Album/Video: Latyrx Release The Second Album + New Video – “Exclamation Point”

Legendary Experimental Rap Duo Latyrx (Lyrics Born and Lateef) Release First Album in 16 Years Today Along With New Music Video

11.05.2013

Critical Praise:

“Bay Area alt-rap heroes return ahead of the long-delayed The Second Album“ – SPIN

“[The Second Album is] eclectic without getting wacky, thoughtful without getting preachy, full of great wordplay over beats that tie hip-hop to a history of all-purpose head-nod music from funk to electro and beyond.” – Rolling Stone

“Get excited, y’all” – PotholesInMyBlog

“Latyrx sounds motivated and creatively rejuvenated.” – Consequence of Sound

The Album / Video:

Today, pioneering hip-hop duo Latyrx, made up of rappers Lyrics Born and Lateef the Truthspeaker, release their anticipated follow-up to their 1997 indie rap classic The Album, appropriately titled The Second Album. The album features appearances from members of Anticon, tUnE-yArDs, Living Colour, and The Decemberists as well as Busdriver, 1-O.A.K. and more. To celebrate the album’s release, they’re proud to share a music video that took nearly 100 hours to create that is compiled of tens of thousands of still images made to look like a stop motion video.

The music video for “Exclamation Point” artfully captures the essence of what a growing part of the population seems to be voicing: feeling overwhelmed and jaded in an overstimulated world while trying to navigate through the chaos to find inspiration and happiness. Juxtaposed against a driving, insistently simple drum line, comes melancholy sweet piano chords and a hook from singer Forrest Day reminding you to “slow it down” and to ignore things that get overused like an exclamation point. Created entirely with still photos shot with a Nikon D700, the video highlights the reality of how quickly life moves. “Much like in life, if you actually went frame by frame you’d notice much more; but as with life, everything just flies by,” explains director Mark Austin Heim. Shot in San Francisco and Oakland and featuring local landmarks and everyday people, the majority of the still images were captured at 4-6 frames per second at a rate of 10,000 stills a day for over a week. Explains Heim, “After each day we’d compile all the images into a sequence that ran at 24 frames per second. Then we edited the video using the clips created from thousands of still images.” Syncing the sound portion proved to be especially challenging. Heim had Lyrics Born and Lateef rapping at 25% their normal speed to sync their lip movements to the track. “I love how organic yet jittery it feels,” says Lyrics Born.

Releasing another album after over a decade and a half of working on other projects feels fulfilling to Lyrics Born as an artist. “It feels fantastic. I was never totally happy with where we left off and we realized that even after 16 years no other duo had really built upon what we had developed conceptually or structurally, so from a listener’s perspective I think there’s a lot there to keep you interested and engaged,” says LB. “I really think people are going to love this album.” The Second Album is available for purchase on iTunes today.

Latyrx are currently on the first half of their The Second Album World Tour with rap duo Skins and Needles throughout the fall season, and will continue the second leg of the tour in 2014. The tour covers the west coast with stops in Sacramento, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco and more.

Watch the video for “Exclamation Point”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsvEx3r_Uvs

Check out the HipHopDX premiere of “Exclamation Point”: http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/videos/id.14719/title.latyrx-lateef-lyrics-born-f-forrest-day-exclamation-point-

Purchase The Second Album on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-second-album/id703040114?ls=1

Listen to the entire album now at Pitchfork: http://pitchfork.com/advance/285-the-second-album/

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsvEx3r_Uvs[/youtube]

LATYRX (Lyrics Born and Lateef) featuring Skin and Needles

THE SECOND ALBUM WORLD TOUR – 1st leg (2nd leg will continue in 2014)

To buy tickets: http://latyrxauthentic.com/?page_id=33

11/05 – State Room – Salt Lake City, UT – tickets
11/08 – Boomer’s – Laytonville, CA – tickets available at the door
11/09 – Harlow’s – Sacramento, CA – tickets
11/14 – Wonder Ballroom – Portland, OR (w/ Vursatyl of Lifesavas & Tope) – tickets
11/15 – Domino Room – Bend, OR – tickets available at the door
11/16 – The Crocodile – Seattle, WA – tickets
11/20 – The Independent – San Francisco, CA (w/ Forrest Day, DJ Aaron AxelsEn & hosted by The Gift of Gab & Chief Xcel of Blackalicious) – tickets
11/21 – Moe’s Alley – Santa Cruz, CA – tickets

Please contact Michelle or Dan if interested in talking with members of Latyrx.

Latyrx Background:

Latyrx is the alternative hip-hop duo of rappers/producers Lyrics Born and Lateef the Truth Speaker. Rooted in the Bay Area Solesides collective of the 1990s, which also included DJ Shadow and future members of Blackalicious, the duo released their seminal The Album in 1997 to critical acclaim. They quickly followed up with the Muzapper’s Mixes EP in 1998, which produced the notable, boundary-pushing and feminist-affirming track “Lady Don’t Tek No.” Both went on to numerous solo projects and collaborations with other artists before reuniting to work on their long-awaited follow up, The Second Album, which is due out November 5th.