Free Mixtape: BLKHRTS – Death, Romance and The Color BLK

Passion Of The Weiss Premieres New Mixtape From Denver’s Goth-Rap Group BLKHRTS

08.01.2013

Critical Praise for BLKHRTS:

“BLKHRTS return with ten trailer park flattening songs that approximate the feeling of trying to stop a hurricane with plywood.” – Passion of the Weiss

“…their songs rattle with the shuddering velocity of a train car going off the rails and killing dozens. It is rap as hard-core punk music that never forgets it’s hip-hop. – LA Times

“Listening to [BLKHRTS] feels like riding a roller coaster in the dark: violent, dramatic, and with many unexpected turns.” – Pitchfork

The Mixtape:

“Sex, drugs, violence, money, death, romance and the color black are the things in life that can potentially destroy you. They are easy to learn but take forever to master. These are the types of things we rap about,” says BLKHRTS frontman, Yonnas. Passion Of The Weiss premiered the new mixtape from the Denver based goth-rap group, comprised of producer/rapper Yonnas, and rappers King F.O.E. and Karma The Voice. The 10-track tape, entitled Death, Romance and The Color BLK, showcases the group’s genre blending style, which pulls influences from artists as disparate as Morrissey and M.O.P., as well as their adept storytelling and range of delivery. The group has already created national buzz with their previous releases, leading to features from Pitchfork and the LA Times, as well as their electrifying live performances, most notably earlier this year at SXSW.

Differentiating themselves from some of the stereotypical trappings of their genre has been key to the group’s success. “The number one thing is that we are all 100% hip-hop artists,” says Yonnas, “We don’t rely on abstraction in anyway to reflect our ‘artsy-ness.’ The lyrics are upfront [and] the beats are all accessible head-nodders that work the way rap is supposed to work.” Sonically speaking, BLKHRTS is a quintessential mixture of rap and rock; there are aggressive beats combined with filtered guitars, synths and samples, syncopated trap snares over which throaty vocals layer to pierce like shrapnel. However punctuated throughout are moments that feel ethereal and atmospheric, where the group’s lyrical content flows poetically. The group remains firmly planted in between genres with an intention to create authentic quality rap music, yet clearly espouse conceptual elements of the goth movement. “The three things that define goth culture are an obsession with death, an obsession with romance and an obsession with the color black. That’s it,” says Yonnas, “In many ways, this mixtape is the goth-rap manifesto.”

To promote the mixtape, BLKHRTS has embarked on a tour which began on July 27th in Denver, CO, with several stops along the West Coast before concluding on August 9th in San Francisco, CA. BLKHRTS will follow up Death, Romance and The Color BLK with an EP and a full-length album, both due out in 2014.

Death, Romance and The Color BLK track list:

01. Stigmata
02. The Space Between (I’ve Got It All In Here)
03. At Least I Can Say I Loved (You)
04. Wrath of God
05. BRK T M
06. Pack A Day
07. Tell Me Something I Don’t Know
08. THT BLKHRTS SHT
09. IFUCKINGLOVEYOUJZBLJNKNS
10. Porties

Check out the Passion of the Weiss premiere here: http://passionweiss.com/2013/07/30/death-romance-the-color-blk-the-new-mixtape-from-blk-hrts/

Download the album here: http://www.audiomack.com/album/blkhrts/death-romance-and-the-color-blk-1

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Tour Dates:

July 27th – Denver, CO @ The Marquis Theatre
July 28th – Grand Junction, CO @ Punk Rock Pool Party at BLP
July 31st – Salt Lake City, UT @ Bar Deluxe
August 1st – Boise, ID @ The Venue
August 5th – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
August 9th – San Francisco, CA @ Brainwash

Please contact Michelle or Dan if interested in talking with BLKHRTS.

BLKHRTS Background:

BLKHRTS are three MCs that hail from Denver, Colorado; King F.O.E, Karma The Voice, and Yonnas. Citing musical influences that range from Morrissey and Joy Division to M.O.P. and E-40, BLKHRTS have created a sound Yonnas, the group’s producer, describes as “a grand and emotive romanticism and fatalism..layer[ed] over hard beats.” Walking the line between rock and rap, the group’s production maintains an edgy and hard hitting energy while their lyrical delivery oscillates between laid back flows to lightning fast descriptive storytelling. Their lyrical content tends toward exploring the darker aspects of themes like sex, drugs, money and death, reflecting their own life struggles and those of their community. Having already garnered critical acclaim with their previous work—Pitchfork called their 2011 debut BLK S BTFL “one of the year’s best overlooked mixtapes,” and the LA Times wrote, “BLKHRTS’ words and beats hit like shrapnel…it is rap as hard-core punk that never forgets it’s hip-hop”—the group has continued to work feverishly, individually and collectively. Yonnas released SEXTAPE, while F.O.E. put out his own solo project entitled J.U.N.K.I.E., and an EP and a full length album will drop in 2014.