Vic Mensa drops the Austin Vesely directed, Mensanati produced video for “Did it Before.”

With the release, Vic announced the unfortunate break-up of his band, Kids These Days.

The Innanet tape is set to drop soon, and with Vic’s verse on Chance’s “Cocoa Butter Kisses,” we have high hopes. Check it out below.

]]> http://acityinthemidwest.com/2013/05/08/vic-mensa-did-it-before-music-video-directed-by-austin-vesely/feed/ 0 acityinthemidwest http://acityinthemidwest.com/2013/05/06/mariah-carey-beautiful-feat-miguel/ http://acityinthemidwest.com/2013/05/06/mariah-carey-beautiful-feat-miguel/#comments Mon, 06 May 2013 16:41:27 +0000 acityinthemidwest http://acityinthemidwest.com/?p=3392 Continue reading →]]>

The early contender for the song of the summer sees Miguel (who I admittedly slept on in the 2012 Album’s of the Year post) teaming up with Mariah Carey, in her first single off her upcoming album. The video drops on American Idol tonight. Never thought I’d have a Mariah Carey song on here, but I promise it’s good.

RL Grime remixes his favorite rap song from 2012, Chief Keef’s “Love Sosa.” You’ll be hearing versions of this one at just about every EDM show this summer. Enjoy! It’s a free download for now.

For you, for free

The excellent new Justice live album, Access All Arenas, is streaming on Spotify right now. It’s an 80 minute set recorded at Nimes Arena in France last year. The duo reworks album tracks into an epic and visceral 14 song medley, seamlessly transitioning tracks from † and Audio Video Disco. Stream it on Spotify here and watch a recent documentary on Justice’s immense live show production. You can preorder the over on the Access All Arenas site. Tracklist after the jump.

TRACKLIST

1. “Genesis”
2. “Helix”
3. “Phantom”
4. “Civilization”
5. “Canon”
6. “D.A.N.C.E.”
7. “Horsepower”
8. “New Lands”
9. “Stress”
10. “Waters of Nazareth”
11. “Audio, Video, Disco”
12. “Encore”
13. “On’n'On”
14. “Phantom Pt. II”

The full version of Jay Z’s addition to the Great Gatsby Soundtrack “$100 Bill” dropped today. Full soundtrack comes out on May 7th, with the movie releasing May 10th. Don’t know which one we’re more excited for. Enjoy!

YOU ARE WELCOME

While posts have been at a premium lately here at ACITM, we always have love for Chicago’s very own, Chance the Rapper. The wait is over, Acid Rap is here and available for download below. Should the link crash, alternate DL links will be up fast.

We’re really excited about this project and couldn’t be happier for what’s in store for Mr. Bennett. This is a big moment in Chicago hip hop, with the nation going crazy over this kid. Sky is the limit. Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD ACID RAP HERE

ALT. DOWNLOAD LINK HERE

Smoke Again feat. TDE’s Ab Soul

]]> http://acityinthemidwest.com/2013/04/30/chance-the-rapper-acid-rap-mixtape-download/feed/ 2 acityinthemidwest http://acityinthemidwest.com/2013/04/16/an-interview-with-houses/ http://acityinthemidwest.com/2013/04/16/an-interview-with-houses/#comments Tue, 16 Apr 2013 19:06:19 +0000 acityinthemidwest http://acityinthemidwest.com/?p=3367 Continue reading →]]> I caught up with Dexter and Megan from Houses at SXSW last month after their performance at the Mohawk. The band’s second album “A Quiet Darkness” has been released today and is worth a listen. You can purchase the album here. Read on to learn about the inspiration for the album, the band’s most awkward comparison as well as their favorite spot in Chicago.

Courtesy of Free People

Acityinthemidwest: Tell us about yourselves. How did you get your start?

Dexter: Well I’m Dexter and this is Megan, and we’re Houses. We got our start back in 2010. We’d just been living in Hawaii for a while and after we got back, we put an album together and put some stuff online and it got picked up by a record label. We put out a record back in 2010

Megan: and it’s called “All Night.”

A: I hear you have Chicago ties, what are they?

D: We were both born and raised in Chicago. We both bounced around a lot, Evanston, Lincolnwood, Southside for a while. 

A: And now you’re in LA. Are you there to stay or will you move back to Hawaii?

M: We’d love to go back to Hawaii eventually, (laughs) but for now it works with the music industry [being centralized there]. Just having the support of great managers and a band is awesome. it works for now but nothing is ever permanent.

A: How would you describe your music?

D: Death metal, really aggressive, (laughs) no just kidding. It’s emo music. It’s emotional. Electronic music primarily based in emotion.

A: Who have you been compared to?

D: Oh man. Some of the comparisons are really off and some are very flattering. We got compared to DNTEL and that was really flattering. But oh we just got a really bad one.

M: Sometimes people say you sing like Coldplay and that’s kinda awkward. It’s kind of a compliment, but it’s personally not a compliment for us.

A: Tell us about your album. What has been the inspiration for it?

D: Our new album is our second album. It’s called A Quiet Darkness.

A: Why that title?

M: It’s one of the songs on the album. It is a concept album so it tells a story from beginning to end and all the way through. Each of the songs tackles a part of this bigger story.

A: What’s the story?

D: It’s about a man and his wife and basically they are separated at the time of a huge nuclear disaster. The album is them trying to find each other just so they can die in the same place. It’s a bummer of an album (laughs). It’s very emotional.

A: Who do you hope will listen to your music?

D: Anyone who will take it seriously. We’re not looking to be a part of any fads and i think our music doesn’t lend itself to any trend that’s happening in music right now.

M: I think it being a concept album, it’s open to interpretation. It’s really good to just listen to the album all the way through, that’s something that we really recommend. Put some headphones on, be alone and just sort of get into it. Take it for what it is.

A: Since we’re acityinthemidwest, what is your favorite place in Chicago?

D: Gene and Jude’s. There are hot dogs outside and all I can think about is Gene and Jude’s.

While we’re all waiting for the full song to finally come out, at least we have this.

So many quotables here…

You don’t need MDMA for this music, because the music is so incredibly vivid… everything is just so synthetic, it doesn’t really… it’s just missing the gut

Oh you gon’ learn today. Produced by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, Jay drops a track out of nowhere, titled “Open Letter.” The track features knocking drums, with King Hov out for blood, addressing everything from his divesting of the Brooklyn Nets, hanging with the Obama’s on the beach, and potentially buying a kilo from Chief Keef. Try to just play this song once, I dare you.