Around this time last year we awarded Cities Aviv's Black Pleasure Mixtape Of The Week. Before exploring that "stark and unforgiving" release, Tom described the Memphis rapper/producer like so:
Cities Aviv has an interesting and impossible-to-replicate background. He comes from punk rock, but he also comes from Memphis, the city that birthed tape-hiss crunk fight music, and shades of both of those things echo around deep in his music. As a rapper/producer, he can be a friendly and disarming presence.
That friendly, disarming side comes across in a big way in "URL IRL," the first video from Aviv's upcoming album Come To Life. For a moment it looks like it's going to be an homage to the Replacements' boombox-only "Seen Your Video" clip, but when the pop-splicing beat kicks in, so does a celebration. Audio-wise, it's an exceptionally catchy and forward-looking sound -- the sort of sneakily avant-garde banger you could blast at a house party -- and it bodes quite well for Cities Aviv's 2014. Watch the TerrorEyes-directed visuals below.
[videoembed size="full_width" alignment="center"][/videoembed]
Come To Life is out 1/28/14 via Young One Records. In the meantime, Cities Aviv is part of a stacked bill Friday 12/13 at Brooklyn's 285 Kent with Factory Floor, Yvette, and DJ Kris DFA.
