http://imposemagazine.com/bytes/ Impose Magazine: Bytes en-us http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/k-holes-scream-rats-25x-mp3 K-Holes' self-titled debut on HoZac last year sat in the fine company of Thee Oh Sees' Carrion Crawler/The Dream and Total Abuse's Prison Sweat as my Top 3 Loudest Played Records of 2011 - a list I just declared official. The Brooklyn dirge specialists have jumped over to Hardly Art for their sophmore record, Dismania. The band is in break-neck speed mode out the gates with "Rats". Lead K-Hole Jack Hines might as well be rabid and foaming at the mouth, staggering down the s...]]> February 09, 2012 http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/k-holes-scream-rats-25x-mp3 Blake Gillespie http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/lee-bannon--c-plus-are-young-champions Lee Bannon is out for blood in 2012. He enlisted C-Plus as the next Sacramento rapper to bless a collaborative EP, which the two are calling Young Champions. No release date is set, but "In My Groove" revisists the dusty in-the-red break science Bannon executed on Hot-N-Ready with Chuuwee and Never A Dull Moment with Willie The Kidd. C-Plus raps like he kept a folder labeled "my finest bars" on file for this EP. On "In My Groove" he claims a "cocky in the worst...]]> February 09, 2012 http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/lee-bannon--c-plus-are-young-champions Blake Gillespie http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/earl-sweatshirt-is-back So, yesterday, a Twitter account popped up under the name "EarlxSweat". First it proclaimed "Home", and then it said, through a YouTube video, that it would drop a new single after 50,000 people followed it. This happened quickly with some legitimizing, and the single was released to a URL called terttelefer.com. It of course has since been ripped. You can listen to it here and download below. It also appears that Tyler the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt are in some kind of...]]> February 09, 2012 http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/earl-sweatshirt-is-back Ari Spool http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/death-grips-announce-two-new-records-for-2012 Death Grips, the trio of MC Ride, drummer Zach Hill, and beatmaker Flatlander, announced via a little Tweet that they were dropping not one, but two new records in 2012, the first set to arrive in April. Nothing else was said, so I can't tell you if they will be mixtapes or proper records that you can purchase, nor do I know if they are touring. What I can say, though, is when I saw them play the Market Hotel last July in 104° weather, the venue like an awful sauna, it was one of the mos...]]> February 09, 2012 http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/death-grips-announce-two-new-records-for-2012 Ari Spool http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/shlohmo-is-one-generous-dude Shlohmo is living the dream properly. If you follow the LA producer at all, he's a gracious fellow who is never brief in expressing his adoration for everyone that listens to his music and makes it possible for him to earn a living. His graciousness is equaled in generosity. His new Vacation EP dropped digitally this week via Friendf of Friends, which should recieve your dollars purely on the strength of Shlohmo's insistence that he give away remixes and live versions of his songs leadi...]]> February 08, 2012 http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/shlohmo-is-one-generous-dude Blake Gillespie http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/serengeti-aims-a-battle-track-at-shaq Serengeti's Family & Friends record was one of his most sincere and unified releases in a prolific career of split personalities and expressions in rap styles. It was as though he reached the maturity all hopeful writers set out to achieve and this record would mark a breakthrough. He had shed all the gimicks and foolery of his earlier work for a bare and honest approach from the gut. Well, Serengeti's past ain't having that. The Bears-loving Chicagoan named Kenny Dennis, who on...]]> February 08, 2012 http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/serengeti-aims-a-battle-track-at-shaq Blake Gillespie http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/gravys-drop-on-a-boom-box February 08, 2012 http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/gravys-drop-on-a-boom-box Luke Carrell http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/flash-bang-grenada-remix-i-can-teleport Nocando and Busdriver are not done with their Flash Bang Grenada project. The duo revisited the 10 Haters single "I Can Teleport" with the help of a couple of Leimert park homies in Riddlore and VerBS. The "Teleport Ho" remix revs and resets in usual LA beat fashion, but it's far from unsettling for a gang of rappers that are well-acquainted with the format and schooled in the art. Cheers to Busdriver for rhyming "wizard sleeves" with "Mr. Grieves". ...]]> February 07, 2012 http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/flash-bang-grenada-remix-i-can-teleport Blake Gillespie http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/open-mike-eagle--ras-g-warhorn It might be too coincidental to declare philanthropy as "trending" in the indie world, but last week we reported Power Animals' donation per $2 earned project with Philabundance. This week it's rap artists traveling to Uganda to spread hip hop culture. Hellfyre Club recording artist Open Mike Eagle and Brainfeeder recording artist Ras G have been selected by J.U.I.C.E., an LA hip-hop non-profit organization, to travel to the African nation of Uganda to teach a hip ho...]]> February 07, 2012 http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/open-mike-eagle--ras-g-warhorn Blake Gillespie http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/surveying-ryan-powers-hippy-dangelo-mystique NNA Tapes earned our good favor long before Co La, Laurel Halo and Hubble. It's a trusted label in our circle. We're going to listen to this Ryan Power dude if NNA Tapes is handling the pressing and they are. The uneasiness comes from the musicians vocally backing Ryan Power - particularly Ben Greenberg of Hubble (and producer of every Brooklyn-based album in the past four months), Nat Baldwin of Dirty Projectors and Daniel Lopatin of Oneohtrix Point Never. Why are we skeptical, you ask...]]> February 07, 2012 http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/surveying-ryan-powers-hippy-dangelo-mystique Blake Gillespie http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/reviewing-the-kevin-love-face-stomp February 07, 2012 http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/reviewing-the-kevin-love-face-stomp Peter Cavanaugh http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/xperimental-love-fest-at-roulette I've only officially celebrated Valentines Day one time in my life. It was highschool and my boyfriend told me he had a present for me. We went to a greasy diner for lunch where he reached into his pocket and pulled out three packs of gum and gave them to me. I'm not kidding. He said it was a more romantic choice than chocolates because I was always asking him for gum. I'm all for being non-traditional, but I don't think gum really cuts it. Luckily in this day an age other peopl...]]> February 07, 2012 http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/xperimental-love-fest-at-roulette Hannah Ronson http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/the-bi-weekly-5-pizza-club Art is Hard Records are based in Plymouth, England, and they've pledged to release a new single every other Friday afternoon for the entirety of 2012. The single will be available for free download via their Bandcamp, which is why this is an Approved Theft post, but there's a twist: in conjunction with the posting, Art is Hard will be making a one-of-a-kind CD in a 5" pizza box, available to the first purchaser only. Obviously, this idea was hatched on a Friday afternoon past, maybe...]]> February 07, 2012 http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/the-bi-weekly-5-pizza-club Ari Spool http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/stream-mux-mool-planet-high-school Brian Lindgren has a vision of an alternate dimension, in which our adulthoood is controlled by a secret hand that keeps us economically asphyxiated and repressed. It's a reality called Planet High School and in it he is known as Mux Mool. Fully realized and crafted by a beat mentalist who's seen a new way, Planet High School is Mux Mool's graduation record. In coming to terms with stagnancy, Lindgren seems to have shed the dream for a more sensible outlook, which alots him the creat...]]> February 06, 2012 http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/stream-mux-mool-planet-high-school Blake Gillespie http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/mpala-garoogolden-dwarves-igreat-turquoise-mess-agei-split-tape This tape is only €5 if you actually buy it, plus shipping, which might be a little bit heavy because the label, Steak Au Zoo, is located in France. But if you just want to cruise around listening to Moscow's Mpala Garoo and Brooklyn's Golden Dwarves on a sunny winter's day, the pay-what-you-will Bandcamp download ought to suffice. Mpala Garoo is shiny, fast-paced experimentalists; there are the essences of drone arpeggios, trance hi-hat, and science-museum caroline bells all th...]]> February 06, 2012 http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/mpala-garoogolden-dwarves-igreat-turquoise-mess-agei-split-tape Ari Spool http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/debut-coast-jumper-lawless Coast Jumper are a new-ish band living in the Bay Area, a group of four young guys making the record they've dreamed of since they met in high school. They are going to physically self-release the album, titled Grand Opening, on May 8, but they released it on their Bandcamp in advance of some shows and a possible West Coast tour, so you can listen to the whole thing here. "Lawless" has a little cheese in the vocals, but the concept is good; the guitar solo in the middle and the har...]]> February 06, 2012 http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/debut-coast-jumper-lawless Ari Spool http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/the-best-music-of-january-2012 January is typically a light month for releases; everyone is hung over from the holidays for approximately two solid weeks, and people need a minute after that to wipe the slate clean. In the world of Best of lists, everyone rushes to be the last great album of 2011 – no one wants to be considered old news by the end of the year simply because they released their record too early. Avoiding that problem is one of the reasons we make these lists at Impose: it is very simple at the end of the...]]> February 06, 2012 http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/the-best-music-of-january-2012 Impose Automaton http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/bieber-side-boob-hour-vol-1 And so we begin our foray into live radio broadcasting thanks to the folks over at Newtown Radio. We think we did pretty damn well if we do say so ourselves. With Chris and Derek manning the mic's we were able to fill minutes upon minutes of unfettered airwaves, and in thus doing so, discussing penis sores, planned parenthood, the Super Bowl, horticulture, and even coining a new name for the show: The Bieber Side-Boob Hour. We aslo played some music. Below is the track listing, and if you l...]]> February 03, 2012 http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/bieber-side-boob-hour-vol-1 Impose Automaton http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/heavy-hawaii-super-bowl-xxix I figured out the pun right as the last notes faded away from listening to this song. The entire time, I was thinking "OK, crap, you don't know much about sports. Maybe one of our lovely Jock Strap columnists should tackle this one? What does this song have to do with sports? How would you know if they were talking about sports or not?" I listened intently to the lyrics, trying to spot something like "He throws a pass over the 30 yard-line/The football tackle tackle it's f...]]> February 03, 2012 http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/heavy-hawaii-super-bowl-xxix Ari Spool http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/debacle-record-fest-posts-video-archive February 03, 2012 http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/debacle-record-fest-posts-video-archive Ari Spool