my dad died 3 years ago and gained hella weight. I was 290 pounds in high school and shrank to 168 in my San Francisco gay boy daze in my late 20s / early 30s. Now I am 230 and not feeling particularly bad about it. I still pull cute trade. To quote Morgan Parker “ I know my pussy is good because they told me so”
decolonize pop punk! baby got back talk holds nothing back on ‘up in open arms’
The more I learn about reality,
The less I think that keeping it real
Is anything worth bragging about
On their latest EP, Baby Got Back Talk pull one hell of a magic trick: they make pop punk relevant again. There’s never been a shortage of bands with fast hooks and an even quicker wit, but it seems like the louder they shout “defend pop punk!” the harder it is to defend. Baby Got Back Talk’s been around for a few years (formerly just Back Talk), but their latest EP Up In Open Arms swaps out the battle cry for “decolonize pop punk!” and creates their best EP to date.
Up In Open Arms by babygotbacktalk
Opening with a proudly anti-realist anthem, Up In Open Arms is heavy on the sharp turns of phrase and sharp commentary. Songs like “Thanks for the Angst” and “I Guess This Is Glowing Up” color in break-up tales with conflict and depth that belies the puns. But they save their sharpest knives for “Guilty of Being Tight,” a song that skewers punk rock’s sacred cows, most notably Minor Threat’s notorious nadir. It’s a song that takes the straight white dudes of punk to task for having little to say beyond “fuck you I do what I want,” and hopes to burn the scene down to build something better from its ashes. And it doesn’t hurt that it’s tight as hell too.
Photo by Selina Stoane
premiere: hip-hop meets punk in mike ladd’s ‘river styx rider’ ft. tim lefebvre & donny mccaslin
A frenzied, rock-a-billy scented track of vintage sounds, swirls, and zips, backed by the strong and strange voice of Mike Ladd, “River Styx Rider” pays homage to punk-rock of days past. Taking no prisons from it’s vivid open to its sharp end, Aphrotek and Ladd show off their musical history chops with this kaleidoscopic picture of 1970s punk while bringing out its African roots on this bangin’ track.
“Yeah, we’ve recorded this track with Dom, Donny McCaslin and Tim Lefebvre and myself in NYC a few weeks before they started to work on David Bowie’s Blackstar album and then we sent it over to Mike before finishing to produce it back home,” Aphrotek tells AFROPUNK.
“There’s a lot of that 70s energy that flows in this music, Dom and Tim’s attitude in music definitely contribute to the reminiscence of this kind of sound, and my approach to keyboards comes from the free-funk of the 70s like the Rotary Connection or the Headhunters with Herbie. It automatically transpires out when all these influences come together.”
no f*cks given! the new afropunk mixtape is all attitude, no apathy
For some people “not giving a fuck” is about attitude, and for some it’s about apathy. Like Janelle Monáe and Zoë Kravitz’s sexual liberation at the end of the world anthem “Screwed,” it’s a phrase with a lot of simultaneous and contradicting meanings. On our latest mixtape, we celebrate the artists who don’t give a fuck but don’t have time for apathy. From the Nova Twins to Latasha, Tyler Cole to Jean Grae, this month is about the artists who see what’s going on in the world and are too busy speaking truth to power to worry about what anyone thinks of them. Here’s to the artists with no fucks to give.
01. Tyler Cole – The Government Song
02. Interlude: FreeQuency “Masculinity So Fragile”
03. Nova Twins – Hit Girl
04. Latasha – Sumpn
05. PEDRO – Na Quebrada (ft. Rincon Sapiência)
06. Ghost & The City – Please Forgive My Heart
07. No Kind of Rider – Dark Ice
08. Jean Grae and Quelle Chris – Zero
09. Black Pantera – Alvo Na mira
10. Interlude: Jasmine Mans “Footnotes for Kanye”
11. Crashing Hotels – Never More
12. Bakar – Million Miles
13. Interlude: Janelle Monáe (April 2018)
14. Akua Naru – Made It
15. Blac Rabbit – All Good
16. Janelle Monáe – Screwed (ft. Zoë Kravitz)
Photo by Matheus Leite
dreampunk band dark smith make alienation anthemic on their debut ep ‘prehysteria’
Don’t burn the witch
Burn the village down
I don’t know about you all, but I’m really feeling this new EP from Seattle based queer dreampunk band Dark Smith. Thick with heavy atmosphere, anthemic vocals and massive drums, it’s like goth without the pretension and doom without the posturing. In short: it’s fucking huge.
“Lie To Me” is rich with sludgy low end and noisy guitars encroaching on drummer Nozomi’s giant beats, while singer Danny Denial screams out some of their best lyrics on the EP. “Leave You Alone Forever” boats the band’s lone song to drop below the 5 minute mark, delivering the kind of dark pop punk that The Damned once perfected before folding in on themselves. The EP closes with “Witch Marks” and “Prehysteria,” two pieces of the same puzzle that get all witchy about alienation and burn the whole village to the ground. Keep an ear on Dark Smith.
celebrate worldwide resistance with afropunk mixtape #40 feat. the fever 333, young fathers, dookoom, mélissa laveaux, and more
Resistance is nothing new. We’ve been resisting against white supremacist cis-hetero patriarchy since day one. On our latest Mixtape #40 “The People Resist”, we celebrate resistance worldwide, with artists representing the US, Haiti, South Africa, France, the UK, Germany, The Democratic Republic of Congo, and Cameroon. This is the sound of a resistance beyond hashtags and symbolic gestures. It is the sound of liberation.
Resistance is survival, not just a hashtag. But if it’s going to be a social media call to political arms, let’s make that fucker count!
‘The People Resist’ is our motto for this year’s AFROPUNK festivals. Paris, New York, ATL, get ready! afropunkfest.com
* Artwork photo by Dennis Manuel
01. Intro
02. THE FEVER 333 – Made An America
03. Shopping – Suddenly Gone
04. NoMBe – Can’t Catch Me
05. Interlude (The People)
06. Young Fathers – Turn
07. Pleasure Venom – Seize
08. KOKOKO! – Tsongos’a
09. Rhea Blek – Teenage Dreams
10. Interlude (The People)
11. Maramza – Uwrongu (ft. Bonj Mpasa)
12. 10LEC6 – Augusta (ft. Dvno)
13. Dookoom – Bloodclart
14. Bad Wolves – Zombie
15. Interlude (The People)
16. Mélissa Laveaux – Nan Fon Bwa
the most essential punk record of the year comes from the fever 333, former letlive. frontman jason aalon butler’s new project
It’s only the end of March and the best record of the year just dropped. Pack it in artists, regroup for 2019. This is The Fever 333’s year. letlive. frontman Jason Aalon Butler has never exactly been one to mince words, but with his new project, he’s on fire. The Made An America EP holds nothing back. It’s 7 songs of pure power, mixing post-hardcore energy with industrial and trap beats and Butler’s blistering takedowns of white supremacy and American exceptionalism.
We’re giving thanks for measles, blankets, and genocide
They call it “cleaning up the streets”, we call it “homicide”
From the title track on down, this is one of the most essential punk records to come out in years; easily the best post-hardcore record since, well, letlive.’s last. The secret weapon is Jason Aalon Butler’s talent for turning slogans into hooks. From the title track to “Hunting Season,” these songs punch a hole in your eardrum and demand squatters rights. Drummer Aric Improta and guitarist Stephen Harrison light the fire under Butler’s vocals, switching on a dime from industrial drive to anthemic hardcore.
While many bands claim to be kicking off a movement, The Fever 333’s the real deal. The band is one of the rare acts that walks the walk, committing to activism and social justice on and off the stage. As Butler explained to AltPress: ““The movement is much greater than the music. The art is only a contingent piece. We want to make sure we’re just as involved in the activism and actual activation.”
The Fever 333’s playing a record release show in Brooklyn at the Knitting Factory tomorrow 3/28. Tickets and full tour info is here: http://333.thefever333.com/
premiere: austin punks pleasure venom take on white supremacy in the fierce video for “seize”
Singer and filmmaker Audrey Campbell is officially not taking any shit from anyone. On the video for her band’s single “Seize,” she tears it up against a backdrop of footage of klan marches and police violence. It’s a blast of stripped-down blood-on-the-mic punk rock from an artist who holds nothing back. It’s a call to seize the day and build the world you want to see; whether that be smashing white supremacy or getting out of a toxic relationship. (Or ideally both). The Seize EP is out today, so check it out and seize the world.
Video credits:
Directed by Audrey Campbell.
Camera operators Ayla Betencourt and Adrian Lozano of Gravity Ridge.
Lights by Dustin Braden of Lysergic Lights.
Edited by Thomas Valles.