Antwon just released a music video featuring Rafael Reyes—frontman for the locally loved, San Diego-based “cholo goth” duo PRAYERS—via Pitchfork.The new clip for “Dri-Fit” finds the San Jose-born emcee kicking mad flows at a backyard party, while Reyes and other cowboy-hat-clad chicanos flash knives, swill Tecate and rock the dance floor.

The video’s protagonist wear’s an LED-bedazzled vest—like a total badass.

“Dri-Fit” is the closing track from Antwon’s excellent Double Ecstacy EP, which he released April 1 on the taste-making Los Angeles label Anticon—home to TOBACCO and Daedelus. Peep game on the video below:

Antwon continues to tease his forthcoming Anticon debut—the Double Ecstasy EP—releasing another single from the five-song set today. The track, titled “100K,” finds the San Jose-reared, L.A.-based emcee in top form, rhyming about putting in work and getting paid on the mean streets… perhaps of San Jose.

“100K a summer/on First Street getting becky from a runner,” he spits in this highly sexual, darkly scored tune.

The EP, produced by Lars Stalfors (HEALTH, White Lung, Cold War Kids), promises to be the sharpest, most focused Antwon release to date. The beats are brooding and sinister, the flows are reminiscent of Notorious B.I.G., and, as always, Antwon’s background in hardcore music occasionally finds its way to the fore—fleetingly adding an twinge of alternative spice.

Listen to the track below.

From San Jose math rockers to an up-and-coming Vallejo emcee, this year’s South By Southwest festival in Austin, Tex., is packed with serious Bay Area talent. Here are six local acts to catch at SXSW.

Antwon: Recently signed to Anticon and pushing a new EP—Double Ecstacy—Antwon seems poised to finally grab that big break he’s been chasing. If lead single, “Luv” is any indication, the San Jose-bred emcee seems to be doubling down on everything that put him on in the first place: namely his Biggie-esque flow, an ear for haunting-yet-banging beats and a twisted sense of humor.

Burnt Palms: With their fuzzy, beach-punk riffs, tambourine jangles and ooh-ah backing vocals, this Monterey-based outfit recall Dum Dum Girls and Wavves. Like the former, they feature all-female vocals. Unlike the latter, their surf-and-sand, stoner vibes are chillier. Perhaps that’s due to the 831 area code, where the swells come in far colder than they do in SoCal.

Covet: San Jose’s very own Yvette Young and her band, Covet, are proving that angular, finger-tapped guitar heroics aren’t just for punky boys from Sacramento (we still love you, Tera Melos and Hella). We’re just saying—damn. Young’s dexterous, guitar-powered rock proves that technical prowess and an ear for poppy riffs are not mutually exclusive.

Geographer: Playing The Ritz at the end of April, the San Francisco-based Geographer has been trumpeted by Live 105’s tastemaking program director, Aaron Axelsen, for some time now. The trio craft gauzy indie pop tunes with tinkling keys, gummy synths, soaring soprano melodies.

James Supercave: The boys of James Supercave call Los Angeles home these days. But the trio’s frontman, Joaquin Pastor spent a great deal of his childhood and adolescence in Santa Cruz, while keyboardist and band co-founder Patrick Logothetti grew up in San Jose. They craft catchy, psychedelic pop tunes, are touring behind a new album, Better Strange and were recently featured in Metro.

Nef the Pharaoh: The E-40-mentored Nef the Pharaoh looks as if he just might be the biggest hip-hop artist to emerge from the 707 since the late, great Andre Hicks. The young Vallejo emcee has a flow that merges Mac Dre’s sardonic cadence with the hyperbolic, stutter-stop, rat-a-tat style of Rae Sremmurd, Future and Rich Homie Quan.

]]> https://activate.metroactive.com/2016/03/essential-bay-area-bands-at-sxsw/feed/ 0 https://activate.metroactive.com/2016/02/antwon-signs-to-anticon-drops-new-single-luv/ https://activate.metroactive.com/2016/02/antwon-signs-to-anticon-drops-new-single-luv/#comments Wed, 17 Feb 2016 02:20:14 +0000 http://wp.blvdscms.com/activate-metroactive-com/?p=117681
It’s the same story every time. A local artist starts to catch a buzz on the blogs, major labels come sniffing around, and then they make the move—to San Francisco or Oakland or Los Angeles. It’s hard to hate on the decision. After all, San Jose can be a pretty sleepy place and…]]>

It’s the same story every time. A local artist starts to catch a buzz on the blogs, major labels come sniffing around, and then they make the move—to San Francisco or Oakland or Los Angeles.

It’s hard to hate on the decision. After all, San Jose can be a pretty sleepy place and it certainly doesn’t have any kind of national—let alone international—recognition.

It seems that only the weirdest of the weird stay—at least in spirit—regardless of how much acclaim they receive. Stoner metal titans Sleep are still proudly rocking “San Jose” on their Facebook profile.

The same goes for bizarro 408 emcee Antwon, who recently announced he is joining the tastemaking outsider label, Anticon, and has dropped a new single, “Luv,” from his forthcoming EP, Double Ecstacy, slated for an April 1 release. While his publicist says that the hardcore-punk-musician-turned-rapper is currently living in Los Angeles full time, he still reps San Jose on his Bandcamp page.

While Antwon has long been a mainstay on the best-of and most-anticipated lists of hip music publications, such as Pitchfork and The Fader, which debuted his new single, he has yet to garner mainstream acclaim. That may be due to the fact that he is pretty far out there. Although singles like “3rd World” and “Helicopter”—from End of Earth and the Fantasy Beds mixtape respectively—showcased a refined taste for alternative-yet-catchy beats and an infectious, Biggie-esque flow, the rest of his material was far too strange to appeal to a general audience.

But the world of pop music has veered sharply into left field in the past few years—with artists like The Weeknd scoring big hits with dark songs, spun over sinister, syrupy beats. If “Luv” is anything, it’s surely that.

“Show me love/in the booty club,” Antwon flows assertively over a menacing, buzzy bass patch. The song is ostensibly about looking for affection in all the wrong places—namely at a strip joint while high on controlled substances. And the word “love” gets bleeped, as if the concept itself is profane.

It’s grim, to be sure. But it also knocks. In 2016, that’s looking to be a winning combination.

Antwon
‘Double Ecstasy’ EP
April 1, Anticon Records

YEAR-END LISTS typically hew to the comfy round number 10. And although Top 10 has a ring to it, Silicon Valley’s melting pot of musical talent fused genres, collaborated, innovated and turned out so many great LPs and EPs this year that it became a nearly impossible task to narrow it down to even the Top 15 releases, so we squeezed one more pick for a favorite 16. Here, in no particular order, are some of 2013’s best local releases.

The Bangerz: PRiSM
PriSM, the Bangerz’ second soundtrack LP for the Jabbawockeez Las Vegas stage show, showcases the crew going deeper into some amazing futuristic soundscapes. The crew has always straddled a line between throwback hip-hop and cutting edge electro-jams, but it’s all forward thinking with this release. In a sign of the times—as the line between EDM and hip-hop continues to blur—there’s a healthy dose of dubstep influence on this record, as well.

Rebelskamp: The Kill
Going into a recording studio without any written material doesn’t sound like a winning formula for an album, yet Rebelskamp produced a remarkable LP this year. They’ve gotten so good at improvisation that they don’t sound like they’re inventing the music on the spot. Yet, the spontaneity of such a freeform formula remains intact. These songs go any and everywhere, drifting through funk riffs, psychedelic space jams and crazy free-jazz. A highlight is “The Rebel,” with local rapper Dirtbag Dan freestyling a couple verses.

Philthy Dronez: Wepa Life
Up until recently, Matt Gonzales was known mostly as the go-to guitarist for local bands. (Anya and the Getdown, Raul y Mexia, Chris Reed—to name a few). Now the world gets a taste of his solo project: producing Latin-infused electro-beats under his alter-ego, Philthy Dronez. His debut EP, Wepa Life, was released on Global Bass Experience a few months back. It’s a short EP, about 15 minutes, but it’s bumpin’. It centers on the emerging new-cumbia sound, but also veers into electronic and hip-hop territory, and even some old-school cumbia.

Boboso: Grown Ass Man
There are three things Boboso raps about: food, cats and his love for the female derriere—often within the same song. Yet, he’s not exactly a comedy rapper. He can really rhyme. Plus, his production skills are top-notch: classic West Coast beats with surreal twists. The Beach Boys sample on “That Breathe In, Breathe Out Shit” is a particular highlight. Jeff Rosenstock from Brooklyn punk band Bomb the Music Industry also lays down an impressive verse on “Sartorial Panache.”

Careless Hearts: Alum Rock
Alum Rock isn’t just the latest album by Careless Hearts; it’s the culmination of five years of life-changing events. They started out a laidback Americana group, but since 2008’s Heart’s Delight, they’ve gone through some major lineup changes and played a life-changing show with punk legend, Stooges guitarist James Williamson. It shows in the roots-rock, power-pop songwriting on Alum Rock. The release rocks harder, louder and with more passion than their first two albums.

Antwon: In Dark Denim
In Dark Denim isn’t as accessible as Antwon’s prior work and takes the San Jose rapper in a new direction. His beats are grimier, the samples are darker and the lyrics are dirtier than ever. “Work 4 Me,” with its down-and-dirty hip-shaking beat and raunchy lyrics, sounds like he’s seducing the listener. All the while, Antwon’s fanbase continues to grow, with a successful run at SXSW, an appearance at Treasure Island Music Festival and two national tours during the last year.

The Albert Square: How’s Everybody’s Doings?
Last year, Sim Castro reformed his punk rock outfit the Albert Square. The songwriting is much in the same vein, subtly nuanced ’80s and ’90s post-punk-inspired, but the band’s performances are far more unhinged—a good thing. Their newfound spastic energy complements Castro’s reflective songwriting quite well. However, the strongest song, “(Proud) Parents,” is oddly the most reserved track on the EP.

The Limousines: Hush
It’s been a couple years since synth-pop duo the Limousines released their brilliant debut, Get Sharp. Despite all the views they were getting on YouTube and radio play they received, they had major problems to sort out with their label, but Hush was worth the wait: Its synth beats are dancier, the production is more refined and in place of their signature clever nihilism, Hush offers lyrics that are raw and honest. Hush was made with funds from a Kickstarter campaign that sought $30,000 but ended up raising $75,000.

Dinners: Black Rabbits
If such a thing as a San Jose “supergroup” exists, Dinners might be that band, featuring members from Worker Bee and Doctor Nurse. Dinners go into a different direction than either Worker Bee (moody indie rock) or Doctor Nurse (psychedelic folk) with lo-fi noise-pop and a heavy dose of Guided By Voices influence. At first listen, Black Rabbits sounds like the kind of four-track recording popular with ’90s indie bands, but it’s actually a quite meticulously, thoughtfully crafted album. The cover art is amazing, too.

Rey Resurreccion, M-10, Locsta Villan: First Street Sessions
Some of rapper Rey Resurreccion’s finest works are collaborations. Last year, he worked with the Bangerz to make some killer old school hip-hop tunes. This year, he got together with emcees M-10 and Locsta Villan and created the 1st Street Sessions. Together the trio has produced eight laid-back, dreamy hip-hop songs that should be on urban stations all across the country.

Raul y Mexia: Arriba y Lejos
Brothers Raul y Mexia released a fun, passionate Spanish-language album this year on Nacional Records, the current leaders of cutting-edge Latin music. Arriba y Lejos combines elements of cumbia and other traditional Latin sounds with hip-hop and electronica. The duo, who are sons of Hernán Hernández, bassist of famous Norteño band Los Tigres del Norte, has created something that both pays tribute to classic Latin music, like their father created, and all the newer American music they grew up with here in San Jose.

Sean Blak: #Basslife
Sean Blak books live hip-hop shows, puts on battle-rap events and holds a weekly Tuesday night residency, “the Trap Shop” at Johnny V’s. He’s also a prolific rapper, with a ton of lo-fi, surreal homemade hip-hop records online. His best this year is the LP #Basslife. On it, he takes some of the strangest, most intimate beats and makes them sound like outrageous club bangers.

Slime Girls: Vacation Wasteland
By the time Slime Girls came together, the chiptune scene was already well-established. Yet they’ve still been able to find their own sound within it, taking all the old Nintendo chip Gameboy sounds and mixing them with surf, punk and ska. Their latest EP, Vacation Wasteland, is a seriously fun collection of instrumental chip-rock tunes. It was originally pressed on cassette because they’re that into old technology.

David Brookings: The Maze
The Maze is David Brookings’ sixth full-length album since 2000, yet he’s still working on building his fanbase in the Bay Area. He moved to Northern California from the Memphis by way of Richmond, Virginia, in 2009, and produced his five albums before heading West. The Maze, like its five predecessors, brings together ’60s psychedelic-rock and ’80s New Wave.

Derek See: She Came This Way
The title track to Derek See’s She Came This Way is an amazing psychedelic-pop gem. At first, See, who normally plays guitar in soul group the Bang, recorded it, along with a couple other tunes, just for fun. It was good enough for an indie label to offer to release it, and they even ran out of the first pressing. It’s the kind of song that, had it been written in 1967, would have been a Summer of Love FM hit, no doubt.

Noothgrush: Split LP with Coffins
Back in the ’90s, sludge metal group Noothgrush were a pretty big deal. Along with Sleep and a few other bands, San Jose boasted a strong doom metal scene. Noothgrush just recently reformed, and they also just released a split record with Japanese metal band Coffins. The third track, “Thoth” is particularly special, as it contains spoken clips from the late, great, much beloved KFJC DJ, Cy Thoth, who died earlier this year.

For a city that struggles year in and year out to foster a vibrant local music scene, the SVSX festival—which featured over 20 bands in 9 venues—was a success. Mike Huguenor, who opened the Pagoda Lounge lineup, took a moment during his set to comment on what an incredible event SVSX was turning out to be.

“I’ve lived most of my life in San Jose, and until very recently it seemed absolutely impossible for art to get any kind of foothold in this sprawling, vastly economically imbalanced city,” he said. “A festival like this seemed unthinkable until very recently, and I’m extremely happy to be a part of it.”

His band, which included Bob Vielma (Shinobu) on bass and Hank Richardson (Yulia) on drums, gave his solo material a driving rock edge. Yet, unlike Huguenor’s work with Shinobu and Hard Girls, these songs were notably mellower, while still holding true to his trademark blend of thoughtful lyrics and offbeat chord arrangements.

PHOTOS: 10 Photo Highlights of SVSX

The largely college-aged crowd slowly trickled in as Huguenor played. By the time Fierce Creatures went on, the Pagoda boasted a nice amount of attendees, all ready as Fierce Creatures soared through several of their lush, indie-rock, soul-inspired tunes.

The hip hop lineup at the Blank Club showed a diverse cross-section of rap styles. Antwon and Memphis rapper Cities Aviv were major highlights. Cities Aviv is gaining some buzz music blogs all over the web right now with his fresh, unusual interpretation of rap. As innovative as his album Digital Low is, live, he was on a whole other level of strange. He mixed atonal music, bizarre electronics and outer-space beats with rapping that was heavily processed and mixed at a volume barely above the music, which made for a surreal experience that fell somewhere between neurotic, spastic hip hop and avant-garde performance art.

Antwon took the stage afterword. His music and performance, while not as out-there as Cities Aviv’s, is totally distinct from anything happening in hip hop right now. He’s falls somewhere between nerd rap, stoner rap and hipster rap, yet not fitting into any of these already conceived models. The audience couldn’t decide if they were with him or not. Despite being local, he rarely gigs in San Jose, yet he’s developed an impressive following in the East Bay, San Francisco and all over the Internet (he has +120,000 views for his “Helicopter” video on YouTube).

Dirtbag Dan at The Blank Club // Photo by Alex Stover

Local favorite Dirtbag Dan, who was accompanied by Skylar G and DJ Ichy the Killer, put on one of his best, hard-hitting shows to date to an enthusiastic audience. It wasn’t long ago that Dan toiled in obscurity locally—even while being one of the biggest names in battle rap all over the world. Headlining the SVSX festival to a packed house was a monumental moment for Dan.

Before his actual set, Dan had DJ Ichy the Killer perform a solo DJ routine—the same routine that got him into the DMC online DJ competition finals. He flawlessly mixed different genres, popular songs and obscure beats, using crazy spinning tricks and strange rhythms into six mind-blowing minutes.

With nine venues total it was hard to see everything that was happening, yet there was more than enough people to go around. Johnny V’s was packed, so was San Pedro Square Market and Mezcal restaurant. The other venues did well, too, and the pub crawl element of the SVSX festival was a nice touch. Walking from venue to venue and seeing so many people enjoying good local music—rap, punk, reggae, indie rock, folk—was a nice feeling.

Usually known for it’s rock ‘n’ roll tendencies, the Blank Club hosts a rare hip-hop show for SVSX on Saturday featuring battle rapper Dirtbag Dan, up-and-coming San Jose MC Antwon with Cities Aviv, DJ Ichy the Killer and G.I.F.T.

Dirtbag Dan
12:30am, Blank Club
Dirtbag Dan was born in San Jose as Daniel Martinez. He first got onstage when he was 14 years old and saw LSP (Kung Fu Vampire’s old group) perform at Java Stop in San Jose. At the end of the performance, they invited the audience onstage to freestyle. His friends, knowing he liked to rap, coaxed Dan to try it. “It was the coolest thing ever. I was like, ‘I am definitely doing this. This is my thing,’” he recalls.

He recorded his first solo album, Dirt 4 $ale, in 2003, joining Thunderhut around that time, then Counter Productive a little later. Eventually, he devoted himself to Counter Productive full time. In 2005, he, Able Abilities & Skylar G found a DJ named Ichy the Killer, and the Counter Productive crew was officially complete.

Dan has earned international fame thanks to his dominance in Grind Time, the battle-rap league. Anyone who has seen him perform knows that Dirtbag Dan is impossible to ignore, having one of the weirdest rap personas. As his name suggests, he sports a thick scraggily hobo beard—and a loud, over-the-top swagger.

Antwon with Cities Aviv
11:30pm, Blank Club
San Jose rapper Antwon has been getting a lot of attention lately. In February, he released his video “Helicopter,” which mixes footage from Steve McQueen’s 1968 car-chase flick Bullitt with shots of Antwon and his crew wandering around train tracks, drinking malt liquor and eating heaping platefuls of food (color-corrected, of course, to match the vintage footage).

The video has received favorable attention from several blogs, including on Spin’s website. Yes, the video is good, but it’s backed up by a killer song, too. Antwon has a laid-back, easy flow reminiscent of Biggy Smalls, but he’s not taking himself seriously. He’ll string together a single sentence about smoking weed and eating too much food that is neither comedic nor pretentious. The driving, shuffling funk beat and blaring dissonant organ loop sound like they were plucked right out of a grindhouse movie.

Since his breakout mixtape “Fantasy Beds,” Antwon has released the equally impressive “End of Earth,” which has his latest single, “Living Every Dream.” The video looks like an authentic relic from the VHS era and contains an infectious sample from the famous DNA remix of Susan Vega’s “Tom’s Diner.” Keep your ears on Antwon. This is where rap is heading.

G.I.F.T./First Class
10:30pm, the Blank Club
G.I.F.T. and Bless (Ya’Soul)—two young emcees from the local hip-hop duo First Class—each bring something distinct to the table. Bless, for instance, is an intense rapper with a direct, straightforward flow. He keeps his rhymes positive and uplifting, whether he’s commenting on society or relating his personal experiences. His presence is powerful—almost intimidating. But he balances his force with thought-provoking, compassionate rhymes. G.I.F.T., on the other hand, brings a crazier, offbeat vibe. His raps are full of stream-of-consciousness associations, spun together in unusual rhythms, connecting every loose peculiar idea he has floating around in his head in a clever manner, mixing humor and down-to-earth charm.

Together, G.I.F.T. and Bless combine their strengths into a full-on, well-rounded attack. Even as they work together, they are always working off of each other—in direct competition to see who can spit the best verses. It’s been this way since the beginning, since they first met at age 13 and started writing songs together. The name “First Class” was their way of saying that their skills—when combined—could go up against any other rapper or crew out there. They are currently managed by South Bay musician and producer “Da Hermit.”

Ichy the Killer
10pm, 12:30Am, the Blank Club
DJ Ichy the Killer, also known as Chris Larsen, got his start almost a decade ago with the hip-hop crew Counter Productive. He continues to spin for Dirtbag Dan, also from Counter Productive, and Insolence, Language Arts Crew and various other San Jose groups. In August, Ichy advanced to the final round of the online portion of the DMC DJ battle. As his online video submission demonstrates, Ichy can hold his own without anybody rapping over his beats. He’s got a strong sense of structure and a slick artistic style.

San Jose rapper Antown’s new video “Living Every Dream” has been out for not even a week and already he’s sneaking up on 10,000 views on Youtube.

“Living Every Dream” follows Antwon’s breakout video for “Helicopter,” which has more than 90,000 views on YouTube to date. The muted colors and the occasional shaky screen give the video an eerily accurate 80s look with VHS qualities. The backup dancer’s outfits look plucked right out of season one of “A Different World.” Their synchronized moves seem taken directly from a scene from an early Spike Lee movie.

If there’s humor or even parody to Antwon’s 80s theme, it’s subtle. The video consists mostly of shots of him driving around, his backup dancers, roller coasters and of course the green neon scrolling credits at the end.

The music isn’t retro, per say, though it is a simple no nonsense funky beat reminiscent of DNA’s famous remix of Susan Vega’s song, “Tom’s Diner.” Antown’s flow is direct and natural. His genius, lyrically, is in how he always manages to find a way to weave the serious with the not-so-serious and the sample sounds like an early 90s female R & B singer swelling in and out of key to almost surreal levels.

Antwon’s new album, End of Earth, which features “Living Every Dream” will be released on August 2 on his bandcamp page.

In February, unknown San Jose rapper Antwon released the video for his song “Helicopter,” which quickly became the subject of music blogs all over the internet, most notably spin.com. It’s now creeping up on 80,000 views and counting.

What made “Helicopter” an Internet sensation was how seamlessly the director mashed together scenes from the Steve McQueen 1960s car chase flick Bullitt with footage of Antwon and his crew walking around those same San Franciscan streets.

But the real gem in the video is the song itself. It’s a unique hybrid of party-rap, stoner-rap, emo-rap and nerd-rap, without actually falling into any one of these pre-existing rap genres.

“A lot of people will tell me, ‘oh you’re an Internet rapper.’ My stuff got big on the Internet because I couldn’t get it big anywhere else,” Antwon says.

In fact, the majority of music blogs that wrote about Helicopter were not rap-oriented. Antwon has yet to get much interest from the hip-hop community.
“Rap music has its own media, like The Source or XXL, but a lot of rappers don’t fit into that mold. It’s easier for me to get into Fader and stuff like that. My audience isn’t a really strong hip-hop audience. They are people that listen to a lot of different stuff,” Antwon says.

The music for “Helicopter” is actually an instrumental song called “Helicopter Does Not Exist,” which was produced by Walsh, for his own 2010 EP, Smoke Weed About It. It’s a funky, dissonant electronic track with an authentic retro vibe that could easily pass for a cool soundtrack to a ’70s action flick that never existed. Antwon contacted Walsh and asked if he could rap over it for his mixtape Fantasy Beds. Walsh told him yes.

San Jose rapper Antwon has been getting a lot of attention lately. In February, he released his video “Helicopter,” which has becoming the subject of many blogs. The video mixes footage from Steve McQueen’s 1968 car chase flick Bullitt with shots of Antwon and his crew wandering around train tracks, drinking malt liquor and eating heaping platefuls of food (color-corrected, of course, to match the 1968 footage).

The video has received favorable writeups from several blogs, including on Spin’s website where Helicopter was called “an early candidate for video of the year.” Yes, the video is good, but it’s backed up by a killer song too. Antwon has a laid-back, easy flow reminiscent of Biggy Smalls. But he’s not taking himself seriously. He’ll string together a single sentence about smoking weed and eating too much food that is neither comedic nor pretentious. The driving, shuffling funk-beat and blaring dissonant organ loop sound like they were plucked right out of a 70s grindhouse movie. Keep your eye on Antwon. This is where rap is heading.