Madmen Entertainment's own Comet and Brown Bag Money's Daniel Son school it with the brand new MMX-produced single, Wormz!
Hot off the trails of his Moonshine Mix Volume 2 (with Futurewave), Toronto's Daniel Son shows no signs of stopping, and decides to drop a cut with the Bronx's Comet for a hardcore, real hip-hop treat.
The sinister beat, full of DJ cuts and dark, deep piano chords, blows a hole in fragile minds while Daniel Son rocks the mic with jagged wordplay and a flow that cuts like a sharp knife, as his verbal assault takes no prisoners. MMX lets the beat shine in the middle, with a specialized sample and scratch break that he pulls off flawlessly. Comet comes in and buries the haters in the city's underbelly, as he and Daniel crawl the streets like midnight marauders. This real hip-hop can be heard on all music streaming platforms!
These artists can be supported on their respective platforms. Comet can be contacted at Madmen Entertainment or his Bandcamp, and Daniel Son at his Bandcamp.
Comet and MMX's upcoming collaborative EP is titled Madmen Unknown. Stay tuned for more real hip-hop!
Now, at the top of the website and also along the right sidebar of any page, readers and artists can access "The Playlist", the Official AirdriftSignals Spotify playlist, featuring in reverse chronological order all of the hottest tracks from all the artists covered by the magazine!
All services now come with the extra benefit of having artists' biggest tracks included in this playlist in our ever-expanding platform and our commitment to giving artists a strong and dedicated online presence! For further details, please visit The Playlist or the Contact & Rates tabs of the website and stay tuned for further exciting developments!
Industry engineer, DJ, and electronic producer graves teams up with rising hybrid trap and bass producer High Zombie for the epic and high octane EDM track, GHOSTS!
Originally from Hawaii, graves, aka Christian Mochizuki, got his start assisting and engineering top industry hip-hop and pop albums including Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Kid Cudi's Man on The Moon Volume 2, among other big projects. His experience in composition and production continued to form as he played at popular music festivals, including the Las Vegas Electric Daisy Carnival, and released his debut EP, Hilo, in 2017.
High Zombie, aka Matthew Hood, originally from Fairfield, Connecticut, got his start producing heavy bass and trap music that rattles the senses. In his time producing he's released many skull-crushing singles and EPs, such as 2017's Komodo, and 2019's Hooked EP. Now based in Denver, Colorado, he has begun playing and larger venues and concert shows. Together, with Welcome Records, graves and High Zombie release a smash hit in the form of the brostep trap EDM single, GHOSTS, an unbelievable and adrenaline-pumping track that will no doubt be dropped at multiple music festivals in the coming year.
You can hear GHOSTS now on Soundcloud, Spotify, or whatever music streaming platform you choose. High Zombie can be followed on his Soundcloud or his Facebook page.
In the age of social media, influencers, and followers, what do artists really need other than a large digital following? It seems that with all the services built to promote and build up likes and subscribers, there aren't that many other avenues for artists to grow in terms of their digital following. Networks such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are the primary means nowadays, yet their algorithms have not been very artist or business-friendly. They have now become known to hold back most artist or business posts to just a fraction of those who are interested in their work. This archaic design is targeted to your Facebook page and business, promising increased impressions for "sponsored" posts, and is predatory at best when an artist's reach used to simply mean those who like their page. When it comes to public visibility, what most artists need to understand now more than ever is the ever-growing importance of electronic press kits, or EPKs.
What makes an electronic press kit so important for independent artists?
As artists become more dependent on social accounts to increase their visibility, they have the added obstacle of their "actual reach", this now being only a fraction of what they've been capable of in the past with networks such as Facebook. Independent artists that need this boost in quality promotion would benefit the most with press services and an EPK.
Many blogs offer a version of these services by "posting artist content", but few take steps above and beyond a traditional post and actually form insightful, detailed, and carefully considered words in the form of articles the way that AirdriftSignals Music Magazine does. This can be witnessed by just scrolling through our many entries of articles. Whether it is an interview, such as the one done with New York rapper Thomas Coppola, a full album review, like B. Dvine's The Process of Illumination, or a press release for a single or music video, such as those by Cuban Pete or Paranormal Adam.
A lot of blog publications will post a YouTube link or a Bandcamp single with fewer words than a simple tweet. This is hardly a satisfying product to an artist who is vying to get some thoughtful feedback with their music. These forms of "press" also risk getting lost in the ether of infinitely expanding timelines and news feeds, and this is where another benefit befalls the artists who have received the unique and specialized writing services of AirdriftSignals: a quality-written and tangible product, and real, unlimited, global reach.
As a business-minded owner myself, in charge of my own artist brand, a long-running radio program (which was designed to promote independent artists from the very start), and now an online music magazine (which will be growing into a team of passionate staff writers), I have witnessed the potential of a worldwide reach with multiple platforms, and the phrase "it isn't what it used to be" is ironically already able to be applied to networks such as Facebook and others because of their reach restrictions and their push for owners to pay them advertising fees. The same day that I personally announced this magazine's expansion, I have experienced a significant spike in global traffic, page views, and article views, that is increasing by the day. Now, there are over a thousand page visits by the day, and articles further back in the AirdriftSignals archives that are also being read by new subscribers. Besides the United States, there has been a spike in readership in countries such as France, Canada, and the United Kingdom, and regions such as Russia and South Africa.
An unexplainable phenomena
What is beautiful about this magazine's design is the ever-growing global readership and the unlimited, unrestricted, capability for its content to spread, unlike that of social networks. To say that your music could reach over a thousand (and growing) people daily is a huge benefit to those who are just starting out, and even those who are well-established can only gain from this process. As the artists whom I have mentioned (and those I have not) received these writing services, so too will they come to realize that getting their music articles in an up-and-coming, specialized, and growing music magazine will only continue to benefit them for years to come as readership increases globally. This makes thoughtful and impressive music articles for independent artists stand above and beyond what other promotional services, such as like-pushers, and marketers, who claim to "increase followers", have to offer. What marketers and most artists need to realize now is that the value in such an endeavor is decreasing over time, while actual, quality press articles leave a tangible product and a powerful marketing tool in artists' hands, which ultimately stands the test of time.
Just over a month from the end of a decade, there's been more change in the Internet age than ever before. As the rise in social media, influencers, and connectivity continues to grow, so too do the anxieties, concerns, and questions that our artificial and intelligent world continues to pose. There's a lot to be concerned over, but there's still room for hope. If there was ever an album to sum up what's happened to us globally in the past ten years, then it is DJ Shadow's latest full-length album, Our Pathetic Age, an affecting and universal double LP that features genre-bending electronica, hip-hop, and heart.
Known to revolve around the world of hip-hop, but take an elliptical course into the realm of hardcore electronic music, DJ Shadow has been making music for precisely 30 years now. Ever since his debut landmark album, Endtroducing....., Shadow's style hasn't much strayed. A turntablist and a record collector at heart, his music always found ways to incorporate sounds of old into inventions of new in his many hip-hop and electronic productions since then. His sixth LP isn't much different, if only more expansive. DJ Shadow, aka Joshua Davis, stated that he had never set out to make a double album before, and so this was his basis of motive, to create a first half of entirely (mostly instrumental) heady and genre-expanding, electronic, hip-hop songs, and a second half full of collaborators, be it R&B singer-songwriter Fantastic Negrito, or his mostly rapper-clad army to drop commentaries that are disconcerting and ratchet up the tension for what we as a society have allowed to come to pass with technology.
Opening with the first half of this experiment is some busy and abrasive soundscapes in Nature Always Wins, a short and thematic intro that cuts right into the electronic, hip-hop sensibilities of Slingblade, a minimalist, fuzzy, and poignant beat that unfolds with melody over time. It's a classic DJ Shadow composition, and lets listeners know that Shadow is prepared to unleash an epic meditation on what our pathetic age now means for all of us. Most of Shadow's tracks verge on the mind-bending and experimental, as Intersectionality begins to reverberate and dance around the head space with its moody synth and echoing toms. Juggernaut straight up pulls a hip-hop sample deep into breakcore territory, while Firestorm is a more traditional (and less hip-hop-y) piano melody that conducts the rest of the instruments around it. My Lonely Room and We Are Always Alone taps into the crushing loneliness that Davis must feel at times in the quiet between his beats. They are unbelievably moody and perfect capsules of his dark and introspective imagination. These songs all have something fascinatingly different to offer for the first half, and they prove that Davis is a master of his sound.
The second half of the album drops the moody intensity of DJ Shadow's solo material and steps aside to give the mic to a huge cast of talented and famous rappers, including Nas, Pharaoh Monch, three Wu-Tang members, Run The Jewels, and De La Soul, among many others, who all want to give their two cents about what humanity is up against with technology. Lots of the themes have to do with political climate, mind-control, social media, loss of human connection, and hopelessness. Each of these hip-hop tracks venture between the head-bobbing traditional vibes that Shadow is known for producing, and then some downright chilling material that is spoken. Most notably, JoJo's World, a suicide track rapped by Stro. Also the Urgent, Important, Please Read, is the most poignant, on the nose song of the album, where the listener is directly addressed, "a few different perspectives to reinforce the notion that you are not going crazy, and you are not being paranoid, and everything that you've been worried about are the exact things that need to be on your mind. The question is, what do we do about it?"
In a sense, Our Pathetic Age is a wake-up call to those who are lost in the digital universe, and a hopeful reminder to remember what makes us human. It's a call to action to not put the blinders on when staring at our screens, and that this new uncertain decade that we are about to embark on is the ultimate decider of what we will collectively choose for our destiny. It's the end of the 2010s, and Our Pathetic Age will hopefully (as Davis hopes) become a beautiful, new beginning. For these reasons, DJ Shadow's sixth double LP is elevated beyond what he is normally capable of producing, and will remain one of the most comprehensive recordings to document this unprecedented change that our species is facing. DJ Shadow also proves that he remains one of the most compelling, electronic, hip-hop, turntablist, producers of our time.
Our Pathetic Age - 8.25/10
Recommended Tracks: Slingblade, My Lonely Room, Urgent, Important, Please Read
Long Island rapper Thomas Coppola is at it again shortly after his Cold Cuts LP drop in September and his May LP Dusty, with the Halloween single Psyche Ward, and B-side, Leave!
Produced by Ghostie, Thomas Coppola's Halloween drop picks up pace and runs alongside the demented and carnival-like hi-hat beat. The verse doesn't pull any punches either, as it displays Coppola's quick tongue as he raps about switching up his style on command and going crazy on a night out. In the chorus he raps "Yeah, man I think I'm going crazy, they're gonna have to restrain me" while Ghostie's eerie and minimalist beat haunts the track. Leave, featuring New York artist Fendii, is a B-side about heartbreak, complete with a full sounding and catchy, hip-pop production. Both artists shine on Leave and leave a great impression of what they can do if given another opportunity to collaborate. By the end of it all, it's easy to leave these songs on repeat, as both tracks have their own distinct feel and professional shine.
Hot off the Full Blast Booking OcTourberfest is Paranormal Adam's brand new single and music video, Analyze This!
Sporting some colorful environments and a dedicated posse at his back, New Haven rapper Paranormal Adam drops his latest single and music video, Analyze This, which was shot and edited once again by Vego Harris of Fourth Degree. As big, crunchy, hip-hop beats go, B. Dvine's fiery produced beat reverberates and chimes while Adam pulls out the dictionary and flows effortlessly in multiple scenes as he details what he's thinking. Featuring some of the crew from the tour, Paranormal Adam proves that when it comes to powerful wordplay and stellar sound, he's got both of those areas held down.
Paranormal Adam can be contacted for interviews and collaborative inquiries at his personal Facebook page.
Long Island beat maker and touring emcee, B. Dvine, teams up with Hawaiian rapper D-Rage, to produce one of their latest music videos while touring the East Coast, Clipped Wings!
Having the pleasure of seeing the growth of prolific producer/emcee B. Dvine over the years, I was pleased to see this collaborative single garner a visual presentation. Shot and edited by Vego Harris of Fourth Degree while on their East coast tour, this one features both emcees in front of some breathtaking architechture of a church and with their crew of other performing emcees. For a special live feel of their music, be sure to be on the lookout for B. Dvine, D-Rage, and others on East and West coast tours throughout the year through Full Blast booking!
Both emcees can be contacted for interviews or inquiries. B. Dvine can be contacted via his personal website or his Facebook page B. Dvine Beats. D-Rage can be contacted via his Facebook page.
UK Rapper Cuban Pete is hot off the trail of his mixtape, The Standout, and his single, Burn, with his latest hip-hop track, the inspirational Nothin's Gonna Stop Me.
Produced by Nary Da Producer, Nothin's Gonna Stop Me boasts focused and driven verses matched to a beautiful, soulful beat in a song ultimately about perseverance, and Cuban Pete sets fire with multiple visuals by using his pleasing wit, electric wordplay and signature sound. He raps, "They try to hate, try to hold me back, take more than their team to stop my victory lap, I gut 'em, I keep moving man, fuck the snakes, keep winning, just to see the look on their face, yes!" all while the beat returns a beautiful female vocalist's, "Nothin's gonna stop me". Cuban Pete throughout the track comes off hard and aggressive, but still manages to deliver a measured and inspirational performance.
Nothin's Gonna Stop Me's landing page can be found here, where most streaming services can be linked or where you can contact Cuban Pete directly. Check out this beautiful music and flow from one of UK's finest. Cuban Pete can also be found at his personal website, C75 Live! Read his AirdriftSignals artist spotlight interview, or his The Standout Mixtape album review.
