Atmosphere drops their new video for the track titled ‘Love Each Other’. What I love about Atmosphere, and I must say this first, is that they write and record about the finer things in life. And by that, I don’t mean money, fame, or fortune. What I mean is happiness, family, and love. Love of each other, as the song so profoundly says. And, in a world filled with hate, deflection, and delusion, it makes songs like this even more refreshing.
‘Love Each Other’ is an ode to love itself, or the possibility of love. And that is the question. What if? What if we loved each other. Should we get to know each other? These are questions that we should all ask of ourselves, and each other.
ABOUT ATMOSPHERE & ‘WHENEVER’
‘Whenever’ cover.
Atmosphere, comprised of the venerable Slug and Ant, have had a sprawling career as underground vanguards. Across their decades-long partnership, the duo has tapped into the weird and caustic, producing cutting album after cutting an album and speaking truth to pain. Their work has demystified heartache and the tortures of coping through the most common and accessible vices: alcohol, drugs, and women.
For over 20 years, Atmosphere has pursued the underbelly of what it means to be human with a rabid curiosity. Ant’s dusky production has provided the pulse for Slug’s evolving and matter-of-fact pen. As Slug transitioned from throwing-up-in-the-backseat-raps to holding-hands-when-you-cross-the-street-raps, Ant has grown to be a master of crate digging and unearthing the humanity of a drum loop. Always, the duo was concerned with privileging their personhood, making music as ugly and jagged as life itself. Thriving at the intersection of guttural and self-effacing, Atmosphere will go down as some of America’s best archivists.
In 2018, with Mi Vida Local, Atmosphere entered into the album cycle “full of discomfort.” As Slug grappled with his mortality and the disconcertment of being an American, Ant soundtracked these sobering thoughts with iron-clad guitar chords, shivering melodies, and meaty percussion patterns. Just a year removed from their at-times funky, at times bluesy, and always a boom-bap-fueled tour of woes, Atmosphere return with a new album.
On their seventh album, ‘Whenever’, the duo moves in lockstep. Be it the twinkle of “Bde Maka Ska” leading into twanging guitars, or the anxious skitter of “Lovely,” Slug finds obvious comfort in working with Ant. “Postal Lady,” recounts the simplicity of Slug’s life over warm and enveloping production, while “Romance” brings us back to God Loves Ugly with undulating glitches, as if we crawled through Ant’s drum machine. No other producer can pull truths out of a rapper like Ant fishes the blues out of Slug. It’s clear the pair’s harmony is reaching new peaks.
On ‘Whenever’, Slug sounds incensed. His previous anxieties have channeled into biting bars, recalling what it means to grow up gracefully in Hip-Hop. Within the minutiae, we still find he’s struggling with his mortality and the need to protect his emotional energy. In the most subtle ways, the album deals with husbanding ourselves from glowering cynicism. Still, there’s a quiet romanticism to Whenever, with Slug sounding—reluctantly—in love with life. It’s the necessary reprieve Atmosphere deserves after the rattling Mi Vida Local.
These aren’t dad-raps, these aren’t anti-establishment-raps, and these aren’t chasing-old-fire-raps. Even at its darkest (“You’re Gonna Go”) Whenever houses blessed-to-be-alive-raps. The album breathes in the way only Slug and Ant could summon a collective breath—they inhale panic and exhale greatness.
Featured image by Dan Monick.
VIDEO CREDITS:
Starring – Slug, Ant, Dawson Ehlke, Brielle Carmichael
Director + Editor | Tomas Aksamit
Producer + AD | Paul Winkels
Production Designer + Stylist | Jen Sonibare
Cinematographers | Tomas Aksamit & Jacob Velander
Steadicam Operator | Will Moses
AC | Derek Bauer
Gaffer | Jacob Velander
Key Grip | Tyler Thomas
Grip | Colton Fossen
HMU + Stylist Assistant | Romeny Chan
PA | Cody Otte, Elliot Kersten
Extras | Sulia Altenberg, Jodi Brockel, Jessica Enwesi, Aidan Gallivan, Sam Heywe, Ernest Howard, Michael Kampa, Eliot Kersten, Erika Kuhn, Michaela Lee, Jade lefever, Richard McLay, Alexis O’Shea, Tanisha Ronnie, Stephanie Ruas, Amy Sirivie, Josiah Thompson, Alex Vanderwarn, Raymond Vasquez, Aron Wold, Nathan Wold
A very special thanks to the Van Dusen Mansion & Event Center and to all the amazing talent that came out to be a part of this project! We greatly appreciate you.
LINKS:
https://rse.lnk.to/MiVidaLocal
https://rhymesayers.com/artists/atmosphere
https://www.facebook.com/Atmosphere
https://twitter.com/atmosphere
https://www.instagram.com/atmosphere
