[Night Out] OMG CMJ 2014 Day Two: Oh Cassius!, Pompeya, François Ier, The Kickdrums

Oh Cassius! @ Bowery Electric 10/22/14If I'm honest, none of the day shows really seemed worthwhile to me. I decided to try and take it somewhat easy until nightfall. While I was prepping for who I was going to check out on Wednesday I also made the decision to try to see as many bands that are super far away from NYC because duh I live here.

First show of the evening was a quick bite of Bridgeport band Oh Cassius! over at Bowery Electric. If I hadn't been so determined to make it out to Cameo Gallery by 8 I would have definitely stuck it out for their entire performance. The band is fronted by a fun little vocal duo who really play off of each others energy super well. I had to bounce about halfway through their set, but I intend to put them into my regular rotation very soon, specifically songs like, "Carpenter".

Now you may be asking me, "Kibbe, if you had been bitching about the rain so much on Twitter, WHY would you trekk all the way to Cameo Gallery in a cab when a perfectly good lineup was right before you at Bowery Electric!?"

Well I'll tell you why: I've never had a favorite band from Moscow before and now I do so stfu.

I knew the second that singer Daniiil Brod took the stage and said something to the effect of, "Hey. We're gonna play six songs and then we're gonna go" that Pompeya were the kind of dudes that I'd like to have a beer with because they're not too fussy about what they do. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but I did ruin a few good shots because I kept involuntarily swaying and moving my hips around. I really take Sprout for granted in that regard because she normally does all the snapping and I do all the dancing.

Pompeya @ Cameo Gallery 10/22/14I wasn't familiar with their material other than their single, "Does", but you'll find their music is really easy to get on board with. The second I hit 'publish'on this post I will begin nagging for their upcoming album, Real so I can give you plenty of reasons to pick it up when it drops on February 17th of next year. For now, you can grab their Night EP over on iTunes.

I debated sticking around for Walking Shapes since they were up next, but they're Brooklyn based and that was against the rules for the day. I will probably have to check them out at their next show on October 25th at Spike Hill though.

Instead, I thought I'd outsmart the rain and train it on down to Le Baron to check out François Ier at the France Rocks Party down in Chinatown. I checked out his Neptune EP over the weekend and was thoroughly impressed so I thought I'd experience some of it live.

When I arrived François was treating a bunch of ungrateful French implants who were talking over his lush rhythms about lord only knows what because it has been over a decade now since I was in a French class. They had this poor kid shoved in the corner while they were getting things ready for the next full band that followed him. That felt a little bit disrespectful to me, but I guess I get it. At any rate, I wanted to stay longer, but after experiecning my first $14 well drink in over 3 years and realizing that with the rain that it was going to take me longer to get to Arlene's for my last show of the night, I said "Au Revoire!" and headed back towards the LES.

Nobody should be François Ier in the corner, but they did at Le Baron 10/22/14I know I had the whole, "only bands from really far from NYC" rule for the night, but after trudging through the rain back and forth from Manhattan and Brooklyn all evening, I really just needed a dose of familiarity and awesomeness. That was obviously going to be The Kickdrums at Arlene's Grocery. I've grabbed coffee with Fitts a couple of times in the past year, but it had been awhile since I had seen them perform. It was definitely before they dropped their last album, Thinking Out Loud, which came out over a year ago. Eek! So yeah, obvi long overdue but I am happy to report that the band is aging like a fine wine. They played cuts from all but one of their albums (which happens to be my favorite one, Just A Game). It was certainly a showcase of how much their sound has developed over the years.

None of us were down to party after the show, so Fitts, Jeff, and I walked over to Sugar for a tea and a chat before I wrote the majority of this blog post on my 40 minute subway ride back to Harlem. You can check out more photos from my night out in the slideshow below.

[Download] The KickDrums Drop 'Follow The Leaders' Mixtape, Feat. A$AP Rocky, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, Freddie Gibbs & More

The big homies Fitts and Tilla of the infamous KickDrums have released their long awaited mixtape, Follow The Leaders today. The mixtape features new songs from the duo following up last years release of Meet Your Ghost and collaborations with some of the blogospheres most buzzworthy artists such as A$AP Rocky, Machine Gun Kelly, Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire, Casey Veggies, Alan Wilkis, Lana Del Rey, Freddie "Gangsta" Gibbs and more. Peep out the A$AP Rocky x Lana Del Rey x KickDrums collaboration "Ridin'" that we've been bumping for the past month or so since getting an early preview of full mixtape below minus the A$AP Rocky x Lana Del Rey collab which was pulled as A$AP wanted it for his LP and and head over to Live Mixtapes to download the full release. Kickdrummmmmmmmmmmms Uh!

01. The KickDrums - Thieves In The Choir (Feat. Casey Veggies) 
02. The KickDrums - Want My Blood (Feat. DZ Deathrays & Rockie Fresh) 
03. The KickDrums - Ridin' (Feat. Lana Del Rey & A$AP Rocky) 
04. The KickDrums - My Life (Feat. Machine Gun Kelly) 
05. The KickDrums - Naked 
06. The KickDrums - The Way It Goes (Feat. Big Pooh) (Co-Prod. By Anna Yvette) 
07. The KickDrums - The Last Goodbye (Feat. YP) 
08. The KickDrums - Lights (Feat. Rebecca Jordan) 
09. The KickDrums - Traces 
10. The KickDrums - Death Wish (Feat. Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire & Maluca) 
11. The KickDrums - Safer Than Heaven 
12. The KickDrums - Whatever You'd Like (Feat. Gilbert Forte) (Co-Prod. By Sk8beatz) 
13. The KickDrums - Come Come (Feat. Hot As Sun & Freddie Gibbs) 
14. The KickDrums - Come And Go (Alan Wilkis & The KickDrums) 

[SKOA Premiere] Alan Wilkis - "Come And Go (Spacebrother Remix)"

PRINTS is the season-long-mulitmedia project from SKOA favorite Alan Wilkis. The first of many collaborations that we'll be catch throughout the fall is with our dear friends The Kickdrums on the track "Come and Go", which you may have already caught a listen of on Consequence of Sound. From there you heard the RJD2 remix and then the Big Pooh & Kid Daytona remix. Today we are happy to bring the dancy remix of "Come and Go" from Jared of Innerpartysystem's side project Spacebrother that will definitely make you feel like you're floating in space.

PRINTS combines original music, artwork, remixes and videos which are all initiated by an instrumental track by Wilkis. From there, a handful of top notch collaborators including Lyrics Born, White Hinterland, Childish Gambino, and many more work with Wilkis to develop a series of tracks or "prints".

DOWNLOAD SPACEBROTHER'S "COME AND GO" REMIX HERE

Stay tuned here for more updates on the PRINTS project. You can also try to out-stalk us by heading over to the official PRINTS site for more information.

[Listen] Alan Wilkis - "Come and Go (RJD2 Remix)" Feat. The KickDrums

I love when my music friends come together, SKoA favorite RJD2 (who just released the amazing Icebird album alongside Aaron Livingston) jumps behind the production kit and drops his take of Alan Wilkis latest single "Come and Go" featuring KickDrums vocalist Alex Fitts for Wilkis' upcoming album PRINTS. For each song or “print,” Wilkis creats an instrumental piece and mixes it up with different vocalists such as The KickDrums, Lyrics Born, Childish Gambino, and White Hinterland, until the “print” takes its shape, drawing both himself and his collaborators out of their respective comfort zones.

Check out the remix of "Come and Go" as well as the original album cut in the player below. For more infromation on the upcoming project make sure you check out the PRINTS website.

Alan Wilkis - Come and Go (RJD2 Remix) by Alan Wilkis

Alan Wilkis - Come and Go (feat. The KickDrums) by Alan Wilkis

[Download] The Kickdrums - "Colors (feat. GLC) remix"

SKOA darlings The Kickdrums have released a remix done by GOOD Music rapper GLC. I was already a huge fan of this song already, but the reworks that GLC added to this was a really nice touch.

If you haven't picked up Meet Your Ghost, make sure you do so NOW.

The Kickdrums - "Colors (remix feat. GLC)" by Some Kind of Awesome

[Listen] The KickDrums - 'Meet Your Ghost' (Full Album Stream)

Finally, the time is almost here! The KickDrums upcoming album Meet Your Ghost is set to drop next Tuesday June 28th on Last Gang Records which was Co-Produced by Alan Wilkis. For those that don't know about our buddies Alex Fitts and Matt Pentilla, aka Fitts & Tilla, Ohio born producers have worked with artists such as Kid Cudi, Linkin Park, Slaughterhouse, The RZA, Kanye, GLC, Scarface and more and are also one of the best indie/alternative/hip hop bands to do it today.

The duo have released a handful of mixtapes alongside of putting out 3 independent releases, one full length LP titled Just A Game and two EPs, There Might Be Blood and Something's Gotta Give. Now you can hear the group's entire 2nd full length release Meet Your Ghost in the player below a week in advance of it's release. The album is full of headnodding beats and catchy melodies that make this album an enjoyable listen all the way through and IMO one of my favorite albums thus far for 2011.

Have a listen for yourself and let us know what you think. If you dig it, make sure you check out the group's early releases linked above as well as their latest mixtape The Ghost Mixtape.

The Kickdrums - Meet Your Ghost by The Kickdrums 

[Download] The KickDrums - The Ghost Mixtape

Moments ago, Brooklyn's finest implants, The Kickdrums dropped their latest mixtape titled The Ghost, which features glimpses of their upcoming album Meet Your Ghost along with little nuggets of awesome that didn't quite make the cut for the album but are still more than worthy of your eardrums.

Meet Your Ghost hits shelves all over the place on June 28th, courtesy of Last Gang Records. You would be a fool not to pick it up. 

Have a listen to The Ghost below. You can also head over to LiveMixtapes and download the 19 track mixtape for yourself.

[Download] The Kickdrums - "Meet Your Ghost"

Straight from their debut album on Last Gang Records comes both the opening and title track for The Kickdrums' Meet Your Ghost, which hit stores June 28th.

The Kickdrums have always had a knack at splicing together hip-hop beats, alt rock guitars, subtle electro bleeps and a big helping of soul to make a sound that no one else's but their own. "Meet Your Ghost" is no exception to that. While the rock-centric intensity from their 2009 EP There Might Be Blood is not found on this new album, you hardly find yourself missing any of that as you sink into these more laid back beats from Fitts and Tilla.

The Kickdrums -"Meet Yout Ghost" by Some Kind of Awesome