in 2006, hip-hop was turned on its head by the arrival of chicagos kenny dennis, a proudly married, mustachioed and middle-aged rapper repping no-nonsense lyrics and a salt-of-the-earth swagger. this unlikely hero delivered a handful of classics via the album, dennehy, and then disappeared. but in 2011, kennys cult of fans were given a gift: the long-lost 1993 lp theres a situation on the homefront from his theretofore unheard boom-bap crew tha grimm teachaz. (kenny was then known as kdz, tha killa deacon. the group was briefly signed to jive records.) as it turned out, that gift was twofold. inspired by the anticon-backed release of that unearthed gem, kenny has teamed up with producers jel and odd nosdam to make a brand new record, a reintroduction of sorts, dubbed the kenny dennis ep.

serengeti first solo album for anticon finds him upbeat,on point and full of swagger.

there is music that is made from the outside looking in. the textures are vibrant and the beats bang, but there is a hollow radiance at the core. it is pantomime. then there is los angeles alfred darlington aka daedelus, who has released a dozen albums in a dozen years straddling countless sub-genres. they are united by his insistence on letting his emotions guide the blueprint. if you have listened to his music, you understand. there is a balance between the direct and the obtuse that cant be articulated in words. this is part of the subtext for drown out, daedelus most elegiac album. his debut for anticon is a heart-on-sleeve meditation devoted to loss, coded language, and the maddening failures of communication. and yet you can still bob your head to it.
the vinyl lp comes with code for download of the full album.

three years ago, baths dropped his startlingly beautiful debut, cerulean. released on anticon, the record blurred the line between post-modern pop and the la beat scene with devastating emotional clarity. its tone was as celestial as its album title, taken from a shade of blue typically used to describe the sky.
cerulean earned year-end best-of recognition from pitchfork and the onions a.v. club and established chatsworth-raised will wiesenfeld as one of the finest young composers (and falsettos) in los angeles. his sophomore album, obsidian, finds him emerging as one of the most complete artists of his generation. as you might expect, the name hints at darker overtones. the mood is shimmering and pitch-black, the lovely blood flow has turned into lava.

anticon founder and instrumental rap innovator alias is reborn with fever dream, his sixth full-length for the label. alias acclaimed 2008 lp resurgam represented a culmination of the sound he had been chasing the previous five years -- a bewitchingly blue combination of icy atmosphere, haunted melodies and hard drums. he cleansed his palate with 2010s fallen house, sunken city, the modern boom-bap masterpiece he produced for emcee b. dolan, and when it came time to return to the alias oeuvre, he was ready for a reboot.
double 12 inch vinyl, pressed at 45 rpm. comes with code for free mp3 download of the full album.

mit seinem longplay-debüt tritt der produzent und sänger aus sacramento endlich mal selbst ins licht der Öffentlichkeit. als mitmusiker von zach hill, techniker und co-produzent der dirty projectors und gitarrist für marnie stern stand raleigh moncrief stets in der zweiten reihe, auf >watered lawn< rückt er ganz nach vorn. selbst gemachter elektronik-soul, sich vortastende psychedelic, das ganze im steten wechselspiel aus hell und dunkel und folkig intim vorgetragen. dabei schmiegt sich moncriefs herzschmerziger falsett an westafrikanische gitarren, synthie-effekte und verhallte beats. aus melodien werden rhythmen, aus moll wird dur, aus r&b grunge. und manchmal klingt es wie ein in acetat getauchtes stück von panda bear.
limitiert auf 1000 kopien, inklusive mp3-downloadcode

for his second album as son lux, new yorks ryan lott did a very un-son lux thing. he recorded we are rising in a month -- the shortest month of the year, actually -- while npr tracked his every move. this, as opposed to the making of his lauded 2008 debut, at war with walls and mazes, which he slowly built in complete privacy over nearly three years. of course, he didn’t plan it this way. he simply awoke one late january morning to find a message from all songs considered titled, >you busy?<. the annual rpm challenge, an international open call to create an album in 28 days, had been issued and lott had been tapped. how could he say no?
pressing on transparent blue vinyl, includes code for free mp3 download of the full album.

limited edition release of 1000 copies, including code for free digital download.

2011 album from the anticon founder and instrumental rap innovator. fever dream is alias s most inspired and dynamic record in years. spurred by the psychedelic sound and off-kilter groove of electronic experimentalists like flying lotus, modeselektor and bibio, he ditches quantized beats, embraces warmth and sets the whole thing wobbling to a warped dance pulse. incorporating generous amounts of chopped, pitch-bent r&b vocals, plus sprinklings of live instrumentation and loads of left turns, fever dream is a stylistic whirlwind of hallucinatory house, homespun big beat, swinging downtempo and melodic break music.

features four tet, clark, son lux, in flagranti, tobacco, members of interpol...