Jason Goldwatch & The Alchemist: Cycles

Absorbing work here from Jason Goldwatch and The Alchemist, as they blend archive footage and original music to create this experimental short film. According to the blurb, all the music was produced by Alchemist back in 2014 and it is available now as an accompanying release.

Lunar C: The Dirtbrain Tour Documentary

Great documentary from Lunar C, as we delve deep into his recent Dirtbrain Tour. It’s a good insight into Lunar’s perspective on his career and also into how the tour was put together through a lot of hard graft from him and his friends, as well as some further insight into the levels of debauchery that were reached in each city. Packed full of guest stars, including Minas, DJ Heritage, P Solja and Lefty, as well as a bunch of cameos in each city (including yours truly), the documentary is a fine round-up of a highly successful tour. The footage was shot and edited by Rob Heslop & Emily Parish. Dirtbrain is available to stream now on Spotify.

Earl Sweatshirt: Nowhere, Nobody (Film)

Nowhere, Nobody is a new experimental short film, that serves as a sort of accompaniment to Earl’s most recent album, Some Rap Songs. The film features appearances from Earl himself, as well as a variety of supporting cast members and a score comprised of songs from the new album. in terms of description, you’re really better off just watching the film yourself and trying to decipher some of the more surreal scenes. Nowhere, Nobody was directed by Naima Ramos-Chapman and Terence Nance. Some Rap Songs is out now on Tan Cressida.

Armand Hammer: Paraffin (Short Film)

A short but alluring film was gifted to us over Christmas, with a focus on one of 2019’s strongest releases – Paraffin by Armand Hammer. ELUCID and billy woods scored another critical success with their fourth release, rightly finding themselves in amongst the multiple end of year lists and best of categories that surfaced recently. This film, made by someone known only as Joseph, features a heady brew of live excerpts and behind the scenes footage, spliced with some almost Lynchian cut scenes. It’s basically the ideal accompaniment for the album. Paraffin is out now on Backwoodz Studioz.

Nobodies Home x Lee Scott x Sniff: ADHD Concerto 77 Side A (Official Cult B Movie Musical)

Never content with being run of the mill, the latest offering from Blah sees Nobodies Home, Lee Scott and Sniff branching out into new creative areas.
Friday saw the arrival of the trio’s new project, ADHD Concerto 77 and to accompany the release they also put out this 10 minute film/extended music video, which covers the first ‘side’. The music itself is another left-field gem in Blah’s crown, with that style of wavy, monotone rap in full effect. The full project is available to stream below and you can cop a limited edition vinyl over at the Blah store.

Planet Asia ft. Hus Kingpin & SmooVth: Mansa Musa Medallions

The ever-prolific Planet Asia is hitting us with yet another full-length project tomorrow. Following on from January’s Golden Buddha project, Mansa Musa looks set to be reaching the same energy levels he has consistently reached in the two decades he’s been around. Mansa Musa Medallions is the lead single and sees the mic veteran connecting with two of the more established stars from the current crop of MCs, Hus Kingpin and SmooVth. You can stream the track below and you can cop the album here tomorrow.

The Soulquarians: The Collaboration Between Questlove, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu & More

Back in 1998 it’s fair to say that The Soulquarians were a pretty formidable musical force. Featuring some of the most admired artists in the industry, including Questlove, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu and Bilal, the collective were responsible for the production of some of the finest albums of the era.
Things Fall Apart, Like Water For Chocolate and Voodoo were just some of the titles that they played a part in and although they fell relatively silent as a collective in around 2003, their legacy and individual talents still thrive today. Pitchfork recently put together this short film in honour of The Soulquarians, with some excellent animation from Concrete Jungle creator, Steven Cartoccio, and music from the Backwoodz Studioz favourite, Willie Green.

Mass Appeal: Rapture

Netflix has done well over the past few years with their selection of hip hop documentaries, with films like Time is Illmatic and The Art of Organized Noize giving us some great insights into particular eras of rap. Now the mighty Mass Appeal have announced their own docu-series, which promises to explore the global impact of hip hop culture.

Henry Canyons: La Côte West

Intriguing project from Backwoodz Studioz representative, Henry Canyons.
He recently spent some time in the French Basque town of Biarritz, where he was taking part in an artist residency. The result is this six song EP, which draws on inspiration from the coastal town, all filtered through Canyons’ unique creative vision. Each track is produced by a different producer.
In a similar play to ELUCID’s 2017 Valley of Grace release, the EP is accompanied by a short documentary, which Canyons made as a companion piece. You can stream the EP below, where you can also watch the film and downloads are available via Bandcamp.

IMS & Tenchoo: Making Panic Room 9

Panic Room 9 was one of the strongest releases from last year, securing day time airplay on BBC 6 Music among other things. If you were a fan you might be interested in this mini-doc that just surfaced on the Starch Records YouTube channel, as it gives you a bit of insight into how the record was made. We will be hearing more from both IMS and Tenchoo this year, including a mixtape from the latter called When Planets Collide. More on those as and when.