Blog: Beats Per Minute

Photo by Anthony Bach We had a chance to meet up-and-coming singer/songwriter Becky Holt, hailing from Fullerton, California and starting to make waves on the local Orange County scene. We discussed Ms. Holt's humble musical beginnings, her upcoming album Cut And Paste , and her new music video for the standout track "Hangman Knot." Check it all out below. Beats Per Minute: Tell me about your earliest musical memories. Becky Holt: When I was really little, my mom put me in one of those dancing and singing [...]

Regardless of what you think of the Pusha T / Lil Wayne beef, "Exodus 23:13 is undeniably a good track (no pun intended, G.O.O.D. Music cronies). Pusha returns to the hood for the accompanying visuals, directed by Samuel Rogers. Check it out below.

As we previously reported , Yeasayer is back in a big way. After releasing a new track, the band revealed their third LP, the band is following up with the dates for the supporting North American tour. Check out all the dates below and look out for Fragrant World on August 21st. 06-19 Richmond, VA - The National 06-20 Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel 06-21 Knoxville, TN - Bijou Theatre 06-22 Nashville, TN - The Cannery Ballroom 06-23 Louisville, KY - Headliners Music Hall 06-24 Cincinnati, OH - 20th [...]

Just in case you haven't heard, Big Boi's changed the title for his approaching album. The LP began its hype cycle essentially the day The Son of Chico Dusty dropped, and was long dubbed Sir Lucious Left Foot: Soul Funk Crusader , which would have made it a direct stylistic sequel to its predecessor. Last night, however, Big Boi revealed the title to be Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors . It may seem like an inconsequential change, but the title would seem to hint at a darker, more focused album than the OutKast [...]

Photos by Michael Do With Saturday night fun to be had and a new album in tow, Maps & Atlases paid the Crowbar in Tampa a visit and were met with one of the warmer receptions seen in the area recently. Upon walking in about halfway through Sister Crayon's opening set, I was quickly won over by their energetic stage presence and unusual lineup. Sister Crayon is a four-piece band that consists of a drummer, two people manning keys and various electronic equipment, and a frontwoman whose vocals were a combination of [...]

On the second full day of the festival things really began to take off. The sun was shining, the wind was brisk, and the crowd was at maximum levels of excitement for each and every show. It was a coming out party of sorts for Washington's Beat Connection, and a statement of rock 'n roll for others, as was the case with The Walkmen. Read all about that and more below, along with a full gallery of photos. Here We Go Magic [...]

Why do we celebrate? It might just be our most universal ritual, but it's also unique to time, place, and culture, and it's a little different for everyone. It's a joyous thing, but otherwise there are no real rules. Whether you want to preserve, uphold, commemorate or just forget, there's a good chance that Japandroids can empathize. After the failed promise of five singles in 2010 and a brief breakup, Japandroids have unleashed a follow-up to the infectious Post-Nothing . Make no mistake, they're still the same lovably shabby garage rockers, but Celebration Rock is [...]

The impulse is to cast off oOoOO as a producer too tied to a bygone buzzed-about electronic music sub-sub-genre now two years in our wake. It's true, oOoOO's new EP, Our Loving Is Hurting Us , doesn't make much effort to pull the San Francisco producer from the decayed wreckage of the style of pliant-kneened, dystopic electro he helped create on his NoSummer4U mixtape and eponymous EP, both released in 2010 as witch house was cresting with groups like Salem, White Ring, and Balam Acab. Due to blog-genre, hype-cycle stigmas it's hard not to feel like Loving Is Hurting Us [...]

It's been over ten years since the release of Is This It turned The Strokes' brand of guitar pop into the "next big thing" in England. In the fervor following that album, there was a crop of bands, as is typical of trends like this, that popped up and capitalized on the hype by following a similar template. Atypically of such hype-driven trends though, a surprising amount of bands spawned from this craze have been able to transcend it and find more lasting success with different sounds. Arctic Monkeys have ventured into desert rock territory. The Horrors are [...]

The Washington Gorge. There's little to say about the gorgeous scenery that hasn't been said already, but you could see it in the artist's eyes and hear in their words that this secluded place is truly inspirational. Over the coming days we'll feature a ton of pictures and plenty of words on Sasquatch, now in its 12th year. There's a full gallery of photos at the bottom on the post. Friday Yellow Ostrich [...]

If it seems like a long time since we last heard from Beck, well, it has been. The eclectic songwriter made it known early in his set last Thursday in Santa Barbara that this was the beginning of his first tour in four years. And, possibly to commemorate the occasion or possibly for reasons unknown, the band spared no expense in recording the event, with multiple camera cranes, on-stage videographers, front-stage cameras that slid by like trains on a track, Jason Lee shooting stills both on stage and in the photo pit, and a fucking helicopter. Yes, there was a [...]

Happy Monday. As always NPR has released some new album streams through their First Listen series, but this week is especially mind-blowing. Most important is the southern rap album you've been waiting for, the debut studio album from Big K.R.I.T. — Live From The Underground , out June 5th Island Def Jam / Cinematic. On top of that we get Brooklyn indie-rockers Liars' sixth album WIXIW (pronounced "wish you"), out June 4th/5th on Mute. exciting second proper LP Celebration Rock [...]

Our buddies, Kyle (going under his last name Wyss as a producer, previously Chromatic Flights) and emcee Rufat [collectively known as SKYWAY ] are back with a new song off of their upcoming album — "FWTB" featuring Glass Popcorn on the hook. The accompanying video was directed by Jason Ano , who had previously shot A$AP Rocky's "Purple Swag." If you haven't previously heard about SKYWAY just slam the play button. Their genre-bending sound is so unique it tends to be hard to describe at times. Check out the video below and [...]

Well, damn. The drama that began with Pusha T's "Exodus 23:13 (listen here ) just jumped to a whole new level. Lil Wayne had responded with an angry tweet, but now he's turned that into a full, if brief, diss track. Yawn. Weezy may have the sales behind him, but this is a snoozeable diss. Nonetheless, it's a bit surprising to hear him air it out with an entire track, in today's age of half-disses and subliminal shots. If anything, this will provide quite the buzz for Pusha T, not to mention that if this diss [...]

The Brooklyn bliss-rockers of DIIV are preparing to release their new record, Oshin , on June 26th via Captured Tracks. Last month, they released a 73 to tide us over , with the dreamy and propulsive "How Long Have You Known" as the A-side. Now there's a video to accompany the track. In the clip, frontman Zachary Cole Smith dons an apron and makes a blended concoction of cassette tape, magazine cut-outs, and whatever else he can find. While we observe his seemingly deliberate addition of ingredients, the rest of the band churns out the song in another [...]

Liars' new album WIXIW (pronounced "wish you") is out June 5th on Mute records. You can get a preview of the album below with new track "Octagon." As our friend Franky from LB4YB points out, the Radiohead influence is as strong as ever. Think Amnesiac x In Rainbows . Check out the album's first single, "No. 1 Against The Rush" here .

We goofed. Real bad. We were supposed to premiere this beaut of a track on Tuesday alongside our buddies Rawkblog , Listen Before You Buy , The Blue Indian , and We All Want Someone To Shout For but life got in the way: summer jobs, new apartments, several voyages on the dreaded Long Island Railroad, and a couple of drunken blunders with the law. But enough about us. Long Beach's Highlands have bestowed us with "Railroad," the first single off of their debut album Singularity (out June 23rd). [...]

• Highlands - Railroad

This track has sure caused some noise. Relations between Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music team and Lil Wayne's Young Money have seemed strained for some time, with Kanye implying Drake thrives off his been-there sounds (removing myself from an unbiased journalistic voice for a moment: he's right), CyHi da Prynce comparing G.O.O.D and Young Money to headies and mids (that's good and bad weed, folks) respectively, and so on. True to his nature, Pusha T has made things a bit less subtle with his latest track, which led to Lil Wayne getting, shall we say, a tad miffed [...]

If there is indeed an ocean floor for everything, Tom Krell has no interest in making his music the exception. The first tease of the forthcoming Total Loss , sounds like it's coming from somewhere deep within the earth. The only thing that comes through clearly is Krell's words, which have been largely inaudible to this point in his career. "We never really plan for the worst of things, do we?" he asks in his typically ghostly falsetto. Filled with the usual R&B flourishes, bits of piano and slow-burning orchestration that blooms after a highly ambient first half, there [...]

M.I.A.'s still capitalizing on that middle-finger buzz. With her own imprint, N.E.E.T., seeming to be past its best days, the British star has signed a deal with Jay-Z's Roc Nation. At least as of now, she won't be releasing her albums under their flag, the deal is more akin to a management partnership, which considering Hov's handling of artists such as Rihanna and Santigold, will likely play out well for the controversial Maya. Confirming the deal, Roc Nation tweeted, "The nation just keeps growing," along with a picture of M.I.A.'s artist page. No date is set as of [...]