Week in Pop: Ed Askew, José Díaz Rohena, LUKA, Midnight Opera

Post Author: Sjimon Gompers

Ascending above the petty polemics, failed states & fallen idols—Impose’s Week in Pop presents a listen & look to the inspirational artists of today & tomorrow. Presenting some of the world’s breaking exclusives, we bring your breakdown of the week’s biggest headlines & buzz with news that Rexx Life Raj dropped the Gino Mancuso video for “Where I Belong” off of Father Figure 2: Flourish; NOIA dropped the Erin Vassilopoulos video for “Carl Sagan Vs. Zeus” off the debut EP Habits via Cascine; Pussy Riot dropped the Matt Creed video for “Police State” starring Chloë Sevigny; the grand return of Swearin’; Newark’s own Mach-Hommy dropped the anticipated Fete Des Morts AKA Dia De Las Muertos EP, going for a cool price tag of $111.11; Yours Are the Only Ears dropped “Saturn”; Michigan’s own Dabrye dropped “The Appetite” ft. Danny Brown, Quelle Chris & Roc Marciano; Recycle Culture remixed Yumi Zouma’s “Carnation” & “Depths (Pt. II)” featured off their beloved new album Willowbank; The She’s dropped the Lauren Field & Molly Walls & Colette Levesque video for “Sorry”; tune-yards dropped the video for “Look at Your Hands”; Open Mike Eagle dropped the Ryan Calavano video for “Happy Wasteland Day” produced by Exile; Gucci Mane dropped the David Helman video for “Curve” ft. the Weeknd; POLIÇA announced their collaborative s t a r g a z e album available February 16 & dropped “How is This Happening”; Quiet Luke dropped the video for “I Wanna Go” of the upcoming EP Your Happy Place; Cookie Money dropped the video for “Real Boss”; A-Trak & Baauer dropped “Fern Gully” & “Dumbo Drop” via Fool’s Gold; Hanz announced the new EP from Tri Angle Records & dropped “Page”; GFOTY announced the compilation GFOTYBUCKS available November 17 via PC Music & dropped the Mr. E video for “Poison/Tongue”; Ashanti dropped “Say Less” ft. Ty Dolla $ign produced by DJ Mustard; Grieves dropped the Timslew video for “Faded” off Running Wild via Rhymesayers; Remy Ma signed to Columbia Records & announced the new album 7 Winters & 6 Summers & dropped “Wake Me Up” ft. Lil Kim; Torii Wolf dropped via DJ Premiere collaboration Flow Riiot; G-Eazy announced that the upcoming album/film short The Beautiful and Damned will be available December 15; Ty Segall dropped “My Lady’s on Fire”; Exploded View dropped Summer Came Early available now via Sacred Bones; Angel Olsen dropped “Sans” off the new rarities compilation Phases available now from Jagjaguwar; NSTASIA dropped “Parachute” produced by Skrillex off the upcoming New Religion EP available November 17; South Central, LA’s G Perico dropped “Amerikkka”; the upcoming DRAM & Neil Young collaboration “Campfire” drops December 13 via the Bright soundtrack; Azar Swan announced the new album Savage Exile available December 1 from Aufnahme + Widergabe & dropped “Territorial”; Sylvan Esso announced spring 2018 tour & dropped the video for “Die Young” (live at Shakori Hills); MØ dropped the video for “When I Was Young”; Carly Rae Jepsen dropped “Trouble in the Streets”; Chief Keef dropped “Come On Now” ft. Lil Yachy; Blu and Exile dropped the holiday jam “Christmas Missed Us”; Eminem dropped “Walk on Water” ft. Beyoncé & produced by Rick Rubin; The Liza Colby Sound dropped the single “White Light” of DRAW available November 17; Empire Of the Sun dropped the video for the title track “Way To Go” off their new EP of the same name; Field Medic dropped the comp Songs from the Sunroom via Run For Cover; Field Music announced their album Open Here available February 2 via Rough Trade; Motherfolk dropped the Chris Birkmeyer live session video for “Fold II”; Kelly Lee Owens covered Aaliyah’s “More Than a Woman”; Lorde covered The Boss’s “I’m on Fire”; Distance & Frankie Simone covered “The World is Waiting for the Sunrise” off the Transference compilation available December 1 via Marmoset Music; Four Tet remixed Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith’s “I Will Make Room For You”; Chromeo dropped the David Wilson video for “Juice”; Montero announced the new album Performer available February 2 via Chapter Music & dropped the video for “Tokin’ the Night Away” from Ben Montero & Logan Feser; Baths dropped “Extrasolar” off of Romaplasm available November 17 via Anticon; Rhye dropped the video for “Taste” ft. choreography by Noelle Marsh; Sons of Raphael dropped “Rio”; Little
Simz dropped the Jeremy Cole video for “Poison Ivy” ft. Tilla; Animal Years dropped “Friends” off their Far From Home EP; The Wombats announced the new album Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life available February 9 via Kobalt Music Recordings & dropped “Lemon to a Knife Fight”; Gigi Rowe dropped the video for “Got That” off the Stardust Motel EP; Helsinki’s Lake Jons dropped the video for “Colors” via the self-titled album available January 19 from AntiFragile Music; Alex Rose dropped Arcadian Pages via Neighboring Sounds; Detroit’s Stef Chura is reissuing the debut album Messes via Saddle Creek February 2 & dropped the video for “Speeding Ticket”; Superchunk announced the new album What a Time to Be Alive available February 16 via Merge & dropped the title track; Panic at the Disco’s Kenneth Aaron Harris of Panic at the Disco dropped the video for “Birthday Boy” off the new Patterns EP; Jack White’s upcoming solo album is apparently “practically done“; Refrigerator, aka Shrimper Records boss Dennis Callaci, announced their eleventh album High Desert Lows (produced by Simon Joyner) available in February & dropped the title track; Wilco dropped the previously unreleased “Dynamite My Soul”; Os Mutantes dropped the politically charged “Black and Gray”; Elvis Costello dropped “You Shouldn’t Look at Me that Way”; Warbly Jets announced their North American tour with Liam Gallagher; Dev Hynes of Blood Orange to perform with Philip Glass at The Kennedy Center March 9 in DC; U.S. Girls are on tour; St. Vincent expands upon 2018 tour dates; Godspeed You! Black Emperor announced 2018 tour; Widowspeak covered Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” & shared European tour dates; Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner talked with Mannequin Pussy’s Marisa Dabice; Lily Allen announced an upcoming memoir; the Slits’ Viv Albertine announced the new book To Throw Away Unopened; A Tribe Called Quest unveiled their Vans “BONITA” trainers; King Krule debuted Archy Marshall’s own line of fashions; The Domestics are donating half the proceeds of sales from Little Darkness to the Southern Poverty Law Center; the great cassette tape shortage is real; Sean “Diddy” Combs took back his recent name change to Love/Brother Love; Apple apparently shelved Danny Brown’s concert doc Live at the Majestic; Taylor Swift versus the ACLU; Marilyn Manson’s faux gun faux pas; Jesse Lacey of Brand New accused of alleged sexual misconduct; Meek Mill sentenced to prison after violating probation, prompting JAY-Z to weigh in on the matter; we remember Dead Moon/Pierced Arrows’ Fred Cole & the loss of Chuck Mosley from Faith No More & Bad Brains; and Morrissey dropped “Jacky’s Only Happy When She’s Up on the Stage” & also canceled his concert in Paso Robles, California due to the cold weather.
Moving forward it is now our pleasure & privilege to present the following interviews, exclusives & insights from Ed Askew, José Díaz Rohena, LUKA, Midnight Opera, I Come to Shanghai, Ill Poetic, Los Angeles Police Department, Nicolai, PANGS, Rainbow Reservoir, WRITER, featuring guest selections by Quiet Luke & more—in no particular order.

Week in Pop Quick Links (Table of Contents):

1. Ed Askew
2. José Díaz Rohena
3. LUKA
4. Midnight Opera
5. I Come to Shanghai
6. Ill Poetic
7. Los Angeles Police Department
8. Nicolai
9. PANGS
10. Rainbow Reservoir
11. WRITER
12. Week in Pop media roundup
13. Quiet Luke’s Week in Pop guest selections