Digital FORT: Latest News

All news where Digital FORT is mentioned

04.04.2020 / 09:41

Digital FORT: Mariah The Scientist sings through a dark “Reminders”

Mariah The Scientist's 2019 single "Reminder" only took five minutes to write, according to Mariah herself, but behind its slinky melodies it's a difficult song that doesn't shy away from the nastiest details of a toxic relationship. For Digital FORT, she sent us a live performance of the song from an undisclosed location. Check it out at the top of the page.

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Digital FORT: Childish Major cooks up some chicken “low mane”

Childish Major takes a break from behind the boards to bring us an edition of Quarantine Cooking on Day 2 of Digital FORT. On the menu for today, the Grammy-nominated producer serves up his own recipe for chicken "low mane." Throughout the session we learn that Major uses garlic, occasionally opts not to strain his noodles, and is a fan of the preeminent galaxy-brain show, WestWorld. You can even grab his recipe too.

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Digital FORT: Finneas sings a lilting “I Don’t Miss You At All” from his couch

Finneas dropped by The FADER offices about a week after sweeping the Grammys alongside his sister, Billie Eilish. He turned out to be one of the most down-to-Earth musicians who’d rolled through the office in the past year. He even spent some time hanging out with our resident French Bulldog, Wasabi. For Digital FORT, the songwriter and producer sent us an appropriately unassuming video — just Finneas playing a lilting “I Don’t Miss You At All” on a small Spanish guitar.

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Digital FORT: Wicca Phase Springs Eternal performs a new song from his basement

GothBoiClique's Wicca Phase Springs Eternal debuted a new song called "I Want To Go Out Tonight" an an acoustic livestream the other night, and for his Digital FORT submission he's put the song together for a full performance, live from his basement, glitching as the song trips forward.

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Digital FORT: Sebastian Mikael sings soulful versions of “Mission” and “Rain”

Swedish R&B-pop singer Sebastian Mikael is coming off of a busy two years in which he's released back-to-back albums with I C U U C ME Part I and Part II. For Digital FORT, he's playing a standout track from each record: "Mission" from the former and "Rain" from the latter. Check it out above.

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Digital FORT: TENGGER play an immersive live version of “High”

New age band TENGGER make genuinely expansive music, records that grow beyond themselves with each new added layer and idea. A family band composed of itta and Marqido and their seven-year-old son RAAI, TENGGER are utterly unique and absolutely worth tracking down on tour when it's safe to do that sort of thing again. For proof, here's there Digital FORT submission, an ecstatic version of "High" from their European tour earlier this year.

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Digital FORT: KAINA x Sen Morimoto play a woozy “Could Be a Curse”

Chicago pop artists KAINA and Sen Morimoto have been collaborating since 2017, when the former sang backup for the latter at a Lincoln Hall show. The only full, down-the-middle collaboration that the two have produced so far is "Could Be A Curse," a laid-back single sung through three languages that they released last summer. Now they're submitting a stripped-down live version of the track to Digital FORT.

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Digital FORT: Katie from Austra plays us an unreleased song from her parents’ basement

Canadian electro-pop band Austra are preparing to release their fourth album HiRUDiN on May 1, but self-isolation has pushed them off the road and back to their homes. They still want to debut new music though, so for Digital FORT Katie Stelmanis sent us a previously unreleased song, "All I Wanted," from the confines of her parents' basement.

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Check out the lineup for Day 2 of Digital FORT

Digital FORT 2020 is in full flow. All day today we'll continue publishing videos from some of our favorite artists in an effort to raise money for those hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Digital FORT: Wake up with an hour-long set from Juls

London-born producer Juls has become one of the biggest names in Afrobeats over the past few years, working with Burna Boy, Mr Eazi, and Maleek Berry to help define a sound that's gone truly global. To get us started with the second day of Digital FORT, he sent us an hour-long, amapiano-influenced set to wake up with. It starts out blissful but picks up pretty quickly with contributions from South African house artists DJ Maphorisa, Semi Tee, and Kabza De Small.

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Digital FORT: Little Dragon close out Day 1 with live performances of “Hold on” and “Another Love”

It’s the end of Day 1 of FADER Fort. If we were all in Austin, that would mean it’s way past midnight and time to stumble out exhausted onto the heaving streets. At Digital FORT, that means it’s time to watch Grammy-winning Swedish electronic stars Little Dragon play “Hold On” and “Another Love” from an impressively neon-lit soundstage while you wind down for the day. We’ll be back tomorrow, bright and early, for Day 2 of Digital FORT.

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How to help those hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, in Austin and beyond

When The FADER first talked about doing a Digital FORT, we said that we wanted to highlight some of the charities that are working hard to help those most affected in Austin, Texas — a city that's welcomed us every year for the past two decades. Since those first conversations, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted every facet of day-to-day life, and the music industry has been no exception. Touring and festivals are on pause indefinitely, travel is all-but on hold, and social distancing means that artists have to go digital to communicate with their audiences.

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Digital FORT: Fuego gives us an update on his new album

Dominican rapper Fuego has been busy since The FADER went to meet him for a Gen F feature back in 2017, releasing two new albums in Libre: Fireboy Forever and You’re Welcome. Now he’s gearing up to release another, NightShift, in the coming weeks. In a clip submitted exclusively to Digital FORT from the studio, Fuego gives us an update on its sound. “When this is all over we will be able to dance to it,” he says in Spanish. “This album has reggaeton but some afro beat sounds, which is a new sound from me. On this occasion i did everything I could to get people dancing and enjoying, and I left the trap sounds for my album in the winter — that’s a winter sound.”

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Digital FORT: Hanson (!) play a throwback four-song set from their home studio

The first single I bought on CD, at the age of 6, was Hanson’s “MMMBop” That isn’t in itself remarkable — it went to No. 1 just about everywhere — but I’m still proud of the fact that an uncle I had to visit later that day refused to let me play it on his stereo because it was “the Devil’s music.” I played the thing on repeat after that. In some deep recess of my mind, “MMMBop” holds the same mystic qualities that “Stairway to Heaven” does for people 30 years my senior.

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Digital FORT: Go behind the scenes of Girlpool’s “Like I’m Winning It” video

After taking a massive leap forward into impressionistic indie with last year’s What Chaos Is Imaginary, Girlpool returned earlier this year with a curveball single in the thrumming “Like I’m Winning It.” The song was released alongside a brilliant video from Amalia Irons, with Harmony Tividad and Avery Tucker starring. In an exclusive clip for Digital FORT, Tucker himself explains the genesis of the idea behind the video and shares some behind-the-scenes footage from the shoot.

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Digital FORT: RMR plays his viral hit “Rascal” live on a rooftop at sunset

This doesn’t seem right, but it’s true: It’s only been one month since an anonymous, balaclava-wearing, AK-clutching singer called RMR took over the internet with a reworking of Rascal Flatts’ Bush-era country tearjerker “Bless The Broken Road.” The FADER confirmed that he had an EP on the way in the coming months, but since then we’ve heard nothing from the still-unidentified Long Beach artist. He’s broken his silence for Digital FORT, though. The live version of “Rascal” at the top of the page marks the first live performance that RMR has ever committed to video. It’s every bit as striking as the original, too, performed on a rooftop at sunset with RMR’s voice perfect throughout. Check out the exclusive clip at the top of the page.

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Digital FORT: Lolo Zouai guides us through her home recording process and previews a brand new song

R&B-inclined pop singer Lolo Zouai should be supporting Dua Lipa on the Future Nostalgia Tour right now, but the COVID-19 pandemic means most of those dates have inevitably been pushed back to 2021. Thankfully, Zouai has a solid home recording setup, a knack for crafting smart beats, and suddenly loads of time on her hands. For Digital FORT, she’s sent in a miniature production class, guiding us through her unreleased new single “Cold” from start to finish.

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Digital FORT: Watch an exclusive interview with Korean rapper Simon Dominic

If you’re not caught up with Korean rapper Simon Dominic yet, this would be a good time to dive into his catalog. The AOMG member has been building a huge following in his home country over the past few years, most recently with the release of his No Open Flames EP. In an exclusive interview submitted to Digital FORT, he gives us all an update on his next record and tells us what he’s been up to since Korea went into lockdown. Dominic himself recently donated 50 million won (roughly $42,000) to the Hope Bridge Disaster Relief fund for disaster relief in Korea.

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Digital FORT: Highly Suspect’s Terrible Johnny plays a mostly poignant, acoustic “These Days”

Through the first verse and two choruses, Highly Suspect’s “These Days” could function as a grim commentary on a life lived in self-quarantine, afraid of the world outside. And with the band’s frontman, Terrible Johnny, performing a bare acoustic version of the song for Digital FORT, it does capture the bleak unease of the times. Admittedly, Johnny gets pretty specific in the second verse, particularly when he sings, “Sometimes I need to bust a nut / That doesn't mean I don't love you,” but the live-from-home performance still hits.

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Digital FORT: Watch DJ Shadow’s “Rocket Fuel” come to life

Almost 25 years on from his game-changing debut Entroducing…, DJ Shadow is still on his game. His latest album, Our Pathetic Age, blended old and new, with contributions from Nas and Ghostface Killah brushing up against verses from Wiki and Samuel T. Herring. On “Rocket Fuel,” a collaborative single with De La Soul, nobody was imagining a fight between two wound-up spacemen until Sam Piling of Pulse Productions came onboard for the video. In an exclusive clip submitted to Digital FORT, Peeling takes us behind the scenes of the “Rocket Fuel” video, from conception to shoot.

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Digital FORT: Get a masterclass from Grammy-winning engineer David Kim

Even if you haven’t heard of David Kim, you’ve heard him. He’s a trusted engineer who’s worked with everyone from DJ Khaled to Ariana Grande to N.E.R.D, winning a Grammy for his work on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly. In an exclusive, 20-minute masterclass for Digital FORT, Kim opens up about one of his proudest achievements, the sound behind the late Nipsey Hussle’s “Racks In The Middle,” guiding us through his process in depth along the way.

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Digital FORT: Watch kid rapper ZaZa perform her “most epic song”

ZaZa is a ray of sunshine. The five-year-old rapper has more confidence than any adult you’ve met, as she proved when she rolled through the FADER offices late last year and started dancing in the middle of our kitchen unprompted. For Digital FORT, she’s performing her “most epic song,” this year’s “Money Coming In.” If you need some guidance from ZaZa about stay-at-home best practices, try this: “Me and baby sis hang out all night / Movies, movies, watch movies all night / Movies, movies, watch movies all night.” The children are our future.

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Digital FORT: Hear a perfectly unpolished new Kills Birds demo

Kills Birds are one of the buzziest rock bands on the West Coast right now. Their self-titled debut album, released last year on KRO, was a smoldering and sludgy thing that dived into mid-’90s grunge melodies with little warning and secured them a slot on tour with the legendary Hot Snakes. Before that tour was cut short last month, lead singer Nina Ljeti was documenting their time on the road, capturing beautifully grainy VHS footage as they traveled around the U.S. Ljeti — a filmmaker in her own right who directed James Franco in Memoria — cut that all together for Digital FORT and overlaid the footage with a new demo, which she’s calling “Natalie.” Watch it at the top of the page.

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Digital FORT: Methyl Ethel’s “Castigat Ridendo Mores” gets its debut in the Western Australia bush

Perth-based art rock group Methyl Ethel will release a new EP, Hurts To Laugh, on April 10, but “Castigat Ridendo Mores” won’t appear on the band’s latest release. The standalone single is getting its world premiere at the top of the page for Digital FORT, courtesy of a live performance that lead singer Jake Webb recorded before and after sunset in the Western Australian bush this past weekend.

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Check out the lineup for Day 1 of Digital FORT

Digital FORT 2020 is almost live. All day today and tomorrow we'll be streaming exclusive content from some of our favorite artists in an effort to raise money for those hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Digital FORT: 22gz’s guide to rolling a “non-rona spliff”

It’s Tuesday, March 31, and Digital FORT is finally online. That means nine hours of special performances from our favorite artists, guest appearances from some of the biggest names in music, and a lot of stuff that’s very hard to describe in advance. To get the day started, here’s Brooklyn drill star 22gz’s guide to rolling a “no-rona spliff.” Take notes. We’ve got a lot coming today.

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Check out the full lineup for The FADER’s first-ever Digital FORT

The lineup for FADER FORT 2020 is out. The FADER's first ever Digital FORT, beginning at 10 a.m. on March 31, will feature one-off performances and unexpected contributions from over 50 artists, including Kesha, Jessie Reyez, Girlpool, Porches, G Herbo, Guapdad 4000, 22gz, Brian Fallon, and RMR. Check out the full schedule at the top of the page.

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FADER FORT is going online for a 9-hour broadcast next week

For the first time in its history, FADER FORT is going online. On Tuesday, March 31, The FADER will bring together over 40 acts for a day-long broadcast and an opportunity to raise money for charities helping those hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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