World Premiere

My friend k-the-i??? has always impressed me. On one hand, his beats are always some of the most forward-thinking creations I've ever heard at the time I first hear them. On the other hand, he's probably one of the nicest people I've ever met and I can tell after meeting hundreds of musicians and producers that he's genuine as fuck. When he mentioned he was looking to premiere a video I didn't even ask to hear it first. Sure it'll be weird. Sure it'll be different. But it's 100% Kiki and you'll never hear anything else like it... UNTIL EVERYONE ELSE HEARS IT AND APPROPRIATES IT FOR THEIR OWN SOUND. Trendsetter is a fucking understatement. Kiki is a soundsetter. A stylesetter. Kiki is a fucking friendsetter, as I wish all of my friends were this passionately involved in...

WORLD PREMIERE:  Popular music these days is so pleasant.  I tend to fall into one of two lines of thinking as to why. There are the baser aspects of my soul that lean towards music's pleasantness being sprayed down from the heavens like some form of chemical pacifier. The government's auditory chemtrails. Then there are more rational reasons: people like shit to be pleasant, enjoy predictability, being coddled, held, told everything is going to be alright.  I am not one of those people.  I don't like to feel pleasant. It makes me nervous, suspicious, fretful like the other shoe hovers above just waiting for an excuse to rain misfortune down like acid. This isn't normal. I'm sure of that. But I'm not alone.  Walter Gross, living in Berlin, Germany is with me. Based on the...

Looks like we accidentally world premiered a video when I didn't know it was a world premiere because I was just too fucking excited to post it to not realize it was a world premiere.  DOES THAT MAKE ME LOOK FAT? WHO CARES! You should all become huge fans of this asshole immediately because there's talent dripping out of every urethra this dude owns.  AND THE VIDEO? Dude. This video looks exactly how my brain's video looks when my brain plays the video while I'm listening to the song in the video. ARE YOU CONFUSED? Don't be. You're supposed to be relaxed bro, start the video over, and then go below and click the link for the review of Amina's Cannibalize EP and then go buy that shit. 

Cars and Trains is an electronic folk outfit out of Portland, Oregon. If you don't know them or label Fake Four, Inc, it's time to order up an espresso because YOU BEEN FUCKING A SLEEP!  Cars and Trains conductor/chauffeur, Tom Filepp, has gifted us the first track ("Iris") off his new project, Dust, and it is immaculate. I'd eat off its toilet seat. I'd inject myself with it and lay in the park and forget there even was a world I was escaping. Dust is that painting hanging in a gallery that you stare at and stare at and despite your sobriety, it talks to you. Not in words, but in waves of information and rhythm and layers of sound. It seems melancholy....

Curly Castro, the indelible Wrecking Crew's rap version of Jubei (Ninja Scroll suckers!) has dropped off his newest video for Dry Ice, and has blessed us with the gift of being the first to debut the visuals. Dry Ice is 1:54 seconds of Curly Castro verbally throat chopping your punk asses, while DJ Fakts One crafts the theme music to the said throat assault. If you haven't already heard Curly Castro & Fakts One's Restroy & Debuild, you A) suck, because we had the interview and debut of album here on the site, and B) have to be sleeping under the biggest, darkest, internet-less-est rock in the whole world! To help combat your clear developmental impairments, Curly Castro...

WE GET TO WORLD PREMIERE THE NEW VIDEO FROM CREAM DREAMERS THEIR OCEAN? OH BRO JOY! Their Ocean have that dreamy, whispy shit going on something serious. The calm softness of dude's voice paired with the emotionally intensive songscapes these fuckers drop is uncomfortably serene. I've had a bro-crush on Their Ocean for a few years now, and we're jacked to see a new album on the horizon (July 6th, 2015 bro), we just don't know how long we can hold off on acting on this secret love bro. With the vocals being both distracting and calming, Their Ocean make me want to write their names in my trapper keeper John Cusack style. THEIR OCEAN, STOP HITTING ON ME, BUT NEVER STOP HITTING ON ME, K?

We are lucky enough to premiere Eugene, Oregon rapper, and possible Saiyan, Sammy Warm Hands' new video, Famous Last Words (Nobody Gives a Fuck). The video, which finds Mr. Hands, amongst friends and sporting his trademark Johnny Rotten-esque hair, is a middle finger. Period. The song proves again Sammy's got bars! Sammy is a grinder, a homebody homeboy, a lifer, a dude that has been quietly releasing music until it's gotten to the point where he had enough material to write a fucking book, WHICH HE DID! (Also named Famous Last Words: 10 Years of Take 92.) The tome of Northwest punk rap history is the story of Sammy and a celebration of a decade of releasing music with Take 92. The book is available on michaellarsen.com. Yeah, that...

Curly Castro is a man with a wolverine's growl, a samurai's sharpness, a nerd's layered comic book references, and a film buffs knowledge of characters and quotes. He is a key member of the Philidelphia based Wrecking Crew along with Zilla Rocca, Has-Lo, Small Professor, Castle and PremRock. He spits with fire, frustration and passion in every rhyme. He raises two ninja cats, has locks, quotes Malcolm X AND Guy Ritchie films with equal ease and conviction, and recently sat down with me to give SYFFAL an exclusive sneak peek into the thoughts and sounds of Restroy & Debuild. Curly Castro laced...

What I've always loved most about working with Syffal is the mindset. We regularly shit all over stuff other people tout as the second coming of Kanye West brand prepaid artisinal chili, and then we gush all over some unknown kid making music as a way to escape everybody else. That's not to say that we don't give credit where credit is due. Some artisinal chili, DOE! When we're at our best, it's riding shottie with like-minded artsts and labels, scratching at the surface to get at the essence of what makes it all go boom. One of those like-minded individuals is Tom Filepp, of Cars and Trains and Circle Into Square fame. Filepp is at the forefront of this generation's tinkerers playful and experimenting, refining its craft. I picture Tom at a grand organ rocking out like Phantom of the...

The ambiguously great duo, Eric Mount and Ike Peters of The Coasts, have put out a split single with the frightening Jesse Alexander & co. of battle ave. On Your Own is a-side to battle ave.'s new track called 'THE SUN'. Both are dope. Both are sex in a hot tub trimmed out in neon lights. BUT what you'll find above is the world premiere video of On Your Own. So, get ready to EXERCIIIIIIIISSSSE the demons. I have no idea where The Coasts found this clip, in which they spliced their song into, but it's gold. It's like the 70's version of Fox and Friends or perhaps an inspiration behind Dana Carvey's Church Lady. The squareness of these people perfectly juxtapose The Coasts raunchy, yet...