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Shad – The Spring Up (prod. Skratch Bastid)

Shad drops a handful of new tracks with fellow Canadian hip hop artist Skratch Bastid. Shad is on lyrics, and Bastid is bringing the beats, and it’s an incredibly solid effort, which you can grab on Bandcamp for whatever price you’d like. Enjoy!

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Lustmord – “Chorazin” (Excerpt)

Dark ambient kingpin Lustmord will be dropping a new full-length LP this July. I highly doubt the album will be labeled as a “summer record,” though. Still, the excerpt this longtime producer has released is pretty chilling. Stream it via the widget above, and look for The World As Power next month on Blackest Ever Black.

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Joey Bada$$ – “95 Til Infinity” (prod. Lee Bannon)

2013 XXL Freshman and Beast Coast MC Joey Bada$$ drops another track from his anticipated Summer Knights mixtape, which has been pushed back for a July 1st release. With all of these huge rap releases around the corner–Kanye, Cole, Miller–I’m not surprised, honestly.

Producer Lee Bannon pulls together a pretty smooth, classy beat, but Joey goes completely bonkers with an over-the-top delivery that is easily one of his most energetic yet. Enjoy!

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Shigeto – “Detroit Part 1″

Ghostly International producer Shigeto has announced the release of a new album, and you can stream a track from it via the widget above. The LP’s title is No Better Time Than Now, and “Detroit Part 1″ has me pretty psyched to hear the rest of this thing. The track is a thumb piano-led number with some pretty spacey beats and forlorn electric piano keys. There’s plenty of progression along the track’s duration, too. Enjoy!

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Power Trip – Manifest Decimation

Stream: Power Trip – Manifest Decimation

It’s all-out thrash warfare on this new Power Trip album, Manifest Decimation. The LP is out now, and it’s the band’s first album. It certainly feels like it, too; every track on here is relentless and punk-infused. It really sounds like the band has something to prove! Hit the link above for a full stream of the album, and enjoy!

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Smith Westerns – “Idol”

Really enjoying this sweet, melodic, and jangly tracks from the new Smith Westerns album, Soft Will. It’s the pop rock trio’s third full-length record, and will be dropping on the 25th via Mom + Pop Records. Enjoy!

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Shigeto – Lost Tracks

LA beatsmith Shigeto’s computer was stolen a year ago in NYC, along with “an album’s worth of material.” He was eventually able to recover these two songs: “What U Really Wanted” and “R Life.” They both feature MC Kadence and LO5, providing vocal accompaniment. Shigeto seems to have evolved his style, adding a pop edge that was previously absent. The first song makes melancholic soul music out of samples of key jingling and vocals with actual lyrics, while the second song combines organ noodling and impressive drum programming into the closest Shigeto has ever gotten to dance music. Now if only the rest of the album wasn’t lost to someone who bought a Macbook that “fell off the truck” at a flea market in White Plains.

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Deep Magic – “Brighter Days”

This track by Deep Magic, off of his upcoming release Reflections of Most Forgotten Love to be released on Preservation is the sort of babbling-brook ambient music that suggests perfect peace, a monk meditating amid a waterfall. It is not a static song though, musical phrases pass through and are changed over the 6:23 play time. In this way it is similar to the intricate, beat-less ambient music of Brian Eno, but where Eno is crystal clear, this song features a tape-hum, a reminder of its electronic source. Thanks to Tiny Mixtapes for the find!

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Jarren Benton – My Grandma’s Basement

Jarren Benton is one of the most eccentric faces in the south right now, spewing rhymes that are equal parts gritty, gross, cartoony, and offensive. The dude obviously takes a lot of influence from Eminem, but is modern enough to fend off any negative comparisons. For sure, this dude’s over-the-top persona is gonna make Benton’s new full-length, My Grandma’s Basement, one of hip hop biggest highlights this summer.

The project is out now on iTunes, but is also streamable via the widget above. Enjoy!

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Schoolboy Q – “Collard Greens” ft. Kendrick Lamar

In anticipation of his imminent Oxymoron LP, ScHoolboy Q releases this single with his Black Hippy brother Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick raps in Spanish, Q raps about drugs and ladies, but the real star of this song is the beat, which was produced by TDE in-house producer THC. The drum track sounds like it was lifted from an indie-rock band from the late aughts, all rim hits and tribal propulsion, but the synths are pillowy and serene. This song looks like it could soundtrack many upcoming summer nights. Enjoy!

Check a review for Schoolboy Q’s last LP below: