We may have shut our doors in 2016, but 2017 was still a banner year for the World Around family. Here’s a list of all the new music released by former World Around artists.
This long-awaited LP from rap classicist Louis Mackey features some of his deftest, most heartfelt lyricism to date, signalling a huge step forward in style while simultaneously serving as a return to the funkier roots of his early work. The whole affair is conducted over a backdrop of Dr. Quandary beats with a distinctly dusty, old-school vibe, adding to the air of nostalgia.
Man Mantis — Boss Skeleton + Dawn of the Def (Reissue)
Released in July, Man Mantis’ Boss Skeleton is a collection older tracks from his Majestic Dimensions EP series. The project features Mantis’ signature sonic landscapes, lush with otherworldly synthesizers. Though mostly instrumental, you’ll find a couple of expertly-placed, late-game features from Terra Lopez, Nocando, Decomposure & Sole.
As if new Mantis wasn’t enough, we also got some classic Mantis: as an added year-end bonus, the long-defunct imprint Loretta Records resurfaced in December with an official dead-stock reissue of his 2005 debut, Dawn of the Def. The album follows in the footsteps of RJD2’s Deadringer, blending soul & funk into a cinematic instrumental experience.
For the most part, this is due to bandwidth issues. The administrative side of World Around has always been a two-person operation (three at the absolute zenith), and keeping things running is an insane challenge, especially since we’re all artists too. We all know that balancing everything demanded of us — family, friends, life, art, work, school, etc. — can be challenging enough; the full-time management of a label is really tough to fit into that mix. That said, we did it for as long as we could, out of love — for our music, for each other, and for everyone who listened and supported us along the way.
Justin & Kyle in 2006
On top of that, a lot has changed since we opened our digital doors on MySpace in 2006. There have been career changes, new opportunities; some of us have married, started families. Musically, many World Around artists have gone on to do bigger, better, more beautiful things: after a brief stint with our friends at Potholes Music, Man Mantis linked up with legendary rapper Sole and joined the ranks of Shoeboxx Recordings; Daimyo fell in with the amazing crowd of beatmakers at Cult Classic ...
New music from Adam Kadmon is a rare and momentous event. It is also a complicated process, a maze of midnight meetings, analog tapes, and mysterious envelopes. Based on the postmark, Kadmon is currently located in Burma. That’s about all we know about him these days.
If you dig the method and the madness here, check out his recent EP, The Mysterious Spectacles of Adam Kadmon, Vol. 1 — he has recently threatened us with “way more of that sort of stuff,” so expect stranger horizons in the near future.
These songs and instrumental pieces were collected between the dark winter of 2010 and late 2012 during fleeting, infrequent interactions with the rap hermit/electrician who goes by the name of Adam Kadmon.
Running at under sixteen minutes, there doesn’t appear to be any traditional “sampling” on the EP — only psychedelic vocal and synth manipulations, oscillating between avant-garde hip hop and veritable classical motifs offered up as interludes. The lyrics are as good as ever if you can catch the loose, symbolic and serpentine narratives. Yet, the original man, behind the mask, still remains a mystery.
Still, Adam Kadmon promises us: new music looms. In the confines of his new studio shelter, experimentation is ongoing and writing never stops. We expect to have a second serving of these unique flavors in early 2015.
Each one of these pre-shrunk, 100% ring-spun cotton shirts is individually hand-screened by our team of artificers at World Around East and shipped to you swiftly via USPS Priority Mail.
First up, the Madison heavyweight hip hop live band dumate has been having an amazing year, and to celebrate, they’re offering their full length album, We Have the Technology, for free through Bandcamp. Click here to get yours. This is a limited time offer deal.
The dumate team has been very, very busy this year… especially MPC player / producer Man Mantis. He’s dropped an experimentally awesome EP’s with J. Dante, Whole New World, and a classic-flavored EP with dumate emcee D.L.O. the Iceman titled The IceMantis EP, which has been getting great reviews.
I mean, really great reviews. The Onion’s A/V Club gave it an “A” rating, concluding that the dumate crew was “grotesquely underrated on both a local and national scale.” Amen.
Up next, Man Mantis is working on an instrumental release, Cities Without Houses. Based on what I’ve heard, I think it’s going to make some serious noise for him… stay tuned.
We’ve got a lot of extremely dope producers on the World Around roster. This year has seen incredible releases from nearly all of them. First we dropped Naturetone‘s debut, Nihon, an ambitious and exotic tribute to the music and culture of Japan. Naturetone was fortunate enough to make a pilgrimage there this year… and he got married this year, too!
Available exclusively through Bandcamp, Louis Mackey brings you a psyched out web-single with a truly epic sound. The free download includes the new song “Space Rock”, the B-side “Hades Isn’t Real” featuring Adam Kadmon and, in true single fashion, instrumental versions of both tracks.
You can preview the whole thing by using the player above, and grab it for your collection by clicking the download link.
