- in Entertainment News by Mike
Doomtree’s “Final Boss” Gets Stereogum’d
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DOOMTREE REVEALS “FINAL BOSS” VIDEO PREMIERED VIA STEREOGUM EXTENDS U.S. TOUR, INCLUDING SXSW DATES ALL HANDS OUT NOW ON DOOMTREE RECORDS STREAM // EMBED “FINAL BOSS” VIDEO “…Once again [Doomtree have] emerged with a brace of densely impressionistic, explosive jams laced with rock-inflected electronics and besotted with virtuoso verbiage.” – Wondering Sound Minneapolis hip-hop collective Doomtree has revealed their video for “Final Boss” from their new full-length All Hands, out now on Doomtree Records. The Maria Juranic-directed video premiered via Stereogum, who noted that “the clean, creepy treatment features Sims, Dessa, P.O.S, and Mike Mictlan sitting down to a Rocky Horror-style last supper, rattling off tight verses before getting individually snuffed out by a looming Cecil Otter. It’s a grim comment on the inevitability of death, but not without a final twist to unsettle your already-upset stomach.” The video is available to stream or embed HERE, and All Hands is available for purchase on iTunes HERE, through Doomtree’s online store HERE, and on Bandcamp HERE. The group, which consists of Cecil Otter, Dessa, Lazerbeak, Mike Mictlan, P.O.S, Paper Tiger and Sims, is continuing their U.S. tour tonight with a sold-out show at Boot & Saddle in Philadelphia, PA and concluding at SXSW 2015 in Austin, TX. The tour features support from Open Mike Eagle, Hellfyre Club, Transit, and Greg Grease at different points along the tour. In addition to their hometown release show on February 25 at First Avenue Mainroom in Minneapolis, MN, the group has also announced their inclusion in the inaugural lineup of the Justin Vernon– and Aaron Dessner-curated Eaux Claires Festival, taking place in Eau Claire, WI on July 17 and 18. The full list of tour dates is below, with more to be announced soon. The release of All Hands comes after much anticipation, including a recent feature on NPR‘s All Things Considered. To usher in its release, Doomtree revealed singles “.38 Airweight,” “Gray Duck” (and its accompanying video), and “Final Boss,” and a full album stream through Pandora Premieres. There has been substantial praise from all corners regarding the already-released tracks — Consequence of Sound noted that “over flickering beats and blitzing synths, Doomtree sound as confident as ever” on “.38 Airweight,” while The Fader praised “Gray Duck” as a “hard-hitting track” and A.V. Club lauded “Final Boss“‘s “mentions of video game boss levels and cheat codes alongside inflammatory political texts.” Doomtree started as a mess of friends, fooling around after school, trying to make music without reading the manual. The group had varied tastes — rap, punk, indie rock, pop — so the music they made together often bore the toolmarks of several styles. When they had enough songs, they booked some shows. They made friends with the dudes at Kinkos to print up flyers. They burned some CDs to sell. The shows got bigger. Of necessity, Doomtree’s seven members figured out how to run a small business. Lazerbeak’s garage became the merchandise warehouse; P.O.S’ mom’s basement became the webstore. A decade and fifty releases later, it’s all properly official-Doomtree is now a real, live label with international distribution-but not too much has changed. Doomtree still partners with people who aren’t jerks. If they can’t find something they need, they make it themselves. Although each member has a career as a solo artist, every so often the whole crew convenes to make a collaborative record as a group. The most recent Doomtree record was called No Kings. A lot of people liked it. Happily, some of those people were writers at places like Vice, NPR, Rolling Stone, etc. According to the Village Voice, Doomtree is “one of the most talented and dedicated rap groups working today.” VH1 says the crew has “the aggressive energy of a punk act with just the right amount of hip-hop swagger.” In support of No Kings, Doomtree made laps around the US and hit Europe a couple times too. They played at festivals like Lollapalooza, SXSW, and Belgium’s Dour Festival. The newest Doomtree record is called All Hands, out now on Doomtree Records. The title nods to the nautical rally cry, “All hands on deck,” and the album stands as the most collaborative and cohesive project the crew has yet produced. The production from Cecil Otter, Lazerbeak, Paper Tiger, and P.O.S twists through 13 booming tracks, building the raw and epic soundscapes that the group has become well known for, while adding more of-the-moment musical elements and techniques for a genre-spanning effect. This is the sound of old friends fine-tuning their craft, both together and individually, for over a decade, and it shows. Lyrically, All Hands sounds hungry as all hell. The three-year gap between Doomtree albums has given each of the five emcees substantial time to grow as solo artists, and the group’s return finds everyone tour-tested with plenty to prove. Sims, P.O.S, Mike Mictlan, Dessa, and Cecil Otter drive home razor-sharp cadences, hard-hitting punchlines, and monstrous choruses, passing the spotlight back and forth until the house lights come up. To write All Hands, crew members sequestered themselves in a cabin with no cell reception to distract from the task at hand and no neighbors to be bothered by the music playing through the night. The process informed the product: the record creates and operates within its own sphere-a particular mix of menace, humor, beauty, and adrenaline. Though the Minneapolis sound is present on All Hands, the record is as much a product of seven friends, relying only on each other, working in international waters. Both the catchiest and densest album in the group’s catalog, All Hands adeptly walks a tightrope of immediately memorable hooks and in-depth lyricism that rewards repeated listens. The result is equally worthy of up-to-11 trunk-rattling drives as it is late-night headphone sessions. Doomtree tour dates: 2/13 – Boot & Saddle – Philadelphia, PA # 2/14 – U Street Music Hall – Washington, DC # 2/16 – The Sinclair – Cambridge, MA # 2/17 – Highline Ballroom – New York, NY # 2/19 – Blind Pig – Ann Arbor, MI # 2/20 – Abbey Pub – Chicago, IL # % 2/21 – Majestic Theatre – Madison, WI # % 2/25 – First Avenue Mainroom (Album Release Show) – Minneapolis, MN # – with Open Mike Eagle $ – with Hellfyre Club and Transit % – with Greg Grease |