Video: Homeless - "An Open Letter To Asher Roth"

(via)

Download: Homeless - "An Open Letter To Asher Roth"
*MP3: Asher Roth - "I Love College"

I've had an essay kicking around in my head called "Why Atmosphere Must Destroy Asher Roth" for quite some time. I never got past the conceptual stage of it though, which would revolve contrasting the blue-collar anthems of When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold, with collegiate-themed rapper Asher Roth's huge breakthrough hit "I Love College." (Discussed earlier here)

For those of you who don't know who Asher Roth is, he is a suburban-based rapper from Pennsylvania. He recently released his debut record, Asleep in the Bread Aisle (haha, white bread, get it?), which contains his aforementioned hit, which is basically all about how college is totally rad and filled with parties. Which, at times, it is. (Incidentally, I bet Asher Roth would totally hit on the overworked, overwhelmed waitress in Atmosphere's "You." Whether or not she'd dig it is a less clear proposition).

But, you know, and the risk of being Captain Buzzkill, there's also that whole studying thing, and not pissing away the multiple thousands of dollars spent paying for college, and working for study loans. But hey, why work, when there's a ubiquitous red cup that needs to be filled?

Naturally, given my ambivalence toward Roth, I was really curious when Midwest Broadcast posted a video by Minneapolis emcee Homeless posted a video called "An Open to Asher Roth." It pretty much lays out all the objections one could have to Roth, but does so in a constructive, thought-provoking manner. It's essential viewing for anyone who cares about popular music. Watch it at the top of the post.

Homeless MySpace Page

(Jon Graef)

Video: Atmosphere - "Shrapnel" (Live at Coachella, with interview at festival)

(Atmosphere - "Shrapnel" - Live at Coachella 2009)

(via)

If you weren't able to attend this weekend's Coachella festival, well, count yourselves as being one of many. The painted gold on that lemon is that videos from the hotter-than-hell (in terms of both popularity and actual temperature) festival have begun surfacing on YouTube. Above you'll see a video of Atmosphere, who played in 2006, performing "Shrapnel," from the recently released record God Loves Ugly.

Below is footage from an interview that Atmosphere emcee Slug did with 91xrocks, a radio station (they still exist?) based out of San Diego.

Apparently, polka is real huge up in the MPLS.



That's news to us. Although, now that you mention it...

Atmosphere MySpace Page

(Jon Graef)

New Video: Atmosphere - "Your Glass House"

From last year's anthemic album for the recession, When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold.

(via)

Atmosphere MySpace Page

(Jon Graef)

New Music: Atmosphere and Brother Ali - "Live in Sweden"

Download: Atmosphere and Brother Ali - "Live at the Hultsfred Festival" (Sweden)

Over the weekend, Midwest Broadcast posted a set from Rhymesayers emcees Atmosphere and Brother Ali from their 3 The Hard Way tour of Europe. Needless to say, the tape has been spreading like wildfire on the internet. You can download the hot mixtape at the top of the post.

Setlist (via):

Panic Attack
Cats Van Bags
Uncle Sam Goddamn
Puppets
Shoulda Known
Forest Whitaker
Blah Blah Blah
Guns and Cigarettes
Take Me Home
Truth Is

Atmosphere MySpace Page
Brother Ali MySpace Page

(Jon Graef)

Video: St. Paul Slim and Toki Wright - Live at "Artist Meets Artist"

Slim uploaded this video of him and Toki Wright's performance at the Rhymesayers' Artist Meets Artist concert earlier this month to a MySpace bulletin late last night, and, if you watch the video, you'll know immediately that Slim and Wright absolutely tear it up. Baldheaded Samsun and A Different Mirror can't come soon enough (actually, Wright's Mirror is set to drop on June 9th via Rhymesayers). To watch another video from the concert, go here, or, check out even more videos of Atmosphere, Brother Ali, and Trauma doing their respective things below (via)


(Brother Ali - "Good Lord" - Live @ "Fine Line Music Cafe")


(Atmosphere - "God Loves Ugly" - Live @ Fine Line)


(Trama - Live @ Fine Line)

St. Paul Slim MySpace Page
Toki Wright MySpace Page

(Jon Graef)

New Video: Atmosphere - "You" (Alternate Video)

Midwest Broadcast found this alternate version of Atmosphere's "You", from last year's When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold. This version follows the lyrics of the song pretty literally--it's a depiction of a waitress trying not to let the bullshit of her job overwhelm her. Watch it at the top of the post.

Atmosphere MySpace Page

Show Announcement: Rhymesayers' "Artists Meet Artists"

Atmosphere meets Brother Ali
Muja Messiah meets M.anifest
Toki Wright meets St. Paul Slim
Jimmy 2 Times meets Plain Ole Bill

Monday, March 9
Fine Line Music Cafe
9 PM | $20 | 18+

These performances of Rhymesayers crew members (and a few who aren't) will consist of "special combined sets." Sounds pretty promising. Thanks to MB, amongst others, for show information.

New Music: Slug of (Atmosphere), Muja Messiah & Lil Buddy - "Sho Biz (Get It Right)"

Download: Slug, Muja Messiah & Lil' Buddy - "Get It Right"

Three of MPLS' most well-regarded emcees got together to record a track, and here, we have the results: "Get it Right" is the new song from Slug, of Atmosphere fame; Muja Messiah, who, last year, put out a strongly promising debut album, Thee Adventures of a B-Boy D-Boy; and Lil' Buddy, who apparently has his fair share of problems, like most who have great amounts of talent.

"Get It Right" is an uptempo club banger, one that starts off with a brief sample of "Crewed Up," the massive local collaboration that appeared on Atmosphere's mixtape Strictly Leakage, before settling into pulse-pounding beat and off-the-beat string samples. Check it out at the top of the post.

Thanks to Nah Right and Jon Jon

Atmosphere MySpace Page
Muja Messiah MySpace Page
Lil Buddy MySpace Page

Atmosphere, Doomtree, St. Paul Slim Come Up Big At Twin Cities Hip-Hop Awards

This past Saturday, the hip-hop acts in the Twin Cities were honored at the 3rd Annual TC Hip-Hop Awards, which took place at the Varsity Theater. Although the full results have yet to be announce on the TC Hip-Hop MySpace Page, a MySpace blog post on St. Paul Slim's page has revealed some of the winners.

And, surprise surprise, a few familiar names show up: Socially conscience nonet Doomtree won TC Best Crew, while rap stalwarts Atmosphere won TC Best Group and TC Best Album. St. Paul Slim won TC Best EP and St. Paul Mayor.

Here are the rest of the results, as quoted directly on St. Paul's Blog:

ROF: TC BEST MC & BEST VIDEO
SPECIAL DARK: BEST TC HIP HOP DOCUMENTARIAN
I SELF DEVINE: BEST KNOWLEDGE SPITTA AND THE HIP HOP HONORS AWARD FOR THE MICRANOTS
LONG DOE'S HOMIE "MILLION DOLLAR KID" GOT BEST FREESTYLE

3rd Annual Twin Cities Awards MySpace Page
St. Paul MySpace Page

Best New Releases for Jan. 20, 2009

Today is proving to be quite a release date and will make quite a dent in my pocket book.

Andrew Bird - "Noble Beast" (Fat Possum)

*MP3: Andrew Bird - "Sovay"
Buy on Amazon

Animal Collective - "Merriweather Post Pavilion" (Domino)

*MP3: Animal Collective - "My Girls"
Buy on Amazon

Atmosphere - "God Loves Ugly" (Reissue with DVD) (Rhymesayers)

*MP3: Atmosphere - "God Loves Ugly"
Buy on Amazon

Bon Iver - "Blood Bank EP" (Jagjaguwar)

*MP3: Bon Iver - "Beach Baby"
Buy on Amazon

Coconut Records - "Davy" (Young Baby)

*MP3: Coconut Records - "Drummer"
Buy on Amazon

Video: Sad Clown Bad Dub 4 Trailer

One of the best features of the upcoming God Loves Ugly re-issue is the free bonus DVD. The disc, originally issued as a limited edition in the Sad Clown Bad Dub series (number four, if you're curious), contains "2 hours of live performance footage, backstage shenanigans, several special guest appearances" and three music videos from the original LP. Above is the trailer for said DVD, via an Atmosphere MySpace Bulletin.

God Loves Ugly will be re-released on January 20th.

Atmosphere to re-release God Loves Ugly in January

The third full-length (including the Lucy Ford compilation) from Atmosphere, God Loves Ugly, is significant in many ways. It's the first record that features Atmosphere's core line-up (Remember Spawn? He's in Overcast, and that's it), it's the first full-length after the Lucy Ford EPs, which established the themes of many Atmosphere albums to come, and it's the album that helped put Twin Cities hip-hop on the map.

Naturally, it's been out-of-print for a year.

But come January 20th, 2009, God Loves Ugly will be re-released not only in its original form, but also with a special edition DVD which, according to the Rhymesayers post, "originally released as the limited Sad Clown Bad Dub 4 (The Godlovesugly Release Parties) DVD" and features "2 hours of live performance footage, backstage shenanigans, several special guest appearances and music videos for 'Godlovesugly', 'Summersong' and 'Say Shh'." Not bad at all.

Watch a cartoon from the original DVD at the top of the post.

Pre-order the God Loves Ugly here.

Tracklisting:

1. Onemosphere
2. The Bass And The Movement
3. Give Me
4. F*@k You Lucy
5. Hair
6. Golovesugly
7. A Song About A Friend
8. Flesh
9. Saves The Day
10. Lovelife
11. Breathing
12. Vampires
13. A Girl Named Hope
14. Godlovesugly Reprise
15. Modern Man's Hustle
16. One Of A Kind
17. Blamegame
18. Shrapnel

Atmosphere MySpace Page

Video: Slug of Atmosphere on "The Daily Fix"

Video: Slug (of Atmosphere) Interview By SEIU About Youth Vote

Service Employees International Union, who put together the Take Back Labor Day Festival which took place this past summer in St. Paul, interviews Slug of the hip-hop duo Atmosphere about the importance of young people voting, particularly in this election. Watch the video at the top of the post.

Atmosphere MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)
jon@minneapolisfuckingrocks.com

New Video: Atmosphere - "You"

Video: Atmosphere - "You" and "Yesterday" (Live on Jimmy Kimmel)

Video: Atmosphere - Live at Take Back Labor Day Fest (Sept. 1st, 2008)

(Atmosphere - "Always Coming Back To You")


(Atmosphere - "God Loves Ugly")

Well, apparently, the past few days haven't been all about conventions, storms, and throwing away the Fourth Amendment. There was some music and merriment involved as well. The Take Back Labor Day Fest may not have had Lupe Fiasco, but we have a feeling that those wanting to rappers with a flow ripe with a jazz-like dexterity got their fill with Minneapolis-based duo (with a large backing band) Atmosphere. The twosome was one of many to play the bill at the all-day fest yesterday.

If you missed it--perhaps because you were out being arrested--fret not. Video of the bands performance has shown up on YouTube, specifically old classics like "God Loves Ugly" (the video of which might induce nausea) and Seven's Travels nugget "Always Coming Back To You", which also doubled as set closer. Based on these videos, it would seem as if Atmosphere stayed closed to the script laid down in the studio, though "God Loves Ugly" gets a nice Paint That Shit Gold reference. Well done.

Watch video of Atmosphere at Take Back Labor Day at the top of the post.

Atmosphere MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)

Right Now: Take Back Labor Day Fest @ Harriet Island

(Atmosphere)

Take Back Labor Day Festival
Monday, September 1
Harriet Island
St. Paul, MN
12pm - 7pm | $10 | AA

Festival Line-up:

The Pharcyde
Atmosphere
Mos Def
Billy Bragg
Steve Earle
Tom Morello
Allison Moorer

Lupe Fiasco had to drop out due to undisclosed reasons.

The Hood Internet Releases Atmosphere Vs. Silversun Pickups Track

Download: Atmosphere Vs. Silversun Pickups - "Edie Booksmart" (via)

The Hood Internet has created innovative and intriguing mixtapes mashing up the best of Chicago, Swedish electro-pop star Lykke Li, and even put together a track overlapping pop diva Mariah Carey with Minneapolis-based soundscape collage wizard Dosh. In keeping with the Minneapolis theme, the Hood Internet just released yesterday a track mashing up hip-hop heroes Atmosphere and L.A-based indie-rockers Silversun Pickups. What inspired the pairings? Let's let The Hood Internet do the talking:

On September 13 & 14 we're gonna be at Red Rocks for the 2008 Monolith Festival, so we went and made a bunch of tracks comprised of artists that are playing. The plan as of right now is to post a track every day this week, so stay tuned.

Atmosphere plays the New Belgium stage on Saturday at 9:45pm; Silversun Pickups play the main stage on Saturday at 8:45pm; The Hood Internet plays the woxy.com stage on Saturday at 4:40pm.

So what does the Hood Internet have in store for us today? Find out by clicking here.

In other Atmosphere news, the duo announced yesterday afternoon that they'll be stopping by Jimmy Kimmel Live for a live performance on September 23rd, and also giving a mini-concert beforehand. Details about how you can get free tix to the showing (assuming you'll be where the show tapes, of course) here.

Atmosphere Announce More "Paint The Nation" Tour Dates

10.13 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
10.14 - New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
10.15 - Providence, RI @ Lupo's
10.17 - Portland, ME @ The Station
10.18 - Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
10.20 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls
10.21 - Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
10.22 - Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
10.24 - Cincinnati, OH @ Scribble Jam/Annie's
10.25 - Nashville, TN @ Wildhorse Saloon
10.27 - Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Theatre
10.28 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Intersection
10.29 - Urbana, IL @ Canopy Club
10.31 - Madison, WI @ Orpheum Theatre
11.01 - Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theater
11.02 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave
11.05 - Iowa City, IA @ Englert Theatre
11.06 - Lawrence, KS @ The Granada
11.07 - Tulsa, OK @ Cain's Ballroom
11.08 - Austin, TX @ FFF Festival/Waterloo Park*
11.09 - Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
11.11 - El Paso, TX @ Club 101
11.12 - Albuquerque, NM @ Convention Center
11.15 - Columbia, MO @ The Blue Note
11.16 - Chicago, IL @ The Vic Theatre

The last time we updated you about Atmosphere's tour plans, a commenter noted about how Minneapolis got gyped. I responded that Atmosphere usually announce a hometown date later on. Turns out Bill's got nothing to fear. The November 11th date at First Ave is but one of many of of the new dates added for the rap duo's "Paint The Nation" tour. Check all of them out at the top of the post. Fan sale for the dates start on August 20th.

Read more here.

Atmosphere MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)