DOOMTREE REVEALS “FINAL BOSS" VIDEOPREMIERED 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.” V
H1
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 A
ll 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
3/3 - Wooly’s - Des Moines, IA
3/4 - The Waiting Room - Omaha, NE $
3/5 - Aggie Theatre - Ft. Collins, CO $
3/6 - Gothic Theatre - Englewood, CO $
3/7 - Urban Lounge - Salt Lake City, UT $
3/9 - Nuemo’s - Seattle, WA $
3/10 - Hawthorne Theatre - Portland, OR
3/12 - Slim’s - San Francisco, CA $
3/13 - The Roxy Theatre - Los Angeles, CA $
3/14 - The Glass House - Pomona, CA $
3/16 - Club Red - Mesa, AZ $
3/17 - Launchpad - Albuquerque, NM $
3/19-3/21 - SXSW - Austin, TX
7/17-7/18 - Eaux Claires Festival - Eau Claire, WI
# - with Open Mike Eagle
$ - with Hellfyre Club and Transit
% - with Greg Grease
All Hands tracklist:1. Final Boss
2. My Own Nation
3. .38 Airweight
4. Gray Duck
5. Heavy Rescue
6. 80 on 80
7. Mini Brute
8. Cabin Killer
9. Beastface
10. The Bends
11. Generator
12. Off In The Deep
13. Marathon