The cool cats at [adult swim] and their label Williams Street Records have been steady pushing an unceasing stream of dope alternative music along with their stream of dope alternative shows. Back before it was really in vogue for large company sponsorships of niche musicians, [adult swim] was aligning themselves with a diverse array of left-field hip-hop and metal, starting with the 2006 Chocolate Swim mixtape, a collaborative effort with Chocolate Industries comprised of globe-trotting, trunk-rattling sounds that I still bump in my whip to this day.
Launching in 2010, Williams Street Records unveiled the yearly Adult Swim Singles Program, a summertime tradition of genre-hopping single releases from increasingly diverse artists on consecutive weeks. This year's edition launches on June 9 and is the longest program yet: 17 singles on consecutive weeks, and while the Singles Program has seen glimpses of electronic music before, it's never been quite this diverse or exciting. Joining the lineup for this year are giants Giorgio Moroder (who launches this year's program) and Machinedrum, along with niche faves like Fatima Al-Qadiri, Tim Hecker, FlyLo alter-ego Captain Murphy, and RP Boo. The non-electronic music fan in me is equally excited for the slew of other artists populating the list, including Future and Mastodon.
Call me a sucker for big labels taking weirder acts under their wing, but it's a wonderfully affirming thing to see electronic music playing such a key role in the biggest yearly project from Williams Street (itself a subsidiary of Warner Music Group), especially when the label has been on their own signature dean for eight years running. Long story short, I'm stoked - and we'll be keeping you in the loop on the illest sounds that emerge from this year's project.
