Interviews

Week in Pop: Ed Askew, José Díaz Rohena, LUKA, Midnight Opera

Post Author: Sjimon Gompers

Ascending above the petty polemics, failed states & fallen idols—Impose’s Week in Pop presents a listen & look to the inspirational artists of today & tomorrow. Presenting some of the world’s breaking exclusives, we bring your breakdown of the week’s biggest headlines & buzz with news that Rexx Life Raj dropped the Gino Mancuso video for “Where I Belong” off of Father Figure 2: Flourish; NOIA dropped the Erin Vassilopoulos video for “Carl Sagan Vs. Zeus” off the debut EP Habits via Cascine; Pussy Riot dropped the Matt Creed video for “Police State” starring Chloë Sevigny; the grand return of Swearin’; Newark’s own Mach-Hommy dropped the anticipated Fete Des Morts AKA Dia De Las Muertos EP, going for a cool price tag of $111.11; Yours Are the Only Ears dropped “Saturn”; Michigan’s own Dabrye dropped “The Appetite” ft. Danny Brown, Quelle Chris & Roc Marciano; Recycle Culture remixed Yumi Zouma’s “Carnation” & “Depths (Pt. II)” featured off their beloved new album Willowbank; The She’s dropped the Lauren Field & Molly Walls & Colette Levesque video for “Sorry”; tune-yards dropped the video for “Look at Your Hands”; Open Mike Eagle dropped the Ryan Calavano video for “Happy Wasteland Day” produced by Exile; Gucci Mane dropped the David Helman video for “Curve” ft. the Weeknd; POLIÇA announced their collaborative s t a r g a z e album available February 16 & dropped “How is This Happening”; Quiet Luke dropped the video for “I Wanna Go” of the upcoming EP Your Happy Place; Cookie Money dropped the video for “Real Boss”; A-Trak & Baauer dropped “Fern Gully” & “Dumbo Drop” via Fool’s Gold; Hanz announced the new EP from Tri Angle Records & dropped “Page”; GFOTY announced the compilation GFOTYBUCKS available November 17 via PC Music & dropped the Mr. E video for “Poison/Tongue”; Ashanti dropped “Say Less” ft. Ty Dolla $ign produced by DJ Mustard; Grieves dropped the Timslew video for “Faded” off Running Wild via Rhymesayers; Remy Ma signed to Columbia Records & announced the new album 7 Winters & 6 Summers & dropped “Wake Me Up” ft. Lil Kim; Torii Wolf dropped via DJ Premiere collaboration Flow Riiot; G-Eazy announced that the upcoming album/film short The Beautiful and Damned will be available December 15; Ty Segall dropped “My Lady’s on Fire”; Exploded View dropped Summer Came Early available now via Sacred Bones; Angel Olsen dropped “Sans” off the new rarities compilation Phases available now from Jagjaguwar; NSTASIA dropped “Parachute” produced by Skrillex off the upcoming New Religion EP available November 17; South Central, LA’s G Perico dropped “Amerikkka”; the upcoming DRAM & Neil Young collaboration “Campfire” drops December 13 via the Bright soundtrack; Azar Swan announced the new album Savage Exile available December 1 from Aufnahme + Widergabe & dropped “Territorial”; Sylvan Esso announced spring 2018 tour & dropped the video for “Die Young” (live at Shakori Hills); MØ dropped the video for “When I Was Young”; Carly Rae Jepsen dropped “Trouble in the Streets”; Chief Keef dropped “Come On Now” ft. Lil Yachy; Blu and Exile dropped the holiday jam “Christmas Missed Us”; Eminem dropped “Walk on Water” ft. Beyoncé & produced by Rick Rubin; The Liza Colby Sound dropped the single “White Light” of DRAW available November 17; Empire Of the Sun dropped the video for the title track “Way To Go” off their new EP of the same name; Field Medic dropped the comp Songs from the Sunroom via Run For Cover; Field Music announced their album Open Here available February 2 via Rough Trade; Motherfolk dropped the Chris Birkmeyer live session video for “Fold II”; Kelly Lee Owens covered Aaliyah’s “More Than a Woman”; Lorde covered The Boss’s “I’m on Fire”; Distance & Frankie Simone covered “The World is Waiting for the Sunrise” off the Transference compilation available December 1 via Marmoset Music; Four Tet remixed Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith’s “I Will Make Room For You”; Chromeo dropped the David Wilson video for “Juice”; Montero announced the new album Performer available February 2 via Chapter Music & dropped the video for “Tokin’ the Night Away” from Ben Montero & Logan Feser; Baths dropped “Extrasolar” off of Romaplasm available November 17 via Anticon; Rhye dropped the video for “Taste” ft. choreography by Noelle Marsh; Sons of Raphael dropped “Rio”; Little
Simz dropped the Jeremy Cole video for “Poison Ivy” ft. Tilla; Animal Years dropped “Friends” off their Far From Home EP; The Wombats announced the new album Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life available February 9 via Kobalt Music Recordings & dropped “Lemon to a Knife Fight”; Gigi Rowe dropped the video for “Got That” off the Stardust Motel EP; Helsinki’s Lake Jons dropped the video for “Colors” via the self-titled album available January 19 from AntiFragile Music; Alex Rose dropped Arcadian Pages via Neighboring Sounds; Detroit’s Stef Chura is reissuing the debut album Messes via Saddle Creek February 2 & dropped the video for “Speeding Ticket”; Superchunk announced the new album What a Time to Be Alive available February 16 via Merge & dropped the title track; Panic at the Disco’s Kenneth Aaron Harris of Panic at the Disco dropped the video for “Birthday Boy” off the new Patterns EP; Jack White’s upcoming solo album is apparently “practically done“; Refrigerator, aka Shrimper Records boss Dennis Callaci, announced their eleventh album High Desert Lows (produced by Simon Joyner) available in February & dropped the title track; Wilco dropped the previously unreleased “Dynamite My Soul”; Os Mutantes dropped the politically charged “Black and Gray”; Elvis Costello dropped “You Shouldn’t Look at Me that Way”; Warbly Jets announced their North American tour with Liam Gallagher; Dev Hynes of Blood Orange to perform with Philip Glass at The Kennedy Center March 9 in DC; U.S. Girls are on tour; St. Vincent expands upon 2018 tour dates; Godspeed You! Black Emperor announced 2018 tour; Widowspeak covered Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” & shared European tour dates; Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner talked with Mannequin Pussy’s Marisa Dabice; Lily Allen announced an upcoming memoir; the Slits’ Viv Albertine announced the new book To Throw Away Unopened; A Tribe Called Quest unveiled their Vans “BONITA” trainers; King Krule debuted Archy Marshall’s own line of fashions; The Domestics are donating half the proceeds of sales from Little Darkness to the Southern Poverty Law Center; the great cassette tape shortage is real; Sean “Diddy” Combs took back his recent name change to Love/Brother Love; Apple apparently shelved Danny Brown’s concert doc Live at the Majestic; Taylor Swift versus the ACLU; Marilyn Manson’s faux gun faux pas; Jesse Lacey of Brand New accused of alleged sexual misconduct; Meek Mill sentenced to prison after violating probation, prompting JAY-Z to weigh in on the matter; we remember Dead Moon/Pierced Arrows’ Fred Cole & the loss of Chuck Mosley from Faith No More & Bad Brains; and Morrissey dropped “Jacky’s Only Happy When She’s Up on the Stage” & also canceled his concert in Paso Robles, California due to the cold weather.
Moving forward it is now our pleasure & privilege to present the following interviews, exclusives & insights from Ed Askew, José Díaz Rohena, LUKA, Midnight Opera, I Come to Shanghai, Ill Poetic, Los Angeles Police Department, Nicolai, PANGS, Rainbow Reservoir, WRITER, featuring guest selections by Quiet Luke & more—in no particular order.