DOWNLOAD: Lil' Vicious - 'Glock' (A Tribe Called Red Remix)

Once again, A Tribe Called Red show you how it's done. Check their killer remix of the Lil' Vicious track "Glock".

Who knew that ATCR could flip an unassuming joint from "former child reggae rapper" (and Doug E. Fresh protégé) Lil' Vicious' 1994 debut album Destination Brooklyn, into a 2014 dancefloor-destroying exercise in booty-shakin' bass music?

The track appeared yesterday as part in conjunction with "Bouncin’ Bush Stew 4 Mixtape"—a new collab between ATCR, Blondtron and Prince Zimboo:

Bouncin’ Bush Stews are inedible bowls of sound from from America’s Top Iron Deficient Chef, Samantha Blondtron and Africa’s most famous lover, Prince Zimboo. They are a celebration of pan-global butt music, friendship and silliness, brought together by the brilliant art of Vincent Parker. This fourth installment features Canada’s most huggable deejays (as voted by Raver Weekly, a Canadian EDM magazine that does not exist.) A Tribe Called Red!

Quoth the crew:

A Tribe Called Red!

Where maple syrup drips they are bred now bob your head or to lions you shall be fed. Grab a bowl of stew with your clique practice your twerk technique Just relax your bumcheek HEH!

Blessings to you and the crew! from Blondtron, A Tribe Called Red and Prince Zimboo!

Enjoy.

DOWNLOAD: Lil Vicious - "Glock" (ATCR Remix)

And for kicks, here's the "Bouncin' Bush Stew 4" Mixtape for your rump-shaking pleasure:

STREAM: Leela Gilday - "Heart of the People"

Dene singer-songwriter Leela Gilday returns with her fourth studio album, Heart of the People, that celebrates her homeland, her nation, and her love of the land.

Leela Gilday's music has always been a passionate mix of soaring vocals, beautiful melodies, and the effortless interweaving of sounds and stories rooted in her Dene culture—and her latest album is no exception.

As the Northern Journal so eloquently described:

Heart of the People, combines powerful lyrics that create stunning imagery, layered over carefully coordinated melodies for songs that are raw, emotional and absolutely empowering.

Her incorporation of traditional elements like the pounding beat of Dene drums, the breathy, guttural sounds of throat singing, lyrics belted out in local languages and dancing fiddles helps create one of the musician’s best albums thus far. “I really feel this CD is my best, my best songwriting,” Gilday said in an interview with The Journal. “As you mature as an artist… I’ve been trying to fulfill my potential and I feel like this is starting to fulfill my potential.”

Listening to the album is like sitting in a circle, hearing multiple voices share tales of life in the North.

We couldn't agree more.

Gilday describes the title track from the album as "an anthem to the heartbeat of the earth [and] our connection to the land". Co-written by Jason Burnstick, with Maori lyrics by Ora Barlow, stream "Heart of the People" below and immerse yourself in the swirling sonics of the northern lights greeting the sunny shores of Aotearoa.

Heart of the People was officially released on October 14th and is available at www.leelagilday.com. Gilday will launch the album in Toronto at a concert featuring Cris Derksen on October 28, 2014.

STREAM: Leela Gilday - "Heart of the People"

Watch Leela Gilday perform "Heart of the People" with her band and Dene drummers in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, at the Northern Art Cultural Centre in September 2014.

Pat Boy: Mayan Rap is Bringing the Culture Back

All over the globe, Indigenous MCs and hip-hop artists are using the furious force of rhymes to express, represent and revitalize their original languages and cultures. And Mayan MCs, like 22-year-old Pat Boy, are no exception.

For Pat Boy and other artists building the burgeoning Mayan hip-hop scene in the Yucatán Peninsula, rap is a way to bring Indigenous language and culture to a wider audience and for Mayan artists to recover a deeper sense of their own indigeneity. "Through rapping in Maya," Pat Boy says,  "I better understand my culture".

The Indigenous music renaissance is making it not only acceptable, but cool for native artists to represent themselves and their culture — and the resurgent wave is spreading beyond Turtle Island. By Pat Boy's count, at least 40 rappers are following in his footsteps—and people of all ages are coming to his shows. As he stated in a recent interview, "Old people like it for the language. Young people like it for the genre."

Rap keeps bringing it back. "Interviews tell us that 'the Maya collapsed'", he says, "which is a lie because the Mayans are here, just evolved and doing new things".

To get a better sense of where he's coming from and why is music is resonating so deeply with his audience and fellow Natives, we did a quick google translate of a Spanish-language interview Pat Boy recently did with VICE Mexico (so excuse the crude algorithmic translation) where he talks about his introduction to hip-hop and how the community has responded to his music:

INTERVIEWER: Hi, Pat Boy, you come from a community where the Mayan language is spoken, what was your first introduction to hip-hop? Pat Boy:  Yes, the Mayan language is the first thing you learn as a child, I am native of my native José María Pino Suárez. My first approach to hip-hop was thanks to my brother, as he traveled to complete his studies in Felipe Carrillo Puerto, and every time he returned to my village he had CDs and videos of singers like Kinto Sol, Akwid, Control Machete, Vico C and rappers from abroad like 50 Cent, Lil Jon, Cam'ron, Lil Wayne, etc.. From there we started rapping and writing our own songs, then bought a computer from the old ladies in which you could only record 60 seconds and so we started making our own rolas rapping in Spanish.

And where does the name Pat Boy come from? From the Pat out of my last name, which in Mayan means to shape something or create something new.

What did people in your community think when you told them you wanted to be a rapper? Many people laughed at me and made ​​fun of what I was doing, said I had nothing to do, that I would not get anywhere, but at that time they had not heard what I sang. Now when I took my first album, titled In Ya'ax xin baal, my people began to identify with the phrases of a song called "U kuxtáal mayaoob" (Maya lives), which speaks of the current life of the campesinos.

Read the rest of the interview (original in Spanish)

With a legion of fans, and inspiring his fellow Natives to reclaim their culture, Pat Boy seems an appropriate ambassador for hip-hop as a revitalizing force:

my songs tell a little of everything, of me and what I see happening every day, how life changes in Mayan villages technology, pollution and acculturation. I talk about peasant life, how we have to get up early to go to work in the fields, go out and find other ways to live because the land no longer gives crops. I also sing about the holidays, customs of each people, always encouraging young people to do something positive. Tell them all we can achieve what ever we want and when we work and maintain humility, respect and peace. Anywhere you go you should not forget where you come from, your people and blood in your veins.

At 22, Pat Boy is already three albums deep, has multiple videos posted on his YouTube channel, and his SoundCloud is constantly being updated with new joints. We've highlighted the video for a feel-good crew track "DECIRTE TODO", which features El Maya & El Poeta & Victor Santo Barrio, and a recent Clipse-style minimalist rap track "PLASMANDO MIS RIMAS" that's available as a free download.

Hip-hop is the force, Indigenous experience is the spirit. And through both we keep revitalizing ourselves, one beat at a time.

DOWNLOAD: PAT BOY - "PLASMANDO MIS RIMAS"

WATCH: PAT BOY - "DECIRTE TODO"

WATCH PAT BOY INTERVIEW + FREESTYLE IN MAYAN:

Listen to The Outer Reaches Mixtape: Inside the Sounds of Tanya Tagaq

How much do you know about Tanya Tagaq's music? To celebrate #MixtapeMonday, we take you inside the epic and artful career of the acclaimed Inuk artist with The Outer Reaches—an exclusive compilation that explores her ever-evolving auditory experiments and creative collaborations.  

If it wasn't already eminently clear, Tanya Tagaq is at the visceral vanguard of the Indigenous music renaissance.

Reactions to Tagaq’s win of the 2014 Polaris Prize have been overwhelmingly positive and celebratory. Over at Maclean’s, where Michael Barclay celebrates the “wonderfully weird” nature of the Polaris Prize, he argues that Tagaq is heavier than most metal bands:

Tagaq is not for the faint of heart. Tagaq creates great beauty and great destruction all at once, one woman embodying our relationship with the natural world. Of course, this all sounds ridiculous on paper (or pixels). Until you actually experience what it is she does.

We decided to celebrate Tagaq’s groundbreaking win with a retrospective mixtape exploring her work with many artistic collaborators, so that our readers can experience the outer reaches and incredible breadth of Tagaq’s musical universe.

The mixtape begins with a track from the first recording in her discography, the 2003 Iluani release Erren, which features Ugarte Anaiak and Ganesh Anandan on percussion, and the late, great Canadian fiddler Oliver Schroer. Collaborating with string players is an ongoing theme in Tagaq’s catalogue and, in this mix, we also hear from her current bandmate and producer, violinist Jesse Zubot, and her past bandmate (and RPM regular), cellist Cris Derksen.

Longtime Tagaq collaborator, Vancouver-based DJ and producer Michael Red, who often cross-pollinates electronic productions with Indigenous artists, drops a dub remix of Digging Roots’  Rebel, from their 2006 debut release Seeds, which Red re-released in support of Idle No More.

Joining Tagaq on stage at the Polaris Prize gala were bandmate, drummer, and producer Jean Martin, and The Element Choir directed by Christine Duncan. We hear an early release from the Jean Martin Trio’s 1999 recording Get Together Weather, and an excerpt from The Element Choir’s debut 2009 release At Rosedale United.

As evidenced in her incredible live performances, vocal experimentation is a central theme running through all of Tagaq’s work and in her work with artistic peers. She joined legendary and iconoclastic rock singer Mike Patton on “Fire ~ Ikuma” from her 2008 sophomore release AUK/BLOOD.

No Tagaq mixtape would be complete without hearing from the incomparable Björk, who helped launch Tagaq’s career on the world stage. Tagaq’s unique brand of throat singing can be heard throughout the opening track of Björk’s 2004 release Medúlla, “Pleasure is all Mine".

We conclude the mixtape with the closing track of Animism, “Fracking.” Social advocacy is a strong current throughout Tagaq’s work, which she openly addressed on stage at the Polaris gala, by projecting the names of missing and murdered Indigenous women, defending the traditional and sustainable Inuit seal hunt, and in this haunting track, embodying the environmental devastation caused by fracking. There is no separation in her music between aesthetics, politics, cultural practice, and raw experimentation.

As she has said, "what we're making right now is going to be the new tradition".

So open your senses, release your spirit, listen close, and dive deep into this expansive acoustic world.

The Outer Reaches: Tanya Tagaq Mixtape - 

Tracklist

1. Iluani - "Half Way Up the Mountain" (Erren, 2003) 2. Jesse Zubot - "Sundowning Part 2" (Dementia, 2006) 3. Björk - "Pleasure is all Mine" (Medulla, 2004) 4. Digging Roots - Rebel - Mred remix version (Michael Red, 2008) 5. Tagaq - Surge (Sinaa, 2005) 6. Cris Derksen - Dark Dance (The Collapse, 2013) 7. Tagaq - Fire ~ Ikuma (feat. Mike Patton, AUK/BLOOD, 2008) 8. Jean Martin Trio - Get Together Weather (Get Together Weather, 1999) 9. The Element Choir - Cloud Hands (excerpt, fr. The Element Choir at Rosedale United, 2009) 10. Tagaq - Fracking (Animism, 2014)

Listen to City Natives' new album Red City

Rising east coast hip-hop crew City Natives are back with Red City, a new album of aggressive and confident hip-hop.

Following the swagger and sway of their potent 2013 debut, 4 Kingz, the quartet of MC/producers Beaatz, IllFundz, Gearl and BnE return with a continuation of their established artistic vision: to bring back the boom bap of 90s-era hip-hop classics and spin it effortlessly forward into 21st century stories of struggle and survival.

Red City storms through your speakers over ten tracks of rap bravado.

As the seamless pass-and-trade verses of the four MCs lock into position against a sonic backdrop of triumphant loops and memorable hooks, City Natives call out haters, celebrate their ascendance, and claim dominance over all rivals and competition.

With production duties on the record expertly handled by Beaatz, Juliano, and Grant Keddy, Red City paints a vibrant portrait of the living spirit of Indigenous hip-hop claiming its rightful place in the present.

STREAM: City Natives - "Red City"

Tanya Tagaq Wins Polaris Prize 2014, Watch Her Live Performance Dedicated to MMIW

Groundbreaking, devastatingly incredible Inuk artist, Tanya Tagaq, beat out high profile artists like the Arcade Fire, Drake, Chromeo and a long list of others, to win the 2014 Polaris Music Prize for her album, Animism.

She will receive the $30,000 prize and, in her acceptance speech, Tagaq encouraged everyone "to wear and eat seal as much as possible" adding "fuck PETA":

"People should wear and eat seal as much as possible because if you can imagine an indigenous culture thriving and surviving on sustainable resource, wearing seal and eating it, it’s delicious and there’s lots of them.

Her performance included a dedication to missing and murdered Indigenous women, with scrolling projections of the names of #MMIW displayed behind her as she sang, accompanied by an intricate polyvocal choral arrangement.

Hailed for her "jaw-droppingly powerful and astoundingly strange" performance, Tagaq brought the crowd to its feet and proved, definitively, that the Indigenous music renaissance is just getting started.

Janine Wesaquate. Jarita Naistus. Jaylene Crane. Jaylene Redhead. Jean Ballantyne. #MMIW #Polaris2014 @tagaq pic.twitter.com/utAuntMrwc

— Melody McKiver (@m_melody) September 23, 2014

Haunting, mesmerizing, riveting performance by @tagaq dedicated to the long list of missing & murdered aboriginal women. #Polaris2014 #MMIW

— Zaib Shaikh (@Zaib_Shaikh) September 23, 2014

Tanya Tagaq dedicates her @PolarisPrize set to #MMIW - and wow, performance of the night. #Polaris2014 pic.twitter.com/z48oQYbMYo

— Quentin Burgess (@teamquentin) September 23, 2014

Watch Tagaq's astonishing live performance of "Uja" and "Umingmak", starting at 3:22:09 below:

Welcome to the Indigenous Music Renaissance

As all of us at RPM know, Indigenous music is thriving, growing and expanding across Turtle Island and around the world. There is a veritable renaissance in native music being made by an emerging generation of Indigenous artists that are proud, talented and pushing beyond the borders of genre, stereotypes and convention.

In an in-depth feature for CBC Music Magazine, writer Jesse Kinos-Goodin samples from the who's who of Indigenous artists in Canada, including sound bytes and interviews with A Tribe Called Red, Tanya Tagaq, Wab Kinew, Leonard Sumner, Inez Jasper and many more.

What the article makes clear, is that this is more than a moment for Indigenous music and musicians—this is a paradigm shift toward a new movement of Indigenous music.

So support Indigenous artists wherever you are, and sites like ours that are working to build community and increase the reach and influence of this inspiring generation of native artists who are leading the way forward.

A resurgence. A revolution. A renaissance. Idle No More. Call it what you will, but we’ve reached a significant moment in the history of Canada’s relationship with First Nations, and it’s reflected not just in the proliferation of indigenous music, but also in its mass acceptance by the mainstream. A Tribe Called Red are only one small piece of it, but their success represents a key turning point for a movement being led by young, indigenous artists across the country who are not only changing preconceived notions of what it means to be part of the First Nations community, but challenging the mainstream to re-evaluate their relationship with it. Buffy Sainte-Marie sowed the seeds in the ’60s; today, the seedlings cover the entire country.

Read the rest here: A Tribe Called Red, Wab Kinew, Tanya Tagaq on the indigenous music renaissance

Kinnie Starr Dreams Bigger

Kinnie Starr has never shied away from honest conversations about tough subjects. A passionate and articulate artist and writer, her music often speaks to the issues she cares about. Today, a new video for "Dream Bigger" continues the conversation.

"I dream bigger. I dream our grand kids will have clean water" said Kinnie Starr, adding in a recent interview with !earshot “I use rap forms and folk forms to try and communicate what I’m interested in, which is primarily the health and well being of people, and that spills out into the health and well being of the environment we occupy. Water comes to the forefront pretty quickly in the conversation.”

Sharing this brand new video - produced by her long time collaborator Hannah C, for the track that appears on Aporia Record's release of "Kiss It" - Kinnie posted on Facebook "I love my job, in terms of making creative product that speaks to a bigger picture than simple self promotion. Check it, and share the video if you believe we can manifest a healthier planet."

So listen up, share it and dream bigger:

STREAM: Princess Nokia - "YAYA"

Rising experimental hip-hop artist Princess Nokia drops an electro-rap dedication to her Taíno roots and ancestry.

Falling somewhere between the melodic song-rap of Santigold and the electronic world mashups of M.I.A., this is the first Brooklyn hip-hop artist that I've come across to represent for the Taíno — the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean and Greater Antilles — and she does it with fire and passion.

Produced by beatsmith Paul Devro, Princess Nokia describes "YAYA" as a direct line of connection and inspiration from her Indigenous heritage:

"Yaya" is the Taino word for Great Spirit. This Song is dedicated to my Taino ancestry and indigenous upbringing. The Taino People were the original inhibitors of the Caribbean and Greater Antilles (present day Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Haiti & Jamaica)

"YAYA" interrogates colonialism while marking a personal journey to recuperate her warrior bloodline. As she astutely observes, "history can tell you something / but they're always lying". The journey to recover and rediscover the lineage of forgotten indigeneity runs deep. And it produces dope music in the process.

Princess Nokia has been on a run lately. Her audacious debut full-length album, Metallic Butterfly, is a firestorm of sonic and lyrical experimentation that depicts a unique world "where hood rats, cyborgs, political revolutionaries, and spiritual mystics are one in the same". The record is amazing (listen to it here) and it's being hailed as "one of the most exciting and ambitious independently released albums to come out of the New York underground in a long time". With massive love being showered on her work, and an upcoming performance scheduled at the powerhouse Afropunk Festival in New York City later in August, Nokia is fast becoming one to watch.

STREAM: Princess Nokia - "YAYA"

Listen to the Sounds of Aboriginal Music Week 2014

Aboriginal Music Week 2014 is gearing up for another celebration of Indigenous music and here's a soundtrack to this year's festival.

Bringing out the best in Indigenous music, Aboriginal Music Week is getting set for another banner year festival to be held August 20-24, 2014 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

The full festival lineup has just been announced, and following on the heels of their successful Indigenous Music Without Borders mixtapes, comes a great sampler of music by artists performing at AMW this year.

AMW has included a wide range of Indigenous artists from across Turtle Island and beyond for what promises to be an amazing week of #IndigenousExcellence. Check the roster below:

Anishinabemowin emcee Tall Paul, Apache violinist Laura Ortman, Diplo-approved music producer Astronomar, hip hop duo Mob Bounce, and Six Nations-born guitar slinger Logan Staats will be performing in Winnipeg for the very first time.

JUNO Award winners George Leach and Leela Gilday, Colombian music maverick Lido Pimienta, Stó:lō pop singer Inez Jasper, prehispanico music creator DJ Javier Estrada, the multiple award winning Eagle & Hawk, Métis fiddle legend Darren Lavallee, trip hop singer Iskwé, funk-rockers Burnt-Project 1, champion drum group Spirit Sands Singers, Métis fiddler Melissa St. Goddard, local party legends Primetime Empyre, Opaskwayak Cree Nation's DJ Miss Vee, cinematic electronic music producer Exquisite Ghost, Aboriginal rockers The Mosquitoz, up-and-comer Frannie Klein, and Rescued by Dragonflyz are also set to perform at the festival.

 Listen to the Aboriginal Music Week 2014 Sampler:

DOWNLOAD: Impossible Nothing - "Buckin'"

The many sonic and aesthetic incarnations of Impossible Nothing find their latest expression in this hype new instrumental track.

Darwin Frost, aka Bishop, aka X-Man, aka D'arcy aka Impossible Nothing, is a prolific producer and Skookum Sound System member, who is continually releasing new music representing his unique brand of what he calls hip-hop #Maximalismmmmmmmm. And this latest joint, "Buckin'" is no exception.

A recombinant soundclash of disparate elements, "Buckin'" brings together Donell Jones, Araab, Paparazzi Pone and Vic Damone in a cryptic looping electic beatscape of neck-breaking goodness. Get into it.

DOWNLOAD: Impossible Nothing - "Buckin'"

DOWNLOAD: Enter-Tribal - "Native Cypher"

Taking it back while moving it forward, this quartet of Indigenous MCs steps up and rocks a classic beat in the first of a new series they call the Native Cypher.

Flexing their verbal versatility and lyrical skills, Chief Rock, Beka Solo, JB the First Lady, and Heebz the Earthchild from Mob Bounce, combine to drop some science over the East Flatbush Project hip-hop classic instrumental "Tried by 12".

Looking foward to seeing what's next up in the Native Cypher. Now kick back and enjoy the ride.

DOWNLOAD: Enter-Tribal - "Native Cypher"