Is there a time of the year better than music festival season? We say no. And we just got even more excited for the upcoming season as Sasquatch! Music Festival announced their full schedule, as well as a few new additions to their lineup. This year Sasquatch takes places from Friday, May 22nd to Monday, May 25th at The Gorge in George, Washington. Fans will see performances from Kendrick Lamar, Lana Del Rey, Modest Mouse, St. Vincent and more (get your tickets here).
The one downfall of any good music festival though is there are too many great sets to catch, with not enough time. If only we could be two (sometimes three) places at once. But now with the full schedule for Sasquatch available for music fans, we have compiled our suggested festival itinerary to help the Pacific Northwest plan out their full Sasquatch experience. Or if you prefer, create your own schedule at Sasquatch’s official website.
Check out first installment of our Festival Itinerary series at the jump.
Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) has been a fan of legendary underground rapper MF Doom for quite sometime. And while we haven’t heard a lot of new music from Bey in the past few years, we now have 7 new tracks from Mos Def, where he raps over MF Doom songs. In the new remix series, titled BeyonDoom, Bey raps over ‘Beef Rap’. ‘Accordion’, ‘Curls’, ‘Stranger Ways’ and more.
At a concert in Detroit, MI, Earl Sweatshirt performed a brand new track. Despite just dropping an album over a week ago, he seems to have more material in the vault according to an interview he did with NPR and this song. Considering the subject matter of the new song and him saying Solace (the album he’s currently sitting on according to the NPR interview) is “for his mom”, it’s doubtful this is on that album. Listen to the track below via a fan’s video on YouTube:
The National just dropped a new single entitled ‘Sunshine On My Back.’ According to the band this song was recorded during the sessions for their last album Trouble Will Find Meand features Sharon Van Etten on vocals. The song came with every rental or purchase of the documentary Mistaken for Strangers, which was about the band. The song is also available on Spotify andiTunes. Check out the song below via YouTube:
During a recent Q&A (in promotion of his new streaming service TIDAL) at New York University, Jay-Z revealed some surprising information about his record deal. When asked if artists on TIDAL can continue on the service without a record deal (or when their current contracts expire), Jay-Z replied yes, saying “I’m on TIDAL. I don’t have a record deal.” Expect a bunch of major labels to start rushing to sign this emerging artist now that they know he is a free agent… kidding, of course.
While many were left disappointed by TIDAL’s recent press conference (where almost no new information was revealed), the company just may be changing the music industry like its claiming it will. Now let’s just keep our fingers crossed on an exclusive Kanye West or Rihanna release.
Check out the full transcript of Jay-Z’s NYU Q&A here.
Kendrick Lamar just dropped a new video for the single ‘King Kunta’, which is featured on his latest album, To Pimp a Butterfly. The video initially launched in Times Square on the Jumbotron in collaboration with Beats by Dre. The video depicts Lamar returning to his hometown of Compton and is shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio. Check it out below.
Before you get too worried, no this is NOT a cruel April Fools Day prank. You read the headline right, as Canadian pop singer Grimes is set to join Lana Del Rey this summer on The Endless Summer Tour. While the tour officially kicks off in the beginning of May in Texas, Grimes will be joining Lana towards the end of May (5/28) in Indiana and will tour with Lana through June. Make sure to get your tickets now before they sell out. With two of pop’s most talented singers on one concert bill, this is not a tour that you’ll want to miss out on.
Things probably got awkward after Drake dissed his OVO Sound artist, Atlanta’s “Tuesday” rapper iLoveMakonnen, on his If You’re Reading This It’s Too Latemixtape. But that isn’t stopping Makonnen, as he just released his new Drink More Water 5 mixtape. This 11-track installment of Makonnen’s Drink More Water series has tracks with Migos, Fredo Santana, Rich The Kid and more. Chicago fans will have two chances to catch some of these tracks live as Makonnen will be traveling to the Windy City on his upcoming “Loudest of the Loud” tour, as well as Pitchfork this summer.
Following the news of Jon Bellion’s new tour, it looks like a second 2015 rap tour will be kicking off in Chicago’s brother to the north (aka Milwaukee), as Migos just announced their headlining “Young Rich Nation” tour. The Atlanta rap trio will be joined by ‘U Guessted It’ rapper OG Maco, and it will kick off at The Rave in Milwaukee on May 1st and will run through the end of the month. Hitting stops in Detroit, New York, Boston, California and more, the ‘Versace’ rappers won’t be stopping in Chicago, but this is still a tour you will not want to miss.
Fans of singer-songwriter/rapper Jon Bellion will be happy to learn that the Logic-affiliated rapper has just announced his new 2015 headlining tour, and he even dropped a new song to go with it. “The Definition Tour” (named after his 2014 project) will kick off on May 26th at The Rave in Milwaukee and will run through July, where it returns to the Midwest for stops in Detroit and Chicago.
If a new tour wasn’t enough, Bellion also released his new music festival inspired track ‘Woodstock’, featuring additional vocals from Travis Mendes. Bellion describes the track as a “psychedelic musical fiction”, and fans can definitely expect to hear it live this summer.
Check out the tour dates and listen to ‘Woodstock (Psychedelic Fiction)’ below!