Who: Quavo, Takeoff, and Offset form Migos, an Atlanta chant-rap trio celebrated on YouTube (and more recently, by the always cool-hunting Drake) with an off-kilter ear for twinkling spaced-out trap beats and a savant-like talent for turning absurd phrases into addictive hooks. The only guests on their new mixtape Young Rich Niggas are Riff Raff, Trinidad James, Gucci Mane, and Soulja Boy, and if you dropped all those eccentric Southern personalities into a blender, out might come Migos.Sounds Like: Future, Gucci Mane, Travis PorterWhere to Start: The delightfully repetitive “Versace,” which Drake recently deigned to remix, from their latest mixtape, out now.[videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]
Who: A menacing, exhilarating, Katie Alice Greer-fronted post-punk foursome from Our Nation's Capital, Priests have spent the past several months igniting the house show circuit in and around D.C. And right now, they're somewhere in Southern California, halfway through a U.S. tour of similarly modest venues — please see them immediately.Sounds Like: Bikini Kill, 7 Year BitchWhere to Start: Surf-rager "Leave Me Alone," off their recently released tour-only cassette, Tape Two.
Who: a bunch of nascent punks from Northampton, Massachusetts, offering moderately sophisticated, wildly refreshing cassette-rock that pays equal respect to both blink-182 and C86. Their eye-opening full-length debut, Hell Bent, is due this autumn. Sounds Like: Bratmobile, Black Tambourine, SebadohWhere to Start: jagged and jaunty single,"The Spins," set to feature prominently on Hell Bent, out September 17 on Old Flame Records.
Who: He looks barely old enough to get into nightclubs, but Sinjin Hawke's horn- and synth-strafed productions come across as monolithic as thousand-year-old statues carved out of granite cliffs. A few years back, the Montreal native quit his job, sold everything, and moved to Barcelona, where the Mediterranean climate has clearly had a salubrious effect on beats otherwise influenced by Southern strip-club jams and the grimiest of London's basement parties. (No wonder Mykki Blanco brought him on to DJ the rapper's recent Sónar set.) Hawke's take on rap is unusually florid: The upcoming "Yea Hoe" plays Three 6 Mafia's Gangsta Boo against Middle Eastern reeds and a voice that sounds like the choirboy from The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover; on a rework of DJ Funk's "Three Fine Hoes," due out in September, he turns the Chicago producer's relentless, acid-soaked ghetto house into a wide-screen anthem with almost celestial overtones.Sounds Like: Just Blaze, John Williams, DJ RashadWhere to Start: "Prom Night," in which new age chimes and AI angel-song give way to apocalyptic horn blasts and machine-gun snares; it'd make a fine "Ride of the Valkyries" replacement in an Apocalypse Now remake.
Who: Sacramento producer whose hip-hop instrumental blueprint begins with the jagged, foggy breaks of DJ Premier but quickly diverts into a number of directions, touching on glitch, witchhouse, post-crunk, and drum'n'bass. Bannon can knock out gulping boom bap for Joey Bada$$ and Ab-Soul ("Enter the Void"), remix Andy Stott's “Numb,” and scrape out an EP of eerie soundcapes fit for release on Hospital Productions (Never / mind / the / darkness / of / it ...) with the same nervy, experimental confidence.Sounds Like: Aphex Twin, Clams Casino, Prefuse 73Where to Start: "NW/NB" a goth rap meets jungle track, complete with an Atari-tinged seizure-inducing video.[videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]